Growing Hope: Joppy Momma's Farm

George Mason joins in conversation with Kim High, the passionate founder of Joppy Momma's Farm—a grassroots initiative tackling food insecurity in South Dallas. Kim shares her inspiring journey from corporate life to community farming, driven by her personal battle with diabetes and a leap of faith. Joppy Momma's Farm is not just feeding a community but also preserving the rich heritage of one of Dallas's historic Freedmen's towns. 

Joppy Momma's Farm vows to empower, educate, and create greater opportunities for health, wellness, and self-sufficiency through sustainable, regenerative agriculture. Kim's work is a testament to the power of faith in action.

Watch the video, here.

George (00:00):

Welcome to Good God, conversations that matter about faith and public Life. I'm your host, George Mason, and we are here continuing our series of investigations of non-profit organizations in south and southern Dallas that are working on the challenge of food insecurity in their neighborhoods. I'm delighted to introduce to you today, Kim High, who is the executive director of Joppy Mama's Farm, uh, in the community that is variously known as Joppa, if you're kind of new, but joppy if you are from here. Right? Right. That's great. So tell us about your shirt shirts as you've established in 2021. Why then and why at all? Okay.

Kim (00:49):

Um, I established Joppy Momma's Farm, starting back, um, well, my whole, my whole entire family suffered with the disease. Diabetes. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> Some years ago, uh, a guy came to a community called Bunton. One such as this community, uh, to be, um, help guys who had been incarcerated Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> to get their life together. He came there for a whole different purpose, but he ended up doing something different. Um, it's a guy by the name of Darron Babcox, who is the executive director of Bonton Farms.

George (01:24):

Farms. That's right.

Kim (01:25):

He moved in a house next door to a friend of mine. Okay. He moved there, not with the intention of, of creating Bonton. Farms. He moved there with the intentions of coming, helping guys get back on their feet. Right. So, what happened is when he moved next to my, he came to that community and when he got there, he found out these, these gentlemen had all kinds of illnesses. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. And so he was thinking, have I moved in this community and I'm gonna, am I not gonna get sick? Everybody's sick. He tried to get them jobs in numerous places and find out, he was wondering, why, why couldn't y'all go to work? Some was sick with diabetes. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> some was on dialysis. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. Some had hard trouble. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> one, one guy was going blind 'cause of diabetes. And he was like, oh no. Why is this happening in this community?

Kim (02:08):

That's when he found out that he had moved into a food desert. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. And after he found that information out, he was thinking, how can a big city like Dallas do things like this to people? Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. That's when he set out to do something different, to make a change in it. So he created this fabulous garden next to his house. So when he created that garden next to the house, his friend that, my friend that lived next door to him, who became his friend, told me about that garden because he knew I suffered with the disease. Diabetes.

George (02:36):

So now we're into the matter of when there's a food desert, the implications of that are not just that, it makes it more difficult for people to find healthy foods, but because of that, they lose the food as medicine. Right. Uh, that, that they would otherwise have gotten if they had access to these fresh pro, this fresh produce and the, the kinds of foods that are good for you. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> you not bad for you. Right. Right. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. So that's what you've done here. Mm-Hmm. You've, you've created this garden, Joi Mama's Garden. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>, uh, for just that purpose. Now, uh, who's the original Joi that you named after a all this after?

Kim (03:17):

Okay. So my grandmother, Annie Horn, who was one of the first sellers in this community, we called her Joppy Mama. Uhhuh <affirmative>. And she also had this big garden behind her house, and she fed the community. She would go out in the yard and harvest our, our meal for the day, bring the chicken next she'll just go around the circles a couple times, dump 'em in the hot water, bring 'em in, in fry. This is how she fed her family. So the original jy mama, we called my great-grandmother, jy mama.

George (03:44):

All right. Now for people who don't know, this was one of the original freedman, uh, town Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> communities. Yes. Which is to say after slavery, uh, there were communities established for freed slaves. Right. And they had plots of land that were given to them to create community. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. Uh, and yet, over time, what we know is these communities, like, like Joppy got cordoned off by roads and levees and railroads and all sorts of things to where it almost became like a ghetto kind of area. Right. Without much access to education or, uh, grocery stores or other kinds of things. So now transportation, transportation is a really big part of this. Right. So, uh, so for you to create this kind of garden is part of this, uh, Joppa taking responsibility for Joppa now,

Kim (04:42):

I guess, right? Right. Right.

George (04:43):

Yes. Not dependent on somebody else

Kim (04:45):

To come die outside is to come in. Yes. So,

George (04:47):

What's your mission?

