Building Garden-Based Projects for a Better World
Jesse Blom, The Green Heart Project
The Green Heart Project builds garden-based, experiential learning projects and school garden programs to educate students, connect people, and cultivate community through growing, eating, and celebrating food. As Executive Director of The Green Heart Project, Jesse Blom provides overall leadership of the Green Heart Project strategy, staff, programs, administration, and finances to ensure the successful execution of the organization's mission.
Schools often have programs to keep kids off the streets and into something more constructive. How about moving them from the street into the dirt?
Not for sandcastles — for planting gardens. Jesse and The Green Heart Project build school gardens as outdoor classrooms. Kids master the process of growing good food and connect it to what they’re teaching in classrooms. They learn how to harvest and cook the food, so they're involved in the growing process from seed to plate. But that’s not all — these students become community members who know and care about their health and the environment. They know how to work together to accomplish something positive. In the end, they’re not just growing gardens — they’re growing minds and hearts.
In this episode, host Ben Cash sits down with Jesse to discuss how he is changing schools one garden at a time. Jesse talks about discovering a passion for urban agriculture, life skills children learn from gardening, and shares success stories from The Green Heart Project.
Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:
Jesse Blom describes the mission of The Green Heart Project
Why Jesse was drawn to urban agriculture
Leadership skills learned from Jesse’s mentor, Mark Zanoni
Transitioning from canoe trips to gardening
Life skills children learn in the garden: teamwork, leadership, and hard work
Sparking an interest for gardening
Success stories from The Green Heart Project
Challenging times on the journey to create The Green Heart Project
How do you know when to move on from your current project?
How Jesse builds partnerships with local governments and schools
What can people do to become better community members?
Resources mentioned in this episode:
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Episode Transcript
Ben Cash 0:06
This is For the Better, a podcast for those working to effect change within their team, organization, or communities. I'm your host, Ben Cash. Thanks for tuning in to the podcast where we talk with leaders and changemakers from purpose-driven organizations the discuss the great things that they're doing. This podcast is produced by Reason One full service digital agency helping those who do good, do better. Today's guest is Jesse Blom, Executive Director of The Green Heart Project here in Charleston, South Carolina. Welcome, Jesse.
Jesse Blom 0:39
Thanks, Ben. Happy to be here.
Ben Cash 0:42
Hey. I got my my Green Heart swag on represent.
Jesse Blom 0:48
That's right, that one's from 2018 Maybe,
Ben Cash 0:52
oh, this is I think I've got two of them. I've got one from like, early days that I got from Drew Harrison. And my wife once actually tried to throw it out. I found it and like, I was taking stuff to Goodwill. And I found it in there. I was so mad. Because it's like, it's it's my like, favorite t shirt. I think I've been told you that i i The Reason One shirts that we have, I was like, it's gonna be like the Green Heart shirt with the big the big emblem. So thanks for the great swag man, this
Jesse Blom 1:21
very welcome.
Ben Cash 1:24
So for those who aren't aware, what's a Green Heart Project.
Jesse Blom 1:28
The Green Heart Project is a nonprofit organization based in Charleston, South Carolina. We build school gardens very simply. So we work with schools, we put gardens in at the schools, and we use them as outdoor classrooms. So the kids in the gardens, they learn how to grow food to their food gardens, they grow the food, learn about that growing process and how it connects to what they're learning in the classroom. They also learn how to harvest the food and how to cook it. So basically, from seed to plate, they're learning about that growing process. So that's the very simple nature of what the Green Heart Project does. But it's all that's, and that's the activity. But really, the end goal of the Green Heart Project is to grow these students into community members who know and care more about their own health and the environment, and how to work with one another to accomplish something positive. And so the very end goal is cultivating a community of people with with a shared set of values.
Ben Cash 2:35
Oh, that's, that's great. Yeah, I think that's people often don't get the, the larger benefits of, of the project and what it means it's not just growing vegetables, but it's actually, you know, Growing Minds and growing hearts. And yeah,
Jesse Blom 2:49
we say that is the food is a vehicle. The food is a vehicle for education, and it's a vehicle for health and as a vehicle for building relationships with people
Ben Cash 2:58
that have that, too. I've always been a fan of the product of all these years. So one of the reasons that I wanted to interview you Jesse besides just your cool dude, and you're doing some great things is that you and I both spoke at Pecha Kucha, actually, I've got a poster, I think here in my room was PechaKucha, 34. A couple years ago, I don't know, maybe 2000. I want to say 2019. Like, before, before, you know, BP you know what happens, right? And what was great about that was that, like we, you were relatively new to Green Heart. Right? And we're talking about your your story, how you got there, and all these things. And I was also talking about my story of change, and where I was hoping to take the the agency as being a vehicle for you know, force for good. And it was sort of this or call us kind of going. Okay, let's check in in a year and see how we're doing. Right, right. Of course COVID was like hold my beer. But you know, I so I was really I was really struck by your your story. And that and I'm I know it Green Heart was was not your first rodeo. It's it's it was sort of your past led to that. And so why where did this start for you? Why urban agriculture?
