Growing an oasis

A desert does not need sand. It does not need a malicious, ever-present sun. It does not need cacti and tumbleweeds. It doesn’t need quick-tongued lizards clinging to the warmed face of a rock. A desert, after all, is not defined by what exists within it, but rather what does not.

Food deserts are a sort of buzzword in sociology now. The United States Department of Agriculture defines them as the vast stretches of low-income territory, usually urban, that deny easy access to fruits and vegetables, usually offering fried, fatty foods in their place. There are food deserts across the nation, including metropolises like: Indianapolis, Oklahoma City, Charlotte, Tucson and Cleveland.

Battling these deserts is no easy feat. Urban real estate is sometimes difficult to afford, brutal to zone and torturous to cultivate. Growing an oasis of nutrition requires more than desire. To alleviate the pains of a food desert, one needs determination, know-how and an ability to collaborate with the community.

One of the groups attempting to sow health conscious seeds is the Rid-All Green Partnership, an organization run by a trio of former residents. Rid-All is located in Cleveland, Ohio's Kinsman neighborhood, a notorious food desert that was desperately in need of a fresh produce oasis. The company hopes it has started to remedy the problem.
 

In the beginning

Rid-All begins with three kids, a snow shovel, a typical Cleveland snowfall and a desire to make some money.

We’re in the Lee Miles neighborhood of Cleveland (where plants are not particularly popular) and Damien Forshe, G. Keymah Durden and Randy McShepard are pounding the pavement, in search of exhausted neighbors who don’t have the will, time or patience to shovel the freshly fallen inches from their driveway. The boys are no older than seven but they’re overcome with an entrepreneurial spirit and a desire to support their community. The trio’s snow-shoveling “company” is a success, at least in terms of businesses operated by under-10 year olds.

Fast forward a few decades.

Forshe is running a successful pest management business, teaching people how to use environmentally friendly techniques to repel rodents and insects. Durden is a world-travelled engineer and vegan with a taste for delicious, well-prepared meals. McShepard is a Vice President of a Fortune 1000 company and a member of a Cleveland-based think tank called Policy Bridge.

One of McShepard’s think tank papers finds that Cleveland, and other cities, can revitalize its underserved, underprivileged neighborhoods by converting vacant lots into urban farms, fighting two problems with one solution: putting a healthy dent into a food desert and converting eyesore properties into something more visually appealing. After reading his findings, Durden and Forshe pose a challenge: why not do something about it? Why not start an urban farm?
 

Challenge accepted

So they do. Around the end of 2009, the three men, none of whom had strict growing experience in their past, went to Will Allen and his company Growing Power for training. They returned with ideas and concepts and a desire to grow something.

They started their operation in the spring of 2010 and named it Rid-All. “Redeem integrity and determination for all mankind, that’s what it stands for,” Forshe says. Their plot of land now sports two greenhouses and four hoophouses, as well as a teepee and treehouse for visiting students or businesses to hold meetings. One of the greenhouses features a full aquaponic system, that houses about 3,500 tilapia fish at any given time.

They grow a variety of plants, depending on the season, including: peppers, okra, thyme, oregano and tomatoes. They have a staff of four or five full-timers and a slate of volunteers who harvest, plant and mix Rid-All’s special brand of soil. In some of the hoophouses, Rid-All has planted remediation plants to absorb the lead and mercury that was illegally dumped into the ground prior to the grower’s presence.

Most of Rid-All’s facilities do not feature exterior heating sources, which can create unique challenges when grappling with the frequently fierce Cleveland winters. Marc White, the farm’s manager, says they use cheap, organic remedies to counter the cold. For instance, they have dual compost piles filled with beer brewing waste, coffee grinds (both donated) and wood chips which, via chemical reaction, generate a core temperature of up to 150 degrees. The heat emanating from those piles is enough to keep the hoophouse conditions growable. They also use biologicals to counter pest problems and rotate crops to battle seasonal difficulties.

Once the facility was built, and before the crops were fully grown, the founders went door-to-door in the neighborhood to introduce themselves.