Kim (04:48):

My mission is to be able to provide fresh fruit and vegetables for this community because the closest store is about 10 minutes away. This community does not have public transportation. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. They don't have a way to get to the store. So my mission is to make sure that we provide fresh fruit and vegetables for this community. Great.

George (05:05):

Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>, how large is the community?

Kim (05:08):

Um, back a couple of years ago, it was around 700 houses here and now it's like a thousand houses here. Okay. And, uh, habitat for Humanity in this community, along with other developers just right now. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. Okay. So it's growing. It's a growing community, but we wanna preserve our Freeman's town. Mm-Hmm.

George (05:26):

<affirmative>. Exactly,

Kim (05:27):

Yes. So, yeah.

George (05:28):

So the problem with growing a community like this is, it, it it could change the character of the community. It

Kim (05:34):

Could change the

George (05:34):

Character, which has its pluses and minuses. Right? Right. Yes. Yes. So you wanna change the character of the community in a healthy way. Right. In a way that feels as if it comes from within, not from without. Right. But it wouldn't hurt to have some help from outside too. It

Kim (05:49):

Would be great to have some help from outside. Yes.

George (05:51):

What are your plans and what, what kind of help do you need?

Kim (05:54):

Okay. Uh, well, we always looking for funding opportunities to, you know, different people. Right. Uh, we're, uh, interested now, and we came here, uh, three years ago and I built a gardens. So we was feeding community, just feeding them, giving 'em the food. Now we go to Farmer's Market. Okay. We sell to restaurants such as Cafe Momentum. Okay. Such as, uh, uh, Restaurant Beatrice. Um, we've sold to, um, roots Southern Kitchen. Okay. Restaurants like that to raise funds so that we can build more on the garden. So the fu in the future, I'm hoping to have a, uh, a market here such like a market, like a store. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>, where you can come in and buy fresh vegetables where we partner with other farmers so we can make sure around the metroplex we're getting all that food here. And then we can get enough that we can serve the community. 'cause sometimes you can have a farmer's market. Well, who are you serving? Four or five people. We wanna be able to have a store where they can get their essential needs. Good.

George (06:50):

Good. What, what are some of the pro uh, some of the produce that you're growing here?

Kim (06:55):

Currently? We're growing lots of tomatoes. We're growing purple hulled peas, okra, um, collard greens. Here w e have eggplant growing.

George (07:07):

Oh wow. Look at that.

Kim (07:07):

Japanese eggplant. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>.

George (07:10):

`Okay. Lovely. Uhhuh

Kim (07:13):

<affirmative>. And, um, of course this is basil. Then we have bell peppers. I don't know if, I think we've harvested this morning. So we don't have, okay. Yeah. And so everybody always asks me, why do you have sun flowers in the garden? Why do you have zinnias Bees! Bees, and plus, when people pass Joppy Momma's Farm and they look over and say, oh, look at those beautiful flowers. Oh. And then they say, oh, those sunflowers are amazing. Let me stop and see what's going on over here. Okay. And I can talk to 'em about, um, food insecurity and how to eat healthy. So it's just like, um, people love flowers.

George (07:47):

Flowers and marketing.

Kim (07:48):

They'll, they'll bring, they'll bring you to ya . Yeah. Lots and lots of peppers. The peppers likes the, the heat. So lots and lots of pepper. I those in the morning, I, um, I, uh, saute 'em in a little olive oil uhhuh and get 'em really soft and crunchy. I like 'em soft and crunchy, but I put 'em, I put, um, mix 'em with my eggs. Yes. And then some farm onions and uhhuh, amazing, farm tomatoes. You mix all that together. Uhhuh, that's a hardy meal.

George (08:14):

Okay. It sounds like what you're growing is what your community already knows and values and eats. Right. If they can find it. Yes. Right. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. Okay. So in other words, the, it's the good stuff, but it's also the stuff that is based in the history of families

Kim (08:31):

Diets. Right. Okay. Yes.

George (08:33):

Yes.

Kim (08:34):

Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. So, uh, we also currently, um, grow these pro produce and we just creating a learning kitchen. This is a learning kitchen where people can come over and we teach them how to cook it. So we just got this container last week and we started moving some things in. And, uh, we'll have our wash station and we'll have this will, we'll get some ventilation in here Yeah. With the ceiling fans, and we'll have a cold storage. Okay. And so we'll be cooking on propane, you know. Oh, okay. Our stove. Yeah. Alright. Because it's, it's all good to have these fresh vegetables from whomever you get 'em from and don't know how to prepare 'em. Right.

George (09:16):

Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. Right. Okay. So you have, you have a kitchen that, that you're talking about over here?

Kim (09:23):

Farmer's market in the front.