Jesse Blom 4:35
Yeah, so good question, Ben. I've always been drawn to nature. Alright, so I would say that's the very, very start of it, though. I'm native to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, spent my summers up in northern Wisconsin. And I learned I learned to be in the outdoors. I went to a canoeing camp during the summers when I was growing up. And on these canoeing trips, you go out You spend days at a time out in the wilderness with a small group of people, usually between four to eight people. And you just learn how to live with one another and you learn how to live in nature. And those experiences are really, really impactful on me from from a young age, I feel like I feel like I learned how to be a human, you know, through those experiences, much more so than going to school didn't have much of affinity for school, I didn't have much connection with my neighborhood. You know, for me, it was going out to connect with nature that really helped me develop my my identity, my sense of self, and my and my connection to the world. And so as I grew older, I thought that that's what I wanted to do. When I grew up, I thought that I wanted to lead canoe trips for young people, so that they could have similar experiences to me. And I did that for a short while. I would say ages 18 to 23 or so that was like that was my thing that I did for a while during summers during college. And then after college, I did a good bit. And one thing I started doing or canoeing, yeah, canoeing, leading canoe trips, and that led to other things, you know, the camp, I went to the YMCA camp, it was it was a phenomenal, it's a phenomenal place. It's called Camp Manitowish YMCA. And they've taken the lessons that they have learned through canoe trips. And they've created a formula and applied it to leadership development. And they got this whole theory framework in this whole sort of series of activities, you can go through with groups that try to recreate essentially what happens on a wilderness trip with a group of people. So it could be a company, it could be a school group. And, you know, you go through a multi day experience, problem solving, you know, learning about each other. And so and so through that process, I also got to learn a little bit more about group development, leadership development, now fascinated by all of it.
Ben Cash 7:02
Did you start when you were when you were doing it, that initially before that, was there someone that did the same thing for you? That was sort of like a mentor somebody else?
Jesse Blom 7:13
Absolutely. You know, it was the guy who ran the leadership program at that camp. He was kind of like a sage old guy. He was he was his native northern Wisconsin, but he kind of, you know, I don't know what his relationship with the, with the with the Ojibwe nation was, he was a he was a white guy. He wasn't a Native guy. But he was familiar with a lot of the old Native wisdom in that part of the country and incorporated in his leadership development work anyway, great guy. Yeah, Howard Marks Zanoni. I'll give him a shout out. They might have. But anyway, I learned about essentially, leading leadership development process these, you know, and, and I sort of started and this is a long story, Ben. So for me, the one but we ended up taking a job back in Milwaukee, my hometown, doing leadership development work with high school kids. We were working with private schools from around the country and around the world. And we take small group kids from these private schools and put them into outdoor environments. We did a sailing trip, where the kids would get on a sailboat and sail around for a few days. There was a trip in New Mexico we did where the kids would go climb mountains in New Mexico, stayed at retreat center, eat vegetarian food and sort of, you know, really get out there. And the last one, in this sequence of experiences, the last one was a we traveled to Costa Rica, and visited a university, they're dedicated to sustainable agriculture. EARTH University was the name of the university. So I found myself, so you know, I, I loved the outdoors part of it. I loved it, the leadership development part of it, I was found myself at a two person, nonprofit organization. So I was number two out of two people. I basically learned how to run a nonprofit. It was a startup nonprofit. So I learned all the administration and management behind this is the one in Costa Rica. This is Milwaukee is based out of Milwaukee, we would we would send kids, we would send kids all over the place, you know, to these different programs. So, so learn how to do that and learn how to manage a nonprofit. And at the same time, but I was still dissatisfied, you know, after doing that for a couple of years, and the reason then was with with the canoe trips, too, I started feeling this but the canoe trips and then it continued with this other group that I was with is we were reaching, like we were reaching the 1%. Right, or the half percent or the 1% of the population that could afford his experience. And it was it was during this time, but I was kinda you know, because be more self aware and recognizing that hey, you know, I'm facilitating all of these experiences with these one percenters. Am I a one percenter? You know, I'm sort of getting self reflective, you know, and, and I became convinced that, you know, that I wanted to, I wanted everybody to have this type of experience that these kids are having. And I was realizing that it was it was not possible in that format. It was also not possible in the format that I grew up in, you know, while canoe trips are awesome. They're just, they're just not so accessible to people. And so I made that realization, then, before I knew anything about urban farming or anything like that.
Ben Cash 10:43
You were like, early 20s. At that point.
Jesse Blom 10:44
Yeah, yeah, I was 20. Yeah, I was probably 20. That's probably 25-24, 25.
Ben Cash 10:52
It's a pretty good realization. Yeah.
