PEORIA MAGAZINE February 2023

included the purchase of a four-acre plot in Galesburg to facilitate the aquaponics project. Medley soon got a crash course in zoning laws and building permits, to which he hadn’t given much thought before. “I neededa siteplananddrawings and I wasn’t getting a lot of help from the city or health department,” he said. While experimentingwithaquaponics, Medley decided to try his hand at raising industrial hemp, a crop that would allow him to continue working a day job. But farming, he would find out, is not without its challenges. He recalled an incident in 2019 when he was tending to his small crop early in the morning, while it was still dark. “I was out in the field before I had to go toworkwithmy car’s headlights shining on the plants. The police arrived and told me they got a call that someone was trespassing,” recalled Medley. “They asked if I had any way to prove I was the owner. “Then about five other police cars pull up. The officers are all around me. My heart’s racing now. The police start walking around in the field with flashlights. I don’t know what’s going on,” he said. Ultimately, he produced a license and the problems were avoided, but Medley was moved to post his experience online, where he referenced the book by Leah Penniman, Farming While Black . “I got a big response online to my ‘farming while black’ post but I wasn’t trying to bash the police. I think it was all a mistake,” he said. “We’ve got it all worked out now.” In fact, a photo of Medley and his family now graces the cover of the latest issue of the Galesburg visitors’ guide. One Galesburg official who’s been in Medley’s corner from the start is Mayor Peter Schwartzman, the Knox College professor who organized that initial trip to the Milwaukee urban farm. “We go back pretty far,” said Schwartzman of his relationship with Medley, acknowledging that while minority farmers are a scarce presence inGalesburg and around the state, urban

Janet Zintambila of CJH Umoja Gardens in Normal

farms may represent a new pathway for those desiring to work the soil. “I’ve seen a number of urban farm projects around the country,” said Schwartzman, citing Detroit as an example of a city where residents, many of them African Americans, are reclaiming city land for farming. Schwartzman ticked off a half-dozen potential crops for theurban farmer such as microgreens, fruit trees, compost, vermiculture (wormcastings sometimes referred to as black gold), herbs, wheatgrass and chickens. Galesburg recently created an urban agriculture pilot program for residents, he said. Galesburg’s mayor credited Medley for his fortitude. “He has that focus. Demarkius is a good example of someone who’s worked through the system and laid a pathway for others.” Another pioneer is Janet Zintambila, who has been farming several acres in Normal for over a decade. A native Kenyan, she grew up on a farm where she recalls her mother growing coffee. She first came to the United States to attend college in 1979. After graduating from Iowa Wesleyan University, she went on to earn her master’s degree in counseling at Western Illinois University in Macomb. When Zintambila, 66, is not working with Down Syndrome residents at a Normal assisted living facility, she finds refuge and joy in the field. “Farming is my passion,” she said. “I lease the acres I work on. My ultimate goal is to buy some land.”

As for crops, Zintambila favors white corn, a plant she knows fromher native Africa as the chief ingredient in ugali, a polenta-like dish served with meat or vegetables. She also tends a vegetable garden where she raises kale, collards, onions and sweet potatoes. There is a big difference between farms in her homeland and those in central Illinois. “In Kenya, there are smaller farms, family farms that people grow crops to live on,” she said, noting that the country’s climate supports two growing seasons. “There you can farm all year. “Here, the farms are quite big and you need machinery. The land is expensive, for sure. It would be nice if more people could own land,” said Zintambila, who credits area farmers – among them Rader Family Farms and Wettstein Organic Farms — with helping her partake in her passion. Her CHJ Umoja Gardens (facebook. com/ChjUmojaGardens/) sells its produce at farmers markets, including in the Peoria area. “People need to support the farmers,” said Zintambila. “They show such willingness to help others.”

Steve Tarter is a Peoria Magazine contributor who was born in England, raised in Boston, moved to Peoria to attend Bradley University and decided to stay. He has spent a career in journalism and public relations

FEBRUARY 2023 PEORIA MAGAZINE 9