Asawana Farms was founded in 2022 as a response to multiple intertwined needs in our community: limited access to fresh, culturally relevant produce, a lack of hands-on agricultural education, and the desire to connect African American communities with their heritage through farming. We are a State of Maryland Department of Agriculture Certified Local Farm Enterprise (Certification Number: MDA23-0100), located within the Watkins Park Incubator.
Our mission: to offer healthy, organic specialty vegetables — including culturally significant Afro-Caribbean crops — while empowering residents through education, community engagement, and sustainable practices.
What We Do — Community, Culture & Food as Medicine
- Grow culturally significant and nutritious produce: On our half-acre urban farm, we cultivate vegetables such as bitter leaf, callaloo, African eggplant, okra, ewedu, and other leafy greens — plants with deep roots in African and Afro-Caribbean culinary and medicinal traditions.
- Promote “Food as Medicine”: We believe that fresh, nutrient-dense and culturally familiar produce can play a vital role in preventative health and chronic illness management. We have partnered with University of Maryland Capital Region Health (UM Capital Region) under their “Food Is Medicine” program.
- Education & Volunteerism: Asawana Farms offers structured volunteer and educational programs for high school students, college students, and local adults. Volunteers learn practical, sustainable farming techniques — from container gardening and grow bags to vertical gardening — and receive community service hours. In doing so, they also gain essential life skills, reconnect with agricultural heritage, and help combat food insecurity in underserved neighborhoods.
- Community Give-back: In addition to volunteering at the farm, participants — including students and community members — leave with a grow bag and seedlings (e.g., bitter leaf, kale, spinach, collard greens) to plant at home. This ensures that the learning doesn’t stay on the farm: it travels home, grows, and becomes part of daily life for individuals and families.