Jesse Blom 10:55
Yeah, I was like, I was convinced. I was like, No, I know what I wanted to do. But this is just not working. And you know, but I started getting a vision of what it was that I wanted to do. And it really crystallized. When I made these repeat visits to Costa Rica to this university. They're called EARTH University. And that's a really special place. They, it's a university that teaches sustainable agriculture, they get four year degrees, undergraduate degrees in agronomy, soil science, they recruit kids from all over the world, but they focus on the tropics. So you get kids from the Caribbean, from Western East Africa, from Southeast Asia, tropical regions around the world. And they mostly recruit from small, rural, poor communities. So you get these kids, and almost all of them are on scholarship. So they get big money from us, AIB and Kellogg Foundation in this net. So let's give them a scholarship. And so you get these these. So this is not the 1%. This is a 99.
Ben Cash 12:01
take that knowledge and they take it back to SDI country, their
Jesse Blom 12:05
idea? Yeah, they're you're reaching the 99%. You know, you're teaching them real practical skills that they use. And they not only teach the skills, they learn how to they teach how to how to use those skills for community development, and for economic development. So every student goes through there goes through a business startup, they get a $10,000 loan from the university, and they start their own business product, and it's usually evaluated food product. And so the leader and business development skills as they go, they learn how to consult with community members to undertake projects that benefit the entire community. So they, that really lit a fire for me seeing that happen. And I was like, This is it. This is it. This is how you take experiences with nature, which is agriculture. This is how you apply it to a broad swath of the community by teaching, you know, economic development and community development through these practices. And it was like, This is what I want to do. And that was it that sold me. And so I came back to Milwaukee. And I remember, I was like, I was like, Where do I start? And, and it was not long after that. It was like, literally a week or two after that my mom gave me a magazine and she she sort of folded a page on that magazine. And she said, You should read this, you know, you might, you might like read this article, and it was article about an urban farmer in Milwaukee named Will Allen, who was basically doing the same thing and he was targeting young kids from the north side of Milwaukee and in the neighborhood where he was and is by you know, at that time I didn't know what a food desert was a lot of people didn't know what food desert was, but he was sort of educating people about what it looks like to live in a neighborhood where there is no zero healthy food options, and how you can grow your own food and help to address some of those problems but in the process, develop a sense of dignity of self worth of really you know, it's really what it is is positive activity positive healthy activity that you can you know, invest yourself into will Alan became a world famous urban farmer over a short period of time he was you know, recognized by the Obama White House the Clinton Global Initiative sent him over to Zimbabwe so here in Milwaukee I had this like, we had this all star urban farmer and went over volunteered over there for a little bit
Ben Cash 14:34
and then so you see, then you read the article and then you actually like, I'm gonna go I'm like, I'm gonna go How long after you saw this article? did like how fast this happened?
Jesse Blom 14:43
It must have been like the next week, right? I must have you know, how do I get involved? You know, there's probably volunteer information I found I show up probably next mountain mission. Yeah. And so and so I'm there and now I'm now in shoveling woodchips in a wheelbarrow and, you know, moving woodchips around the As far as the north side of Milwaukee, and pretty soon I discovered that there were other people in this sort of strange Community of Practice. That is urban farming in Milwaukee. And that's where I met the people at Sweetwater. Sweetwater was my first opportunity for employment in urban agriculture. And I showed up at Sweetwater and they had started a farm on the south side of Milwaukee. And at this farm, that they were inviting schools and schools would show up in their school buses, and get off the school bus and come see the farm, but they didn't have any program for the kids, they would kid would just sort of walk around, that goes out. And so I was able to, you know, use my background and experiencial education to formulate a program. And that was the start of it all. So work to Sweetwater for a few years, built up an education program with them doing urban farming and education, you know, was able to sort of use that as an opportunity to get out of town, get to Baltimore to work for the University there. For Johns Hopkins University. They were hiring somebody to do something similar. They had a little arm that they wanted to use for education. So did that. And then so you
Ben Cash 16:09
said that Johns Hopkins. So they have a job? That's kind of that's the you know, I think I've heard of Johns Hopkins. Maybe? Like, I mean, how well developed was it at that point?
Jesse Blom 16:24
Well it was. So the reason that was that what worked for me is there's a specific type of agriculture, which is products, the cultivation of fish and vegetables, in a water system, a very specific type of farming that I gained expertise in over those years with Sweetwater they wanted somebody to do this educational aquaponics farm. And there's only so many of us out there that do that. So I raised my hand job, went out to Baltimore, brought my family out there. And then I worked for them for a couple years. But what I really wanted to do is get back into the community, because when you're at a university, you're kind of separated in a way Yeah, happening in the community. And that's when I was I was looking again, and that's when I found that Green Heart in Charleston, South Carolina where I had never imagined I might move to Yeah, no visit, let alone move to.
Ben Cash 17:12
I mean, you're gonna trade your canoe for a kayak, of course.
