17 - Montclair Community Farm
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Christa Hein: Hey there. Welcome to the Farm Educators Roadmap. I'm Christa Hein, former nonprofit girl turned farm education entrepreneur. I've spent the last 30 years creating hands-on programs that connect people to the land, animals, and the traditions that nourish our daily lives.
If you're listening, you probably believe what I do - that farm education is needed now more than ever. Not just on rural farms, but in suburbs, cities, and everywhere in-between. In this podcast, you'll hear real stories and practical advice from farm educators all across the country, people who are creating change through their programs in creative and inspiring ways.
Whether you're dreaming about starting your first program, are already knee deep in your own farm education work, or are just curious about how others are impacting their communities through farm education, you're in the right place. [00:01:00] Let's dig in.
Christa Hein: Welcome back to the Farm Educators Roadmap. Today I'm excited to introduce you to Lana Mustafa, the Executive Director of Montclair Community Farms in Montclair, New Jersey. She started her journey at the farm in 2018 as a part-time farmer, bringing her background in environmental education and homesteading. What began as beekeeping and gardening in her own backyard has blossomed into leading a thriving urban farm that feeds and teaches the community.
From food access initiatives and a mobile farm stand to preschool programs, school outreach, youth leadership, and even chicken birthday parties, Montclair Community Farms is weaving farming, education and community together in creative ways.
Lana, thanks so much for joining us.
Lana Mustafa: Thank you so much, Christa. I'm so excited to be here.
Christa Hein: So I want to start by hearing a little bit about your personal backstory. Your bio on the Farms [00:02:00] website says that you felt connected to nature since you were a child.
How did gardening as a child start you on the path for environmental education? And what was your journey from earth-loving kid to Executive Director of a community farm.
Lana Mustafa: So I started gardening probably at the age of seven or eight. As soon as I learned about the germination process, I was completely captured.
I thought beans were magical. I'd plant them and wait for that magical beanstalk to grow and grow. And also growing up, my family moved a lot. We relocated several times as a child, and that was very difficult for me. But the one common denominator was always having a backyard, a place where I can dig around in the soil, turn over rocks, find discoveries, adventure around forests or woods.
And that really captured me. It gave me a place to explore for my curiosity to run wild, for me to feel [00:03:00] free. And it also gave me stability, which I felt was very important, unknowingly. Now that I look back at as an adult, I realize the importance. But I think that was pretty much how it got started.
And then as an adult, I got married very young. I was a young mom and I wanted my kids, like many parents, to eat well, right? We want our kids to eat all the broccoli and green beans and you know, all the great vegetables that we have on our plates. I realized pretty early on as a mom that if I wanted to make sure that my kids were eating a really well-rounded full diet, that they had to love their vegetables.
And so, the backyard was our learning ground. We started with a few raised beds and that very quickly just catapulted into planting fruit trees. You know, one thing led to another, learned about factory farming, and then we got our first flock of chickens in 2011. And just one door opening up to another, really just the [00:04:00] impact that I was making on my own kids, how excited they were to pick a tomato.
I tell you one thing, I wasn't a fan of tomatoes growing up. I would grow them as a kid, give them out to my friends. And watching my kids just bite right into the tomato like it was an apple or some sweet strawberry inspired me to start tasting them as an adult again.
And, it was just such a beautiful time as a young mom to just see my kids barefoot in the garden, taking things, getting excited, season after season. And I wanted to share that not only with my children, but with the kids in my community. And so in 2016, I became a beekeeper and very quickly learned about colony collapse disorder, and I very distinctly remember reading an article about how we can save the bees and you know, there were three suggestions. One was plant a pollinator garden. The second was support your local beekeeper, and the third was become a beekeeper. And at that point I knew I was already an extremist, given [00:05:00] that I was living in a very urban location right here in Clifton, raising these and chickens and wild children.
And so I began offering educational programs right in the comfort of my backyard. And they became very popular over the two summers that I did the program. I think I educated over 350 kids right here in town.
And by sheer luck, I saw our job opening in 2018 and put out a resume with what I was doing in my backyard and landed a part-time farming position.
Christa Hein: Ah, that's incredible. Awesome. So as a homesteader and a backyard beekeeper, how do you think that that lifestyle prepared for you, for your role at the farm?
