JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Volunteers are doing their part to ensure one part of Jacksonville has easy access to fresh food.
The farm labor at White Harvest Farms is hard work, but the work is needed.
Fruit trees are being planted in that area this weekend and Feb. 18.
Mikey Howell has been a farmer there for more than a year.
“Getting concerned got me interested in farming,” Howell said. “Getting interested in farming then helped me learn how important it is to get these nutrient-dense foods into my diet. Just to see people thinking that is important as well this is huge.”
Two hundred fruit trees are being planted to help more people in that Moncrief neighborhood have easier access to affordable and fresh fruit, vegetables and meat. The area is considered a food desert.
One part of the farm will be a citrus orchard. Volunteers spent the rainy and wet morning planting orange, lemon and grapefruit trees.
Other food available includes apples, peaches, grapes, pears and blackberries.
There are also fall and spring crops, including collard greens, kale, herbs, broccoli, lettuces, tomatoes, peppers, eggplant and squash.
Nearly 600 residents shopped at either the White Harvest Farm’s market or Clara White Mission’s farmer’s market in 2022.
During that time, both farms grew 4,677 pounds of food.
David Dixon grew up in that neighborhood. He wants to give back to help it flourish.
“Our future is here,” Dixon said. “Our future is in this community. So we need to be able to feed this community.”
It was Katie Sims’ first time volunteering. Now, she wants this to become a weekly routine.
“These trees are going to be here for hundreds of years,” Sims said. “Families are going to be able to nourish their bodies. This is the beginning. This is the beginning of change for this community. People should not have to travel far to get good food.”
Howell said this is about more than just availability.
“We are also here to do education, to talk with people in the community, and share our own stories, and how it has been important to us in our lives,” he said.
The city of Jacksonville completed a food desert study in 2019 that revealed 38% of Northwest Jacksonville census tracts were considered food deserts. That is compared to 23% for the entire city.
On Feb. 18, there will be more tree planting at White Harvest Farms as well as the Black History Month Food Festival with the Clara White Mission.