The Mentor: Farmer Tiara Matthews’s Story
As told by Thadius Hodges
I never thought much about heroes, well, until I became one.
Have you ever heard the saying, “Life is like a box of chocolates?” You know the famous line from the movie, Forrest Gump. Oh dear, let me finish the quote, “Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re going to get.” My name is Farmer Tiara. I was born and raised here in Baltimore, Maryland. I’m the president and farm manager of Plantation Park Heights Urban Farm but most importantly, I’m one of the mentors. Serving youth is my passion. This is a safe space for young people to develop free from fear because there’s no judgment being passed here. This space is sacred, this is a space where dreams manifest.
The story of the farm really starts with Farmer Chippy and his friends right next door. Park Heights is a community that has a large Caribbean diaspora so there’s a lot of Jamaicans, Trinidadians, Haitians, Grenadians, and Guyanese people who live here with their children. There is a history of Caribbean and African American relationships so we have generations of mixed African American and Caribbean American children. When I started coming here, all of the land that Plantation Park Heights Urban Farm is on today was full of vacant homes. Our contractors, who live right next door, are Chippy’s friends and they have been living in their home for thirty years. The issue was that they couldn’t get fresh food in the neighborhood and, being from the islands, they wanted to have fresh oregano, thyme, tomatoes, and cucumbers, so they created a box garden right here. Then, Chippy started involving the children.
Our first set of youth were young when they started coming, ranging from kindergarten to the eighth grade. All of the small children would visit, but the teenagers weren’t coming up here yet. Then COVID brought a huge wave of youth to the farm. Once they heard about our camp night and that we cook every day, all of the teenagers came, which the younger children weren’t too happy about. After a while I started to see more and more youth. It warms my heart that they are choosing to be here as they learn, heal, and grow.
To me, children are like plants. They both require love, nurturing, and guidance to grow and blossom into something beautiful. When plants are sick, I nurse them back to health by identifying the problem, adjusting the lighting and watering as needed, removing dead or damaged foliage, fertilizing, and treating for disease. I take pride in teaching kids to be better than their circumstances. What people deem “troubled youth,” I don’t. I don’t think there’s such a thing as troubled youth. A lot of them might not be troubled, they just need a place to breathe and a space to clear their minds. The trouble is not with the youth, it’s with the system. You are provided a circumstance and you work with it. You either get busy or you fall. If there’s no food stamps or welfare, and if you’re not working or growing your own food, you don’t eat. So you can’t blame this on children, they’re not making this up. They’re just creating their own work and managing their own resources. And what about what’s inside? The ancestors. Their spirit. The ancestors that carry over into you. The ancestors you haven’t even met. They’re still coming through. I think about that when I think about my attitude and how I am. I always wonder how my ancestors were moving because I’m a rebel.
At Plantation Park Heights, we believe that teaching children about agriculture sets them up with a foundation for a healthy life. For example, we teach the youth how to grow fruits, vegetables, herbs, and we even teach them how to raise chickens. Through agriculture, children learn how to navigate life. They learn how to raise plants from seeds and package it up for selling at our local farmers’ markets. They even get to make their own foods, products, and seasonings. They learn responsibility. Here at the farm, we love to see the youth thrive as nature brings a sense of calmness to their lives. At the farm they can be relieved of the everyday stressors and distractions that surround them. I’ve watched how nature has helped them be more creative and heal physically and mentally. Nature is my friend because we both aspire to help children become healthy.
We are building this farm for youth who are obese because they don’t have access to healthy food. It’s amazing to see how, when children first come here, they usually want fast food like chicken wings and fries. But as we teach them about healthy eating using ingredients we grow here at the farm, their preferences shift toward home-cooked, nutritious meals. We’re fighting against diabetes, high blood pressure, and obesity. These are the top three causes of death in Baltimore with homicide and violent killings ranking lower on the list. All of the top ten causes of death are food or lifestyle related, like lung cancer from smoking. Stress too! It’s physical and mental health. It’s not just what you eat, it’s how you live your life. I’m confident that these diseases better be prepared, because the youth will prevail. We have thriving five foot kale and it’s because of our youth. When they plant, they do it with love and intention. We must speak life into our youth the same way we speak life into our plants. Our thriving, beautiful, and fruitful plants are just emulations of our youth.
You see we have no fences here. If you go to any other farm or garden in Baltimore City there is some kind of fencing all around it. This is an open space. People ask us all the time, “don’t people in the neighborhood steal?” No! We’re a family around here, people know that if they want something they can come and get it. They don’t have to steal it, it’s here for them. Currently, we’re leading a “Thousand Fruit Tree Challenge,” where we’re planting a thousand fruit trees in the Park Heights neighborhood. We’re targeting areas by the schools so that when students get out for the day they can pick fresh fruit. The youth take ownership over the farm and our projects because it takes a village.
Even this house on the corner, we already bought it and we just finished the roof. It’s going to be a shelter for homeless youth and young people in need. This will be a safe space for all of the youth who are going through things with their parents. We can reach out to the parents and say, “they’re here, they’re going to stay here for a few days, they’re fine.” We are providing a model of transitional living for the community by the community and the city is actually giving money for programs like this. The resources are there, you just have to know about them.
It has taken a lot for us to get to this point. We’ve lost kids to gun violence, which is so sad and unfortunate, but Maya Angelou said it best “Still I Rise.” However in this case it’s still we rise! I’m here to break generational curses, to teach innovation, and to show the youth there is a different way. I’m here to tap into the negativity and show them there is a positive and safe way out.
I want to challenge you. Are you up for it? Starting today, I want you to step up and be the mentor the youth are yearning for. They need positive leaders. They need someone who believes in them and speaks life into them. Let us encourage them to be the best possible versions of themselves they can be. What I’m asking isn’t easy, it may be one of the hardest things you’ve done, but it’s needed. The youth are the future. They are our future presidents, future mayors, future teachers, future mothers and fathers. Let us show them the way.
Will you take my hand and accept the challenge?
This story originally appeared in AgriHood Baltimore: Community Collaboration and Cleaner, Greener Foods, a publication of The Facing Project that was organized by Morgan State University and the Plantation Park Heights Urban Farm in Baltimore, Maryland.