Jesse Blom 17:15
Yeah, in in a greenhouse looking for a director. And, you know, I sort of, you know, what can this my wife is, she grew up in Miami, Florida. So, you know, I convinced my wife that well, we're in, she was trying to get back to warmer climates by the season, I was able to convince, bear and came down here to Charleston, osprey and a half years ago. So that's kind of my little bit of my backstory, you know, there's cost, there's a lot of stuff along the way. I was thinking, my, my greatest inspiration along that whole journey is, you know, watching students get really a spark ignited in terms of interest and, and, you know, a world of opportunity really opens up when you figure out that you can make a positive impact through something as simple as growing, growing.
Ben Cash 18:03
But I'm curious about that. Because, you know, that, I mean, there's so many metaphors here. This is like one giant metaphor bombing to try to contain myself, but like, it sounds like, like, you're there's one aspect of setting up the environment and the opportunity for this to grow for this to happen. Right. But you also were talking earlier about, like, how you learned a lot of leadership skills and being a leader, and, you know, what does that look? What does leadership look like in that kind of environment?
Jesse Blom 18:36
Oh, okay, so, so, let me talk maybe about, like the what the students experience. Yeah. And that'll lead me to maybe talk a little bit about leadership. So yeah, sure. One thing that I've found over the years in these projects, and you see it with Green Heart, in Charleston, that, you know, the teacher is trying to teach English, math and, you know, whatever academic subject they're trying to teach in the classroom. They're lucky, I think, or they're good and talented, probably a little bit of both, if they find a way to teach teamwork, and cooperation. And, you know, and leadership in a classroom environment, because, like, you mentioned, the physical environment, physical environments, in the classrooms, not necessarily structured in a way to
Ben Cash 19:26
say that, yeah, there's also a more standard deliver. You got the one person the top and you got your Yeah, very, I don't know, a different, you know, a system from a different era.
Jesse Blom 19:39
You got it, you got it. And so juxtapose that with the garden, you know, you're out in the garden with kids and you gather around the garden bed to look what's growing in the garden. So we at Green Heart, and you do a circle up so you do a big group circle up and you've got the 15-20 kids, however many you know, you're all looking at each other and you're all even playing field and you're standing up, and then you go to the small group breakouts, and you're circled up, and you're working together. And you know, you're testing something back and forth in order to do the work in the garden, the hands on work. So I think the environment, and the activity is more set up for working together. And, you know, practicing teamwork, and when when we talk with the teachers, and with the principals at the schools, about, you know, how Green Heart really makes an impact. They bring up things like, the kids are learning how to work together in the garden. So that's one thing. And I think, you know, leadership, in my experience really spawns from teamwork, right. So if you learn how to work with each other on a team, you can start to figure out what effective in terms of helping you're helping your team move in a certain direction. So you might figure out that you're really good at talking and getting directions, you might figure out that you're really good at doing hard work and the hard work done. So we work with the kids on focusing on what works for them, you know,
Ben Cash 20:58
and I want you to keep going on this trip. And I just have one sort of question about what you just shared, which is, so you're, you're talking about, you know, when you put this into school, you they haven't math teachers, and the science teachers and all these kind of things. And, and those traditional sort of classroom settings, when you've implemented a program, and you've created that kind of new environment, and you're creating, there's that teamwork in those classes, have the other teachers come to you and said, Hey, I'm noticing a change, and behavior or attitude? Or, like, How is your work affecting the traditional classrooms?
Jesse Blom 21:41
Yeah, well, yes, we do have teachers that come back and tell us that and, you know, is specific teachers who are really, you know, keen on, you know, finding, you know, finding those little things that sparked their students interests, and a specific students that I think gravitate towards this type of activity, right. So I can truthfully say that I think all students benefit from time in the garden. But there's a select few that really get into it. And it's those students where you see their time in the garden has an impact on their attendance at school, you got kids, when it's Green Heart Day, we do Green Heart, usually one day a week, when it's green, hard day, they show up with a Green Heart shirt, you know, they're ready to rock and roll. And those are the students that take what they grow in the garden, and ask their parents to buy that food that they grew in the garden from the grocery store, so they can cook it at home in the same way that we cooked it at Green Heart, right. And those are the students who, during the pandemic said, we're at home now, I don't have my Green Heart garden at school, let's build a garden at home. You know, so there are a select few students that really internalize this garden work and make it theirs. And that's, that's my ultimate goal. Ben, that's, that's, like, that's me. You know? That's right. Yeah. For me, that was me canoeing. You know, I want I want to have the garden be that for some of our students that it really sparks the fire? And
Ben Cash 23:09
is that the you know, that maybe that aspect of leadership is not necessarily like that you are in the classroom standing and delivering? And then what I think a lot of people, you know, in movies her you sort of think of, it's the it's the person in the front of the class, who's sort of like, charging the way, when really it's just someone who is passionate about something, and leading with that passion, and letting and seeing others follow.
Jesse Blom 23:37
Right. Exactly. Exactly. Yeah, that's, that's my inspiration and my work then. So, you know, when we're building our team at Green Heart, you know, I'm looking for people who are able to inspire that in others. Yeah. Based on their work in the garden stuff. So, yeah, where you want to go from here?