George (09:23):

Farmer's market in the front.

Kim (09:25):

That, that container lifts down into a farmer's market. We have a l earning kitchen. Learning kitchen. We have the office. Okay. Uhhuh. <affirmative>. We would like, we're gonna, we're gonna have a, a market here along... After we do the market. We'll do it in stages as we get funding. Okay. We'll have a, a market where you can come and buy your essential needs and shop for your produce and whatever next to the market. We'll have a coffee shop.

George (09:46):

Oh, okay.

Kim (09:50):

That's in the plan.

George (09:50):

It sounds like you're putting Bonton Farms right here.

Kim (09:51):

Bonton Farms is coming. They, wherever I go, they follow me. Okay. <laugh>. <laugh>.

George (09:54):

Very good. That's great. And I understand that you're trying to get back all the way to the other street over here too. Oh,

Kim (10:00):

To the other street, yes.

George (10:00):

Alright. So that you have to purchase that land.

Kim (10:02):

I have to, I need to purchase that property so we can expand.

George (10:05):

Okay. What are they asking for it?

Kim (10:07):

Oh, well, one of them, one of them is bought by a developer who's supposed to build a house. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. But he purchased that property around the same time we started Uhhuh. We haven't heard from him, but I've been searching. I'm looking for him. Alright. And then another property belongs to another resident that we haven't been able to contact. So we're in, we're in the stages of working toward purchasing that property if we can. We would love to. Don't wanna take away nobody's property that, that they wanna do something now. I understand. But it would help us to expand.

George (10:32):

Now it's scorching hot in Dallas right now. Yes, it is. And, uh, I'm glad we're standing in the shade because it's, uh, uh, 97 on my watch right now. Uh, so how do you keep all of this growing and healthy?

Kim (10:45):

Well, I have, uh, four workers who work here Uhhuh every day. They come in very early in the morning. Okay. They get their work done. And I was actually able to do that because I received the People's Grant, people's Garden Grant from the USDA. Okay. Allow me to pay people. So we keep this garden going early morning. This is early morning work. Otherwise it'll be all, it wouldn't be any.

George (11:08):

And how do you irrigate it?

Kim (11:09):

We are, we got irrigation put in, but we're currently updating it. Okay.

George (11:13):

Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. Alright. So you mentioned USDA and grants. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. So individuals can contribute, but also, uh, government grants and then maybe foundation grants found

Kim (11:26):

Such as the community foundation. Alright. The c the Community Foundation just recently granted us the money to create our learning kitchen. Excellent. Yes. Alright. So we love foundations.

George (11:36):

Now you've been doing this pretty much on your own, uh, with the help of the community funding, but you are also part now of, uh, the Faith Commons Group, uh, the round table that we've created on sustainability. Okay. Food sustainability in South Dallas. And I'm wondering about your reflections on that and what you think that coalition, uh, has contributed or what potential it has, uh, with these other organizations that are doing similar things both in South and Southern Dallas. Okay.

Kim (12:08):

Well, I'm just happy to be a part of it. I think it'll help us to get the word out that Jo Mama's form is here for one mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. And that, um, we would really appreciate people if they would like to donate and partner with us as well. Alright. And so I'm just excited about the partnership and, and it'll gimme the opportunity to learn other, other organizations that I didn't know about. Yeah. And so it's good when you have community Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. And when you put, uh, organizations together, it creates communities.

George (12:37):

Tell us more about Kim High. How's your health, first of all, what's your training? Okay. How'd you come to be a farmer?

Kim (12:43):

Okay. So, like I was saying from the beginning, um, when I found, when I learned, learned about Darron Babcock, Uhhuh <affirmative>, he didn't have a farm. He only had the garden in his yard. So when I started going over, I told him I was gonna come back and learn how to do this. When I started going over, he received, uh, some property, uh, out in Seagoville. Yeah. 20 acres from Collins Concrete. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. So that's where I started. I kind, I built that farm out there. Okay. I learned along with him. And so as I started doing that, when I first came to Bonton Farms, I was suffering with my diabetes where I was taking insulin on a sliding scale three times a day. Wow. I started to eat what I grow, get some good fresh air on a daily basis. That's an extension need for every human being to breed some good fresh air and getting me some good vitamin D. Okay. So it's been eight years. I'm no longer insulin dependent from doing that. Wow. Fantastic.

