Story and photos by Shay Potter, MFA in Creative Writing & Publishing Arts student
When Inioluwa Omohefe arrived at Strength to Love II Farm on a warm spring day, the third-year accounting major faced an unexpected challenge: bees buzzing around white blossoms on newly planted fruit trees.
Despite growing up on her father's farm, Inioluwa feared bees after seeing a childhood friend get stung. "My father taught me that if you stand still, the bees will not attack you," she recalled, as she took her spot alongside a greenhouse, gathering curly wire from the ground.
"I really am enjoying it here," said Inioluwa, as The University of Baltimore accounting undergraduate student secured shade covers to greenhouse frames with wire, her old fear giving way to curiosity.
Established in 2013, the 1.5-acre community-based urban farm provides hands-on agricultural training, addresses food access disparities and provides local job opportunities. As part of the Farm Alliance of Baltimore, Strength 2 Love II’s managers, John Kidwell and Shae McCoy, sell harvested crops, such as collard greens and apples, to customers at the Waverly Farmers’ Market on 32nd Street. Proceeds are used to maintain and run the farm.
After volunteers checked-in and handed gear, Kidwell and McCoy oriented the group on their day's task: attach shade covers over the 150-foot greenhouses to reduce interior temperatures by 30 percent.
Weeks earlier, Jane Delury, professor for Yale Gordon College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Baltimore, discovered the city farm needed help with the shade covers. Working with UBalt’s Center for Student Engagement and Inclusion, she quickly organized nearly 25 volunteers—a mix from UBalt, Maryland Institute College of Art, Morgan State University and Johns Hopkins University.
"We had 11 UBalt students there; it made me so happy," said Delury, who has volunteered with the farm for nearly two years. "It was like bringing together worlds just 10 minutes apart.”
Delury’s outreach efforts aim to connect UBalt students with experiences they might never otherwise encounter within the city they all share.
Zachary Chmielewski, a first-year UBalt Law student and Army veteran from Dundalk, did not know much about the farm before coming to the farm. Since Chmielewski is also an avid gardener as well as a public servant, the chance to serve at the farm was a welcome reprieve.
"It gives me a chance to relax and give back before returning home to study."
Brennan Turner, a first-time undergraduate at UBalt, explained why he wanted to pitch in.
"If you're living in the city, you don't really get opportunities like planting gardens. Working with your hands and seeing the rewards of your efforts, ... I think that's amazing," he said.
Delury organized a similar volunteering event with the farm in the prior year; that group was tasked to install the greenhouse shelter walls. The extra manpower helps the small farm staff perform labor-intensive tasks where more hands are needed.
As the partnership between UBalt and the farm grows, Delury envisions creating internship opportunities for students.
Maybe Omohefe could be one of those students. She left the farm with a transformed perspective on urban farming—and maybe a little less fear of bees.
Related: Jane Delury invites students to explore Baltimore to strengthen writing skills