At the Jabali Farmers Market, ‘you know this is not like any other event’

If you ask Erika Johnson about what she grows in her personal garden, it sounds as if she’s operating more of a farm out of her Germantown home.

“Collard greens, kale, all different types of tomatoes. I’m a tomato queen,” she said. “I can grow any tomato. Cherry tomato, beefsteak, roma tomatoes. All different types of peppers. Cherry peppers, habanero peppers, Italian red peppers. We have all different types of herbs. Your rosemary, your thyme, your dill, dark purple basil.”

“Oh, what else?”

It’s important to Johnson to share her love and mastery of gardening and produce with the rest of her Germantown and Mount Airy community. She is the creator of the Jabali Farmers Market, a recurring gathering of Black farmers, growers and other small-business owners who aim to foster community and wellness.

“This is the village mindset. That’s the community mindset. This is how we take care of each other,” she said.

The final Jabali Farmers Market of the year takes place this Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. outside of Avenues Cafe, located at 7201 Germantown Ave. Johnson will have space for her own business, Black + Planted, which teaches people how to grow their own seeds and plants, and will offer free dill seeds for anyone who stops by.

“We’re going back to our roots of creating products that we like and we believe in and our people need.”

Johnson has felt a close connection with agriculture her whole life, remembering how her currently 101-year-old grandfather used to grow tomatoes in his backyard, pluck them off the vine and eat them like an apple. During the pandemic, Johnson started taking her growing more seriously, and developed Black + Planted.

“It gives us a sense of community and a sense of pride,” she said about Black people gardening and sharing produce together. “I would just like to see more Black and brown faces interjected in those communities.”

» READ MORE: Unlike other community gardens, there’s no waitlist for the Growing Together Community Garden in South Philly

Outside of small-business vendors, the upcoming Jabali Farmers Market will have live music, spoken word poetry, a children’s story time and professional networking opportunities. Johnson chose the name “Jabali” because it means “rock” in Swahili, a symbol for the strength and perseverance that community brings.

“Even though it’s only for maybe two or three hours, [Jabali] allows you to be immersed into an environment where we’re going back to our roots of creating products that we like and we believe in and our people need,” said Ericka L. Stewart, who organizes Jabali’s pay-what-you-can produce market through her own organization, Social Impact Cafe.

» READ MORE: The Black Farmers Market is ‘bringing the village back together’

For free or low cost, community members can take home produce like kale, collard greens, peaches and plums. At this weekend’s Jabali, Stewart said that the pay-what-you-can section will also have pumpkins for children to take home and paint, as well as different kinds of apples. Stewart is proud that her work and the Jabali Farmers Market can help her people eat healthier, but also build connection with each other.

“You feel the culture of being a person of color or being Black [here],” she said. “When you come to [Jabali] , you know that this is not like any other event because the cultural tone has been set and it gives you a space of pride and space of empowerment.”