Lana Mustafa: hmm. Well, it definitely prepared me, that's for sure. So I did a lot of self-learning and with that comes a lot of trial and error. This is prior to having an extensive community. While I was still a stay at home [00:06:00] mom, I was very much, you know, in the comfort of my backyard and home. And so, it gave me the perspective of what other people might be interested in or what might invite other people to get their foot in the door.
A simple, oh, you like honey, well, did you know this is what's going on with the bees? Did you know that buying honey from a local beekeeper rather than the store is 10 times better? You know? And that really helped give me an understanding as an educator to remember that people are coming into this world from all different levels.
Also, another thing that really helped me is, as a homesteader, I'm only growing on a 50 x 100 foot plot, so you have to be very, very creative. And over at Montclair Community Farms we're also growing in a very small space. So it gave me this opportunity to be innovative, to be creative with the way that I was crop planning, and also to get to know the way that our plants grow in a way so that I can maximize yield [00:07:00] in such a small and tight space.
That I think really set me apart and helped me grow such an abundant garden in the first few years of working at Montclair Community Farms.
Christa Hein: Nice. So, for listeners who haven't been there, can you paint us a picture of Montclair Community Farms?
Lana Mustafa: Of course. Montford Community Farms is located in the heart of Montclair.
We are on Montclair History Center property. So the property itself houses a beautiful YWCA museum. It houses an old school, an old store from the 1980s. So just to give you the background, this location was once upon a time a farm. Given that farming in our community is very difficult, we kind of resort to smaller plots.
So, our farm is around 10,000 square feet. We grow out of raised garden beds. We have about 35 to 40 raised garden beds. We have a beautiful compost system. We have [00:08:00] a flock of chickens on the farm. We are surrounded by a pollinator meadow, which is a new initiative that we've been working on. So, we have over a hundred native plants growing all over the meadow.
And our community absolutely loved this. They see us as a resource for not only education, but affordable and nutrient dense food, and a place for connection. We attract people of all backgrounds, of professional backgrounds. It's, pretty amazing all the people that come to the farm to learn and also seeking connection.
Christa Hein: Yeah. And I see that the farm was created out of a coalition of organizations. How did that come about and what do you think makes the collaboration so essential in this kind of community work?
Lana Mustafa:Yeah, so we function as a coalition currently, and some of our coalition members are Rutgers State University, Montclair State University, the MCL History Center, the Montclair Health Department, and also Home Core. And all [00:09:00] of our coalition members started with simply wanting to address the most basic needs in our community.
People needed food. And the best way to get them food is to provide them with a local source that's easily attainable, accessible, and affordable. And so, two of the organizations on our coalition donated the land to us, which was very generous. Rutgers and Montclair State University are amazing.
They are both our fiscal sponsors. So, we are not our own independent 501(c)(3) yet - we're working on that. But they serve as our fiscal sponsors. They also support us with an abundant amount of volunteers. We just had our 9/11 day of service with MSU students most recently this Saturday. And that allows us to have access to the older students in college. Through some of their partnerships with AmeriCorps, we actually have the opportunity to hire paid interns. So [00:10:00] we are super fortunate to have that extra support and also give these students stipends so that they know that they're, the work that they're doing on the farm is not only valuable to us, but also to them. We want to make sure that everybody's paid equitably.
Christa Hein: Awesome. So, food access is such a big part of your mission. Why is that such a priority for the farm, and what impact have you seen it have locally?
Lana Mustafa: Food access is essential to our mission. It's our primary focus actually. We have a mobile farm stand, which is a very cute wooden structure, created out of beautiful cedar wood that attaches to the back of our pickup truck.
And throughout the seasons, we grow an assortment of organic vegetables with the help of our interns and staff. And we load all of that amazing produce and we take it to what we recognize as food deserts. Communities in town that do not have access to a walking supermarket. And many of the people that [00:11:00] we serve are actually low-income senior citizens.
So, we take the farmer's market, quote, quote all the way to them. And each year we have a survey that goes out to our seniors just so that we understand what their needs are, what we did right, what we have done wrong, how we can improve. And believe it or not, when we read those results back and we are looking towards our next season, what we most find is that it's the connection that people are looking for.
It's not just the food. You know, we had one senior say that seeing the truck roll into the parking lot is seeing the sun come out from behind the clouds.
Christa Hein: Oh, that's so beautiful.