Ben Cash 23:58
Well, I mean, it's such a great story, and I can just pick up on what you left here, which is, um, you said there were there was like a student or some students or whatever that you've seen, where it really sparks? I mean, do you have any particular stories or, you know, I mean, this is lovely. Your work is not about you. I mean, you're talented dude. But like, it's, it's those students that you're working with? And I think you you, you know, you really are really about.
Jesse Blom 24:27
Yeah, I want to tell you about one student in particular. So when I showed up a Green Heart. You know, how if you work for a company or an organization, you kind of have that one stock photo that you use everywhere, it's on your brochure, and it's on your way. We had this one stock photo and there's a there's a Green Heart teacher wearing the Green Heart t shirt, and then there's a Green Heart student wearing the green t shirt and that Green Heart student is raising his hand like really vigorously right? He's ready to answer a question that in the garden. I never knew who that kid was. Until though, we just started a high school internship program where we're hiring high school kids to work for Green Heart during the summer. And a couple of years ago, we ran our first high school internship program. And one of the applicants, his name is Aaron. He came into the office for his interview, and he pointed up at the wall, he said, That's me. You know, that was Aaron. Aaron had come back, you know, and he was in that picture. He was in third grade, at Mitchell Elementary School. Oh, wow. And since that time, he had gone through middle school and then entered in high school. He's at Charleston Charter School for Math and Science, which is right here on King Street. And, and he was, he was he was, he was certain that he was going to get the job with us.
Ben Cash 25:59
shows me some royalties for your stock photo, right?
Jesse Blom 26:03
Those are poster child. And it and sure enough, he was one of our best interns. He came back for a second year. Last year, we even hired him on in the school year, this year to workforce he comes in after school he workforce, right? This this guy, Aaron, is one of those students who caught fire. You know, Green Heart did something for him. And I think what it did for him, because when you talk to him, it's not about the garden, he doesn't want to, you know, do Green Heart because he wants to grow food in the garden. He wants to do Green Heart because he wants to have a positive activity to do with other people that he really enjoys. Yeah, and, and that's what keeps drawing him back. And you know, he's got, he's got dreams of doing computer, learning and know the word sport, he likes to build computers. Okay, like me, that's his or engineering or something. There you go. There you go. That's interesting. So he's always using his paychecks for Green Heart, to go buy computer parts and build computers. It's not the gardening and the food is it's the people, it's that sense of community that we're trying to build, it keeps bringing it back, we've got this community, we're trying to support these kids as they grow. And, you know, he lives in a neighborhood, he lives over here on the east side, and he walks to school, and you know, he's a hard worker, and he is like, he's kind of like the, you know, the, he he embodies what I'm hoping we can continue to do year after year, is inspire the kids when they're young, and give them an opportunity to keep growing and maturing with us as they get older. So that they can then go on to inspire. No. Yeah, so that's right. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, that's, that's kind of the one that's kind of the one and, you know, one of the things we do with the with the interns is, we try to identify, you know, for whom the internship is going to be a transformational experience. That's how that's how we raise it. Because, you know, we could open up this internship program, we get all sorts of applicants, and some of them might apply for our internship, they might apply for, you know, band camp, they might apply for, you know, all of these other experiences that might be available to them, we are really looking for those students that, you know, this is kind of a, it's a unique opportunity for them. They don't have other experiences like this, that those are the candidates that we're going for. So we are looking, you know,
Ben Cash 28:24
I mean, you're looking for young Jesse's, I mean, yeah, connecting the dots that are getting into dots. And yeah,
Jesse Blom 28:32
yeah, you got to know that that's the, that's the impact that we're looking to have. And really, that's kind of, you know, you said the podcast is about change. Right. And I would say that's kind of our theory of change, if you will, is, is inspire the person. You know, that's, that is for others. Yeah,
Ben Cash 28:54
it's so right. And, and, you know, I it's, you know, so I'm leading a team leaving, you know, that the agency and I, you know, it's it's it's, it's a challenge, right, like leadership is a challenge, because, you know, I know sometimes I'm, I'm headstrong, I want to I want to get somewhere I want to change things, et cetera. And and I'm, you know, to the detriment sometimes of my colleagues, I'm like, I have so many ideas, and so optimistic and passionate about things. That it's, it's hard for me to get away sometimes. And this, the thing that I insert this module actually have this little email reminder that it's like, it's like an event I put in my calendar that sends a description for the reminder and every day reminds me that it's basically like, my job is to actually help them think creatively and help them do those things and just get the hell out of the way. Yeah, you know, it's hard. It's a hard balance, but Some of the best ideas, some of the best things that we've done had just had been
Ben Cash 30:08
because someone had had the space to do it and fail a little bit, in fact, right, exactly right. Let them fail.