“We wanted them to know us as partners in the community,” Durden says.

Meeting all of their neighbors was a shrewd decision. It not only created a sense of kinship in the Kinsman neighborhood, but began the development of the Rid-All brand, debuting the company to a mass of potential partners.

“Everything we do is about outreach,” Durden says, “For people to get the message on healthy eating, we’ve been very careful about how we build.”
 

Reach out, we’ll be there

Rid-All isn’t just about growing nutritious vegetables (and fish) and supplying them to a community that desperately needs them. They also sell soil to other growers, microgreens and select produce to local Cleveland kitchens and have developed a fashion line that’s sold in the city. And that’s just a sampling of their diverse revenue streams.

The company offers a five-month training program for anyone that wants to sign-up. Participants learn some things you’d expect: composting, how to operate an aquaponic system, how to manage a farm, and some things you wouldn’t expect: business management, social justice. It’s a popular program. Nearly 2,000 people have gone through a Rid-All training course in the last four years.

The Cleveland Municipal School district also partners with the growers, bringing in classloads of kids for a day of hands-on science and agriculture learning. “We are part of the official fifth grade science curriculum for the district. We’ve had private and public schools attend the farm and learn through classes,” McShepard says. “We’re able to teach students the value of farming and healthy eating.”

In addition to the education and great PR, Rid-All can then turn to other organizations and foundations and seek grant-funding for their education programs, something that has become another source of revenue for the business.

To help connect to their students, Rid-All designed and delivers a unique comic book series featuring characters that fight for the ideals of a nutritious lifestyle.

Forshe, who is a licensed contractor, has also been travelling throughout the region helping other organization install greenhouses and hoophouses.

“We have a ton of different revenue streams,” Forshe says, including: cooking classes, comic books, fashion lines, 5-month training programs and partnering with local schools.
 

Making an impact

Community response has been impressive. Besides producing a robust alumnus list that currently sits at about 2,000 graduates, and a lasting connection with the local school system, Rid-All's regular cooking classes frequently sell out and are usually standing room only. The clothing boutique they started sells well-designed garb, with fibers that Rid-All intends to start growing themselves. To decorate their grounds, local Cleveland artist Ed Parker donated a sculpture modelled after a character in Rid-All’s children’s comic book series. And most importantly, they’re growing and distributing tens of thousands of pounds of foods annually, both to the neighborhood and beyond.
 

What you can learn from Rid-All

So what should you take away from Rid-All’s success?

• Take chances and diversify your revenue streams
   

Rid-All has found success in a variety of ways. Members don’t think of themselves strictly as growers. They are partners in the community. They are educators. They are fashion designers. They are chefs. They’re always looking for new ways to define Rid-All. That diversification has led to a myriad of revenue streams, some of which other growers could easily duplicate.

Teaching science through agriculture is something every grower should be capable of, whether it be in a school or in a greenhouse. Bringing chefs to your facilities to teach cooking classes requires a little bit of booking time and a bit of advertising, but can be worth the effort. And while every grower may not be able to produce a fashion line, the creativity that may be lurking within your staff is endless. Don’t be afraid to explore.

• Develop a strong brand image
   

That exploration could help you develop a lasting brand image. Rid-All is reputable in the community, not merely because they introduced themselves, but because they offer such a unique array of high-quality products. And they do so with a strong message of community well-being. Rid-All’s comic book series communicates the value of healthy eating in a fun way to a young customer base. The litany of speakers and educational classes offered by the organization creates an extensive alumnus list and a vast potential customer base, all willing to evangelize on the organization’s behalf.

• Participate in your community and seek out new partnerships
   

And finally, participate in your community. Rid-All’s mission was to alleviate the pains of a food desert by creating a nutritious oasis. To do that, they needed to connect on a deep-level with their community. They've educated and hired members of the community. In turn, they’ve been supported by volunteers, local chefs and charitable organizations. That partnership also exposed the Rid-All brand to their target customer base.

In short, diversify, develop and partner and you might be able to create an oasis of your own.

Photography by Laura Watilo Blake