Lana Mustafa: You know, she is so excited to be around young interns, energetic people, people that are growing the vegetables that they may not have ever seen or cooked with, and suddenly they're learning and exchanging recipes.
It's just a beautiful opportunity to honor [00:12:00] people that may not be recognized in society right now.
Christa Hein: Yeah. I was going to ask you how being able to take food directly to your residents can change the relationship between the farm and the community, and it sounds like that's really helping to build that relationship as well.
Lana Mustafa: Absolutely. Absolutely. We have customers that have been visiting the mobile farm stand for over 10 years that are our true champions in the community. Not only do they love our staff and love all the produce that we're bringing, but they do love the prices. Our focus is making so that people can get the most bang for their buck.
And you do everything possible to make sure that we are equitable and that we're able to accept all forms of payment. We currently accept SNAP, we accept WIC, we accept the FMNP vouchers for seniors, and we also participate in a program called the Good Food Bucks, which basically doubled their purchasing power.
So, if a customer was spending $10 on their SNAP card, they just got a [00:13:00] 50% discount for shopping with us. And that is an exciting thing for a lot of people, especially when you're living on a fixed income and you need that money to cover other expenses like your housing or your car insurance, or your medical bills.
Christa Hein: So, I want to, shift our focus a little bit to the programs that you offer to the community. So, and I love how your programming ranges from preschoolers to seniors. Can you tell us about your early childhood programs like Sprouts and Sweet Pea?
Lana Mustafa: Yeah, of course. Sprouts and Sweet Peas are some of our programs that were birthed out of the COVID Pandemic.
When everybody was distracting and under house arrest and social distance, we began launching outdoor educational programs and we found that families absolutely love them. These programs give children the opportunity to really enrich their lives in nature and explore the garden in every sense of the way.
From touching [00:14:00] things to tasting things, to pulling things out of the ground that they may not have known were growing in the ground like a carrot. It also introduces them to different foods. So, we do a lot of sampling in a lot of our programs, whether it's apple season or berry season. We want them to see things in all shapes and sizes.
And really it's a place to have these children explore their curiosity, to take them, to give them an opportunity to break away from technology, which seems to be, you know, encroaching in all aspects of our lives, whether it's our home life or school life.
There's almost no separation from technology unless parents really encourage their kids into the outdoors or enroll them in programs like ours.
Christa Hein: And I'm sure it's really rewarding as someone who was so influenced by their own childhood in gardening to know that what you're offering might be that spark to lead somebody in a similar direction to how you've led or who [00:15:00] knows where it could lead them. But you're planting those seeds in the kids as well.
Lana Mustafa: Exactly, and that's something that I think about a lot. I think about our ecosystems and how much saving they need and how these children are going to inherit this planet. And unless the adults around them are planting the seed of love for our trees and for our flowers and for our bees, they may grow up missing the opportunity to connect and realizing that and they never realize that the power is in their hands to protect their ecosystems and protect our forests and our waters. So for me it's another way to activate the next generation of land stewards.
Christa Hein: So, another program that you have on the farm is chicken birthday parties, and that sounds like such a fun entry point. What's the magic in making chickens the star of the show?
Lana Mustafa: Christa, it's very, very funny actually. So for many, many years I thought that [00:16:00] we were the reason that people were coming back to the farm. And then I started hearing from others that it's actually the chickens. And so now my staff and our chickens are actually in competition. So we always ask people when they come, hey, are you here for the chickens or are you here for us?
Our chicken birthday parties were actually not something that we came up with. It was actually coming from a demand of our community. So, a lot of people, we, we were running a lot of different birthday parties on the farm, and one parent said, hey, I want to - my three year old is obsessed with the chickens.
Do you guys host chicken birthday parties? And we said, sure we will. Why wouldn't we? Why not? And so suddenly we were offering these amazing educational birthdays and people love them. We booked 15-20 over the summer season. It's a really short birthday party. Nice and sweet. We have some beautiful picnic tables on site.
We have our educators bring out a chicken, talk about, you know, the different body parts, you know, go over their anatomy. Talk about the [00:17:00] funny sounds that they make, like the egg song. Talk about how chickens may lay all different colored eggs depending on their breed. They get a short visit into the chicken coop, or they get to chase the chickens or feed them right from the palm of their hand.
And then they celebrate with some cake and pizza and everybody's happy. But it, it's definitely not something we thought people would want. But over the years people have proven that chicken birthday party are the way to go.