Jesse Blom 30:16
I mean, I, when I came in, I interviewed for this job with Green Heart. I, I told my interviewers that it was my goal to be replaced, we call the kids that we work with, we call it my Green Heart buddies. Well, we got a little Green Heart buddies, we got to think of rehab buddies, we're big Green Heart buddies, you're a big Green Heart, buddy, Ben, and the students started a little bit hard buddies. I told him that my goal was for a little Green Heart, buddy to basically take my place. You know, when it was time. We started both 13 years ago now. So those third graders, which was Aaron in the photo with his hand up, you know, they are now 18-19 years old, you know, but as soon as it's done, you know,
Ben Cash 31:01
you want him you want to Aaron to take your job. Or you're like, Oh, listen,
Jesse Blom 31:09
listen, I'm not like, I'm not like Fidel Castro in sort of picking my successor here. But
Ben Cash 31:15
Aaron, if you're listening check him out, man. Come for his job,
Jesse Blom 31:21
though. whether, you know, yes, it absolutely could the Aaron I say is literal in the sense that I literally in striving for that to happen. Right, you know, and so, yes, I do what very much more a little bit hard money to take my, my place. So that's the ultimate goal. I'm both. So this was about gardens, or maybe not.
Ben Cash 31:47
Yeah, yeah. My T shirts, man. It's all it's all about swag. Man. I really just like Green Heart because you got great swag. I saw those those Green Heart masks, you know, you got like, Those are awesome, you know? Yeah, let's go to you know, GreenHeartsc.org.
Jesse Blom 32:05
There you go. We just got some hooded sweatshirt, then that's
Ben Cash 32:09
okay. Oh, actually, I need to get one of those guys sent me off. So you tell us, like, this is such an inspiring story. I mean, both personally, and the organization. And it just, like, when I imagine that it's just you're like, you know, just tromping through the, to this journey. And it's all roses and everything, right. But I but I know, like, if you're if you're a change jockey, or you change have the change mindset. I know, there's been some some obstacles or some things all the way, you know, your mom's not just gonna hand you the right thing. You're marked every every time you for that next thing. Like, what's what's been some of the tough things about change or about this journey for you?
Jesse Blom 32:54
Yeah. Well, I would say personally, uprooting and moving the family has been a big, big part of this journey for me, you know, finding ourselves in Charleston, because it hasn't been an easy journey. You know, we had a route from our hometown, Milwaukee, where we started our family, yeah, in order to make that trip out to Baltimore. So that was a big leap, you know, like, just having faith and trusting that what was on the other side, was gonna somehow propel us towards something that was better, you know, so I'd say yeah, and then and then again, Baltimore, to Charleston, but we were sort a little bit broken in by that time, you know, move moving. And I think, again, you could think about that literally or figuratively, right, just getting off getting off of dead center and moving. This was a huge challenge that we faced along the way. And I think we're still facing the consequences of it like, but in the end, you know, and again, talking about this inspiration thing, them following that inspiration, and just trying to, you know, find that next bit. And then I would say on a, you know, when it comes to actually doing the work and challenges I find there, I'd say, you know, maybe just like any organization, but I find it, it's I find that it's specifically or organizations like Green Heart, where it's like, everybody's passing by everybody. I mean, all the employees, and even sometimes volunteers and board members just kind of everybody's passion project, you know, like, and I think that's what sets it apart. Maybe it maybe it's maybe it's common for nonprofits. I'm sure you find it in some companies as well. But I feel like specifically nonprofit, specifically, something as unique as Green Heart, like, everybody is here because they love the gardens and kids, Green Heart, and when you have a group of people, that's all driven by their own passion, you can do great things and it can be very inspiring, but you can also it also can result in big conflict and and because everybody is so emotionally invested in the work. So I guess that's, that's the big thing that I continue to find is that people doing the work are so emotionally invested it becomes, it's always challenging to organize as a team. Because you know, everybody is, when you have such emotional investment, any change, getting back to the theme of change, any change that you make, can challenge somebody's emotional investment investment, because you have to be willing to let go of your attachment to a specific way we build a garden or a specific way we did, you know, that you might feel strongly about, but it might not be in the best interest of our organizing efforts. And so trying to create a formal structure and organizational structure around something that that the passion project for everybody is challenging, you know, so. So it becomes it becomes a big emotional investment. Let me say,
Ben Cash 35:45
Yeah, and I think back to sort of when you know, you are passionate doing a canoeing stuff, right, you had this sense, but then at a certain point, your passion was different than those around you. And you know, and that's I know, as far as like, leading organization, that's often the challenging thing, whether you're getting your buddies, your Green Heart buddies, whether you're hiring employees, or whatever it is, that everybody's rowing in the same direction. Sorry, not not to use it. No pun intended. But and, like, how do you how do you know when to when it's right, when it's wrong? When it when it's when it's time to move on? Like? What? Both yourself and for the people that are around you? Right? How's that? What's that been like for you?
