George Jones Farm back in action through City Fresh and colleges collaboration

OBERLIN — Progress is sprouting this summer at George Jones Farm in Oberlin, starting with the unveiling of City Fresh's all-electric local veggie delivery vehicle and an open house for the farm's new farmers. City Fresh, a farm box program working to boost food access in Northeast Ohio while building community and supporting local farmers, operates out of George Jones Farm in partnership with Oberlin College and Lorain County Community College. A food study partnership grant has Oberlin College, which has a food study concentration, and LCCC, which has a sustainable agriculture focus, working together for food justice and seeing the Oberlin College-owned farm being toiled. "The land was not farmed last year," said Anna Kiss Mauser-Martinez, executive director of City Fresh. "This grant is an opportunity to use the resources we have to support the work both colleges are doing and get around hurdles new farmers face in order to build a more sustainable food system." The average age of a farmer in America is 60. Access to land and the expense of that land are barriers to new farmers trying to get started, according to Kiss. "As a result of this grant, we have five new farmers, all women, who each receive shared space, resources, land, tools and a $1,500 stipend to purchase anything they may need to get to work making food available to the most vulnerable," Kiss said. Applications for farming at George Jones opened in January, with selections announced in February. Work began in March. Each farmer has a different project. Archers of Arcadia is a native plant nursery. Octavia's Garden & Farm, Black Stag Farm, and Staci grow vegetables using sustainable agriculture practices and Cleveland Tea Revival focuses on herbs and flowers. "They grow what they want and then sell it at market," Kiss said. "City Fresh is able to help through its wholesale connections." Today's event will offer seedlings and plants from the farmers available. One of the big events of the day, however, is the unveiling of City Fresh's new delivery van. In 2020, City Fresh was awarded $110,000 to decommission its diesel delivery vehicle in favor of an all-electric one. That vehicle, a Motiv Power Systems sixth-generation all-electric step van, is now ready to hit the road. "Currently, we drive about 19,000 miles per year using 3,000 gallons of diesel," Kiss said. "We will be able to cut our carbon emissions by 73 percent with this new van." City Fresh, which was started by an Oberlin College student in 2005, delivers farm fresh fruit and vegetables throughout Lorain and Cuyahoga counties, making 16 stops to underserved areas and supporting a half-dozen farmers in the process. Produce is ordered at cityfresh.org and delivered to various community locations, such as libraries and churches, in underserved areas. Cost varies. "We will be growing George Jones," Kiss said. "Friday will be an opportunity to see all we've done. We will have a lot of native plants for sale from Archers and a lot of starter plants, too. Come check out the leanest, greenest veggie machine, walk around and see what we're doing." Money from the plant sale goes right back to the farmers. Additionally, City Fresh has a matching fundraiser going on now with the opportunity to earn $2,500 from a private donor. For more information about City Fresh, to order shares, to volunteer or to donate, visit cityfresh.org. Contact Christina Jolliffe at ctnews@chroniclet.com.