Kim (13:35):

And so I just, after, um, being at Bonton Farms, I'm thinking, you know what? I need to take this home to my community. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> and show them what I did. Because most people get ill with diabetes and other diseases, and they think they have to go in and hide Uhhuh <affirmative>. You need to, you need to come out and get some fresh air. Yep. And all of those things, it's, it's a necessity. Okay. And so I just wanted to bring that to my community so I could teach that same thing. Just because you have diabetes, that don't mean you can't live just because you have diabetes don't mean you can't eat Uhhuh, but there's a way you do it. And so I, I'm here in this community to bring, um, about healing and teach about healthy eating uhhuh and, you know, just different things like that. And I, I, I'm gonna keep on doing this as long as I can.

George (14:16):

Now, you, you probably didn't grow up and go to school to be a farmer.

Kim (14:20):

I did not.

George (14:20):

What was your trading and all that?

Kim (14:21):

I didn't know. I did not grow up to become a farmer. I actually didn't think I would ever be a farmer. Never thought about it. Um, I worked for Allstate Insurance Company for 31 years.

George (14:31):

Oh my goodness. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. You're not 31 years old yet, are you?

Kim (14:34):

I'm 32. Okay. <laugh>. And so, um, after, uh, learning about, uh, Darren coming into Bunton and when started going over, going over there. So, um, I just knew I had to do something with my health. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. Okay. I tried everything. You know, you go to work all day, you work so hard, you come home, you're driving into traffic. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. You come home and you're just trying to figure out what to eat and just the hustle and bustle of everyday life. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. And it'll drive you fast food.

George (15:01):

Okay. There you go. <laugh> drive you to fast food. Yes. So this is slow food. This

Kim (15:05):

Is, this is slow. This is healthy food. Okay.

George (15:07):

Slow.

Kim (15:08):

Yeah. You know, being able to eat healthy is a challenge. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>, it takes some Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> getting things together, That's a lot of, a lot of people don't eat healthy because it's a chore. It really is. Right. And it's just easier to just stop and get some something fast. Yeah. But if we teach people that it could be fast as well, uhhuh just the way you do it. Yeah. I, I didn't know that much about healthy eating until I started. I tried. Okay. And I knew it was a challenge to do. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. But it's doable. Okay. If I can do it, anybody can do it.

George (15:40):

That's great. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. Now, Kim, we, our organization is called Faith Commons. Okay. And this, uh, actual program is called Good God. Okay. Uh, so we, we always like to try to make a connection between the mission that someone is undertaking Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> and what their faith motivation is. Yeah. Do you have a faith background that motivates you in some way? Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>.

Kim (16:03):

I'm, I'm a Christian. Okay. And, um, I'm glad you said that. 'cause at the time that I, um, was ill with my diabetes, I worked at, uh, Allstate and I was kind of stressed out. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. I did some claims work and different stuff stuff. And so the way I really got into farming, I had been praying about my health Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> and just didn't know really what to do about it. I exercised, I tried to eat the right thing, but I was still, my blood sugar still was just outta whack. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>, uh, going to Allstate one day down the freeway, 35, I started praying, what should I do? Lord. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. This is, this is just too overwhelming for me. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. What, what should I do about my health? And so we always say that we're gonna trust God with our life. A lot of people say that.

Kim (16:46):

Yeah. So I drive in up in the, um, drive the driveway at Allstate, park my car, go up the elevator to my cubicle. God say, you know what, Kim, today's your day. I didn't know what it meant. I didn't know what I was doing, but I say I was gonna trust. We say we gonna trust God. I was trusting God in my life. I was listening to what he said. I turned in a resignation, not retiring, not, didn't know what I was gonna do, had no knowledge of Bonton` Farms, was not even on my mind. It was not even in existence.

George (17:21):

So you took a leap of faith.

Kim (17:22):

I took a leap of faith and I said, you know what, God, I don't know what this is about, but I'm gonna trust you with this. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. And that was, that was where my journey started. I didn't immediately go over to Bonton. I didn't immediately go back over to Darius to that garden. I, I played around a few months and it just kept on praying. And then God led me there. I really think he did. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. Because otherwise I'll be still sick right now taking insulin on a sliding scale. So my faith in God is, is that's what I depend on.

George (17:50):

Well, there there's a, a phrase by, uh, John Wesley, uh, that you should work as if everything depends upon you. Yes. And pray as if everything depends upon God. Yes. But you should do both. Yes. You know, some people just do one or the other, but putting them together is kind of the good God philosophy. And I'm glad that you've articulated it so beautifully. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> that you can pray, but you also have to act. Right. And both of those things are important. Yes. Contemplation and action. Both. So, uh, wonderful. Well, thank you so much, Kim. You are welcome. This is an exciting thing to learn about. It is. And a good venture to talk about. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. And, uh, we appreciate you being with us on Good God. Thank you. Thank you for all you're doing. Thank you for having me. God bless you in your efforts. Thank you. All right. All right. Great.