Jesse Blom 36:38
Ben, that's a question that I keep asking myself every day. Every day, how do we how do we do this? You know? How do we do it? Then? I would say, you know, I'm trying to get better every day at giving people their duties and responsibilities, and also really, almost redefining on a weekly basis for myself, what are my duties and responsibilities? And one way that I phrased it currently recently was, what does the Green Heart Project need me to do today? Or, you know, how does the greater project need to be spending my time today, and I think in that way, you kind of are able to step outside yourself a little bit and, you know, defer to the needs of the organization. And I think one of the ways to do that is set up really clear duties. So wow, Ben, personally, I can speak to this personally, I love gardening. I love I also love teaching students. I also love packaging produce for the market that we have, you know, I also love I love all of these things that I would also really getting clear about okay, what, you know, what am I really going to focus on in putting putting each of my employees in a position where they can set boundaries for themselves? And then I have to play a bit of a referee sometimes, you know, okay, I know you like doing this other thing. But this is somebody else's thing. So I'm trying to get better at that.
Ben Cash 38:01
Yeah. And so, you know, I think back to our, our pets, future talks, right, and that, and you're there, like, I started this business, because I really liked the work. I love creating things. I love the creative process. And as the business grew, I had people like I gave this one thing that I like, over to this person, I give this thing I like, and eventually I sort of like find myself like, oh, shit, I have nothing. I've given all those things away. And I gotta find a new passion. Right now the business was my, like, this is my livelihood this way. So I had I was, I couldn't go change. And I also had a family and I can't go chasing the next thing, right? I think this change has its limitations, right? Um, but I've had to find a new passion in leadership in setting that vision and trying to get others on board. And it's, it's, um, man, it's a tough road, because it's like, you know, you put those 10,000 hours in, right, you gotta like until you like, I feel like I'm always faking it. Because it's so new, that it's harder to enjoy it. But you know, you get those wins every now and then. But like, yeah, what are some of the new things that you think you're like, replacing or letting go? Or did you experience that? Or are you just like, I love everything. And I'm like,
Jesse Blom 39:45
No, I'm kind of where you are. But I've got to, you know, tried to give everything away. And really, really, and you know, so I guess one thing that really gets me going, just like, you know, just like I love seeing the spark and the passion and the kids that really take on gardening, I love seeing that sparking that passion in my employees, when they grab ahold of something that I used to do, or that I used to be good at, and do it in their own way. And like you said, stepping out of the way. So, you know, I would say that that is probably that is probably the biggest challenge that I deal with. And one of the biggest things I'm trying to get better at every day. And then as a result in a sir, you see this too, in your experiences, too, as a leader, you know, naturally I become more of a salesperson with, you know, try to get people to get good at everything that they do at Green Heart. And now I just go out and I tell other people how great Green Heart is anymore, and everybody else can tell other people have this passion for cheerleading. Right? There you go. Yeah. So I'm very much in. That's the trench that I'm in right now is trying to figure out how to transition myself out of the activities. Yeah, and I love so much to a news new space where I'm a cheerleader. Referees.
Ben Cash 41:06
Exactly, right? Yeah. Oh, man. If you if you figure it out, let me know. Because I, yeah, goodness. So we're getting close to time here. But I, I did have one thing I wanted to ask because, you know, I've seen that keep seeing aspects of this, you know, the new urban farm, that your that you've been building. And I because of the pandemic, I just haven't gotten that as much. And I'm and I'm can't wait to go experience it. But what's tell me about the urban farmer, what's what's that? How's, where's that taking Green Heart.
Jesse Blom 41:47
So the urban farm test, that was the big project that they had on the table with Green Heart when I came in, and so it's a half acre urban farm in downtown Charleston, on King Street, 900 King Street. And we built it in 2020. So it's been a year and a half now. We're in our second year of growing there. It's a school garden for three schools on the block. For schools. Now, actually, there's a new school in in the area that can all walk there and use it as their garden. It's in the middle of a residential community. They have a lot of the housing authority. So to workforce housing, affordable housing, a lot of them are seniors. So there's a lot of senior housing there and workforce housing, people are in force.
Ben Cash 42:29
This was a partnership with local government. Right. Our partnerships with schools, is that your difference there?
