The Good Food Revolution: Growing Healthy Food, People, and Communities

Allen introduces his mother, Willie Mae Kenner, in the first chapter, as she leaves Batesburg, South Carolina for Washington, D.C., “trying to escape [their] family’s long history in agriculture” (1). Despite holding a degree that qualified her to be a teacher, Willie Mae worked in the fields, picking cotton and asparagus during a time in history when “the South was still in the thrall of ‘Jim Crow’” (2). She fled South Carolina with her two sons to meet her husband, James Kenner, who was building homes instead of sharecropping land. They planned to live in a suburban neighborhood of Kensington, Maryland, mere miles from downtown Washington, D.C., where “it was uncertain if any of the skills she had—or any of the dreams she harbored—would matter” (3). 

Allen reflects on the poet Maya Angelou’s theory that “you can never leave home” (5). He points out that his life is drastically different from the lives of his ancestors, even though elements of Southern identity remain in his character. Allen discusses the tendency of some black leaders like W.E.B. DuBois to encourage black men and women to “leave the land as a way of self-improvement” (6) and to choose education as their way forward, which challenged other leaders to argue “that black people would be better served by the development of practical abilities” (6). Thinkers like DuBois won the argument, and “top-performing African Americans” (6) like Martin Luther King, Jr. and Colin Powell have paved the way for black intellectuals. According to Allen, because black farmers were discouraged, “disparities have grown in the wake of the departure of black farmers from their land” (7), which have led to diet-related health problems which are “endangering the health of our young people” (8). Recognition of these problems as well as Allen’s desire to farm, which was “hid[den] inside” (8), led him to create an “urban farm [that] produces forty tons of vegetables a year on three city acres” (9).

Allen describes his decision to change careers mid-life, despite his “good salary, a nice title, [and] a generous retirement package” (10) working for Proctor & Gamble in the sales department. Although he was successful at this job, having “won several sales awards” (11), he found himself “leading two lives” (12). In the growing season, he planted and harvested food on his own farm—a “farm kept alive by [his] own passion” (14)—before going to work. One day, driving through Milwaukee, Allen spotted a “two-acre plot sat in the middle of what used to be known as ‘Greenhouse Alley,’ a flower-growing district” (14). He spoke with a real estate agent about it, only to learn that a local group wanted to buy the site and build a church on it, and “[i]f they were successful, the city would lose its last parcel of land zoned for agricultural use” (15). Allen had to persuade the city that “a produce stand would be better for the community than a church” (15), and when he was successful in his pitch to the committee, Allen quit his job at Proctor & Gamble. Within a few weeks, in the spring of 1993, after gathering funds and making necessary repairs, Allen opened up for business, putting all of his faith into his new endeavor: Will’s Roadside Farm Market.

Allen admits that even though he claimed to the city that he wanted to open the farm stand in order to provide employment to the young people of Milwaukee, he really just wanted “to be [his] own boss” (19). Two years later, Allen reflects, this desire became complicated by financial struggles and the fact that he started to see “a role [he] could play in the community where [he] had opened [his] shop” (19). As nearby chain grocery stores began to close, “McDonald’s and a Popeyes fried chicken were the main food options for people in the community” (20), so Allen “started something called the Rainbow Farmers Cooperative with a few farmer friends” (20-21) in order to provide the area with healthier food options. Soon, as Allen grew busier, he decided “to have someone always on-site” (21), and he called Karen Parker, a former employee of Allen’s when he worked for the Marcus Corporation managing six Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurants.

Karen’s story, as told by Allen, is a difficult one: “I quickly understood that trouble pursued her” (22). Allen hired Karen to help him with his farmers markets, and then rented an apartment to her that existed on the property Allen had just purchased. Although Karen made less money working for Allen than for her current job, she chose the position with Allen because “[s]he had felt peace there” (23) and a confidence that the greenhouses were a safe place for her son and daughter to grow up. At the age of 3, Karen’s son DeShawn had been severely burned in a fire that took the life of his grandmother, who sustained massive injuries trying to protect him from the flames that engulfed her home when she was looking after him. Three years later, Allen approached Karen about working with him, and DeShawn was still traumatized by his experience, and “[h]e seemed to live in a silent world of his own” (24). His older sister, DeShell, was 11 when the fire happened, and because she had asked for a sibling and received one, she blamed herself for DeShawn’s suffering. DeShell supported DeShawn and her mother Karen, and when the family moved into the apartment on Allen’s property, DeShell also began to work for Allen.

As Allen began to develop the greenhouses he had bought, DeShawn helped him in small ways that befitted a 6-year-old boy. Soon, Allen realized that “[f]or [DeShawn] and for others, my facility could be a safe place, as Karen saw it” (32). Allen wasn’t sure at this stage how exactly he could make an impact on the lives of people in his community, especially as he soon “would have trouble paying Karen, DeShell, and the few other young people from the neighborhood” (33), yet he soon found an opportunity. From a friend, he learned about “a group of young city children at a nearby YWCA who wanted to build a garden” (34), so he donated some of his land to their project and taught them how to plant vegetables. More young people came to join, so Allen was able to build a relationship with the community in this way.

Allen’s financial troubles continued, and DeShell reported back to him that customers were complaining about his prices. As well, Allen was troubled to see “black customers go to a white farmer in the stall next to [him], even though [he] knew [his] produce looked better and cost the same” (37). A friend of Allen’s suggested that he was doing “slave’s work” (37). Allen acknowledges at the end of this chapter that he was indeed “a reluctant inheritor of [his] agricultural history” (38).