Christa Hein: Yeah. I found that with my own education programs, some of the best ideas have been so organic - people have been like, hey, I would like this. And that was a fantastic idea. Yeah.
Lana Mustafa: It's so funny when things happen like that and you know, you go where the demand is. And for now, the chickens are very, very popular. Our flock actually, we, we just got, we just raised a brand new flock and we have about 10 chickens that lay in assortment of colored eggs.
And so the kids are just blown away. Like when you look that nesting box and they see a blue egg or a green egg, or a [00:18:00] dark brown egg. It's just so fun to introduce to food in that way. Yeah.
Christa Hein: So, you also do school outreach. Can you explain the process and the goals of bringing chickens and bees right into a classroom?
Lana Mustafa: Mm-hmm. Sure. So, our Sprouts and PP programs are on site, and some of them are either during the school day for the younger children and some of them are after school. So, we realized that many parents may want their kids in some of these programs, but may not be able to actually make the time. So, we partnered with some of the local schools who offer the afterschool enrichment programs, and we bring the farm to the school each week for 45 minutes. These kids who are in afterschool care get to do a planting activity. They might learn about the chickens in one lesson. They might learn about compost in another. And it's just an extension to what we do at the farm. But us bringing the garden and the farm to the schools, and that has been super beautiful.
[00:19:00] They often, the PTAs will often invite us for assembly. We did an assembly this year for a school with over 300 children around pollinators and bees. And they got to see the observation hive and, you know, look for the queen and point out the baby bees. And just another opportunity for farms and environmental educators to expand that learning and really give the kids hands on lessons rather than them staring at like a textbook all day.
Christa Hein: Yeah, absolutely. So, beyond kids, you have some great programs for teens, like farmpreneurs. What do those look like and what do young people take away from those experiences?
Lana Mustafa:The Farmpreneur program was a USD funded grant, which was absolutely amazing for us. The purpose behind the first grant that we worked on was really to establish a market for local, regional, organic grains through value-added products.
And what we did was we recruited, over the course of our last five [00:20:00] years, we recruited a cohort of about 10 to 12 high school kids. We partnered with other organizations who offer summer youth employment opportunities, which means that these young people under the age of 16 are, or around the age of 16, are now working their first part-time job, getting paid an hourly minimum wage.
And they get the opportunity to be outside, to learn how to grow their own food, how to turn the profit up on organic food. For example, you know, we're growing tomatoes and not everybody wants the buy our tomatoes, so we turn that into sauce. And now suddenly we're selling that sauce for a little bit more money.
It's been a really fun and interestingly program, especially because the kids that we're recruiting are often coming from inner cities and many of them have never been in a community garden or an urban farm, or have seen or tasted something off of a vine or off of a plant. So not only are we [00:21:00] making an economic impact to these households, but now we're changing and shifting their perspective on foods.
Yeah. And very naturally, yeah. With that pressure or pain or anything other than just pure love.
Christa Hein: Yeah, I'm sure that can be life changing for a child who's never had that experience to see that this is now a new real possibility in my life.
Lana Mustafa: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. I will never forget one summer when our bush beans first started coming in and I was just snacking on them.
And one of these that was working with me on the farm was like, Ms. Lana, are you eating green beans just like that? Yes. They're so delicious - you have to try them. And he's like, ew, no, like, I'll only eat green beans if they're cooked. They're so bitter. And I, he's like, trust me, here's the compost and if you need to spit this out, but just take a bite and tell me what you think.
And the way that his eyes lit up just saw so much happening [00:22:00] inside this human being. He just never had the opportunity to taste a green bean with all of its sweetness and its crisp flavors in your mouth. And he thanked you for it. He was Ms. Lana, thank you. I'm, gonna grow my own now.
Christa Hein: Nice.
Lana Mustafa: And we see that. We see that time and time again where the interns will come in. We'll have some surplus plants and they'll say, how do I grow this? And we'll give them a bigger pot and they're on your deck and the next day they'll call us that they expanded their garden. Now they have a late garden bed that now their grandparents are gardening with them or their mother or their siblings.
And really it's just an opportunity, it's an invitation to connect to the natural world and to our food systems. And it happens really beautifully. And the farmpreneur program has been going pretty strong. We have a long waiting list come spring of young people who refer their friends or their neighbors, and they may have seen an ad on Instagram.