Jesse Blom 42:35
Yeah, very much. So yeah, housing, that the working on Housing Authority properties is different than working with schools. But yeah, you know, they're both they're both sort of big is the public institutions there, for better for worse, and but no, it's a great spot, you know, that we very much are trying to create community buy in was essential to anytime you build a garden in a residential neighborhood, you know, the neighbors have to sort of feel like it's theirs. And so the farm very much is it belongs to the community. And the folks who live there have a chance to garden there. So we got the school gardens, and we got some beds that are for the schools, some beds for the community members to garden there. And then what really brings people out is we do a weekly market. So every Thursday, we sell the vegetables that we grow it at the farm, and we do pay what you can, okay, so, you know, being affordable housing, you've got people have limited income, you know, limited means, right now, that reflects a lot of the neighborhood in Upper Peninsula while the Upper Peninsula is changing, gentrifying really quickly, you know, a lot of people a higher income coming in, it still is a predominantly lower income neighborhood, especially in North North Central where we're at. So everything's paid what you can do we got you know, most people pay something by $1, pay five bucks, you know, whatever you have available for your veggies, some people don't pay, but then other people who can pay come in and they then they pay for the veggies and and some people get a little extra and we balanced it out. So the market is really what what brings people out. That's on Thursdays. If anybody here is listening. On Thursday afternoon come by 900 King Street, get get your fresh veggies. Garden freshmen love
Ben Cash 44:18
football. So that's a good cue to like, what are some things that people can do to volunteer or support? Green Heart Yeah,
Jesse Blom 44:25
yeah, you know, coming to the market is really easy. I have in my mind the easy way. Come by get your veggies on Thursday afternoon. Volunteer, volunteer driven, volunteer base. We take volunteers on Thursday afternoons, to work out in the garden during the market. We take volunteers on Thursday mornings to harvest the veggies for market. We got all sorts of other volunteers. Okay, let's go to our web website and figure it out
Ben Cash 44:50
GreenHeartsc.org blog plug. Yeah, get some get some good swag. Yeah, yeah, the flyer get your garden on This is such a separate I remember you and I had dinner actually, at Rue de Jean right before we both went on to speak at PechaKucha never having a similar kind of enjoyable conversation. And I'm so glad we're getting to reconnect. And I just before like a last question, last few questions here for you. You've you've, you've had a long journey, long way to go still, you probably learned a lot of lessons in this communities that you've served, what, whether it's urban agriculture, or anything, what would like what is one lesson that you've learned that you think, you know, what is something people can do if they want to also be good community members? good servants?
Jesse Blom 45:52
Yeah. You know, one reason I like gardening so much is because literally, anybody can do it anywhere. Even if you don't have any yard space. You could put pots on your porch, you can put you know, you can grow sprouts in your kitchen. You know, you can you can do something no matter how small. And so that's something that I that that's one of them. Will Alan Williams, that farmer back in Milwaukee, I told him that he would he would say over and over and over again, like do something no matter how small went and he was talking specifically about urban gardening and urban farming. And, you know, you can start literally start super small and anybody can, but start zooming out from that. One thing that I've learned is, you know, if you do something that you feel really inspired about and passionate about, you know, other people are going to come find you. So one part of my story I didn't talk about which is, I think an important link between my canoeing and my gardening. Okay, seems it seems unlikely connection, but there's very much important
Ben Cash 47:03
you bring it home for us, Jesse.
Jesse Blom 47:06
I, when I was in Milwaukee, before, I was a before after Well, well, I don't know. I started volunteering at a at a school where they built boats. So the high school kids were building boats. At the school, we were building canoes, we were building row boats. And there were a couple of really talented and really inspired woodshop teachers there. I didn't know anything about building boats. I didn't know anything about woodshop I loved about. And so I just showed up at the school and I said hey, I want to help. And, and it was at that school that I learned about across the river. There was this urban farm, which was Sweetwater which might my employment around around a regarding. So I think the one lesson that I'm trying to when I'm trying to pass on there is, you know, I found other people who are inspired to do work, and that inspired me to show up. And that was the woodshop you know, and I didn't end up building boats. I didn't end up being a woodworker. But it helped me It helped create, you know, some momentum. For me, I went out there and I found the inspired people. And I started, you know, spending time around them and learning from them. And I led to the next thing. So I guess one thing I would ask people to do is just, if you feel that inspiration, and you for whatever reason, you're not going out there to do that thing. Go go do that, and find other people who are really jazzed about doing their thing.
Ben Cash 48:28
And it's so right. That's all right. Lead with your labors, your passion. Put that on a coffee mug or so they move x swag, it's gonna be like, you know, lead with passion. Jesse bloom well, okay. All right. Well, so besides you, of course, who is someone that we should follow or listen to? Or like, Who's Who's someone's passion that we need to hear?
Jesse Blom 48:56
You know, I've I've used his name so many times. I gotta go back to Will Alan. You know, yeah, will is a literal, literal giant of a man, former basketball player. You know whether or not you have any interest in urban farming or gardening. This guy is inspirational, though. Look up. Well, Allen is done bunch of talks. And they've done a bunch of videos on him. And learn about somebody who really moved the needle when it came to you know, urban farming becoming the thing that is more recognizable in the United States..
Ben Cash 49:36
Fantastic Jesse, thank you so much for for chatting with me. This has been a pleasure. We got to get to Regina again.
Jesse Blom 49:43
I'd love that. I'd love to bring it back.
Ben Cash 49:45
We got to get together again. Yeah. And I need to meet Aaron. I feel like I feel like I need to meet Aaron as well. So anyway, but thank you so much. Yeah. Cheers greenheartsc.org. Go check them out. Go visit the urban farm on Thursdays. Get some get some good veggies.
Jesse Blom 50:08
Yeah. Thanks, man. Take care.
Ben Cash 50:12
This has been an episode of For the Better for more information episode or to be a guest on the podcast visit forthebetterpodcast.com Thanks all the well