But it's a really beautiful opportunity for young people to not only make money, but really get [00:23:00] outside and be creative and curious and connect.
Christa Hein: I love how you've thought about all the different age levels, from the youngest ones to the school children, then the teens, your interns. And then also I see you run Senior Wellness Fridays and classes like grow your own veggie garden and canning and preserving.
What kind of impact do you see those programs having on adults and older community members?
Lana Mustafa: Those programs, we really try to reach people where they are. We understand that everybody's coming with different abilities. So, the senior wellness program started, I believe, like three years ago in the greenhouse.
And it was birthed from personal experience coming out of the darkness that is winter. And just realizing - and also coming out of the COVID pandemic and just realizing how isolated we've been, how we need to almost reintroduce the opportunity for connection to people. And we do a [00:24:00] lot of voluntary events on the farm and I noticed that none of our seniors would volunteer to come up with a farm and understandably so. It's a lot of physical activity. It's labor intensive, very demanding.
And so we created the senior wellness program so that we'd reach that older demographic, people that don't mind standing for 30 minutes that could hold a tray, put it on a table, plant some beans or some tomatoes with us, come back to transplant and really see us through the season.
Fortunately for us, it's been a really wonderful program. We have made connections. Once again, just wanna emphasize the, the importance of human connection and relationship building with a lot of our seniors. Many of them come back year after year. We have longstanding relationships. Actually, a couple weeks ago, one of our seniors from senior wellness baked a beautiful, delicious apple cake and surprised the staff on the farm like, you guys worked so hard, I brought you a sweet treat.
So it's that kind of thing. [00:25:00] And, I'd say it's empowering to a lot of people. It's empowering for the seniors to feel needed and wanted and helpful to give them the opportunity to give back so that they feel that the work that they're doing with us is also making a greater impact in their community.
We also work with some of the senior housing centers and run the Grow Your Own Vegetable Garden program. That was also created out of need. We knew that some of our senior housing centers did have gardening talks, but nobody was managing them, and we realized that it just came down to sharing some of the information and knowledge that we have that's already readily available to us.
And just empowering them with, okay, we wanna grow this season coming up. Let's start from the ground up. Let's invest in our soil. Let's bring in that worm compost. Let's bring in this, let's do this. Let's talk about crop planning. If you're growing in such a small space that you have, you know, 15 residents that are gonna be eating from this [00:26:00] plot, how do we maximize production?
What are pests and diseases? How do we mitigate that? How do we put, you know, and really just giving them the opportunity to learn and empowering them to like lead their own spaces has, it's just been absolutely amazing.
Christa Hein: With so many different things that you're working on at the farm, what have been some of the challenges, especially about making food access a core part of your mission. And then along with that, how do you keep programs financially sustainable while also making them accessible to all?
Lana Mustafa: That's a really great question. Some of our challenges are actually resources, especially right now. Many of our programs are grant funded or initially start grant funded. For example, the farmpreneur program was a grant and now that we no longer have that grant to support us, we plan on running it with or without it, with our local community partners.
So for an organization like ours, we mostly rely on donations and grants. Some [00:27:00] of the programs that we offer are revenue driven, and they serve as fundraisers, and our community knows that. So it's almost the Robinhood mentality where we run these beautiful educational programs that may be, you know, $20 a child.
And then we take that revenue that we need from our educational programs to support a position that may not be generating the same amount of revenue like our mobile farm stand. And that has been really, really important for us because we want to continue to pay our staff equitably, making sure that even though they're working a part-time job, that they're actually making a livable wage.
We want to encourage that, especially amongst the ag community. Whether it's urban or rural, the farmers need to make a living.
Christa Hein: Yeah. So many of our listeners are dreaming of creating their own programs. From your experience, what's one piece of advice you'd give someone just starting out?
Lana Mustafa: One piece of advice I'd give somebody just starting out is to start with [00:28:00] whatever resources or information they have. I think that imposter syndrome sometimes stops a lot of people from sharing their knowledge. You may be really interested in a specific topic. You know, like I started educating people around bees. It was my first year in beekeeping. It's not like I knew everything there was to know about bees. I wasn't getting a PhD in beekeeping, but I definitely knew more than a 5-year-old.
And so starting with the resources that you have available is very, very important, especially if you're doing, if you're planning to do this as a career or as a business. There are a lot of free resources as well that are available to you.
For example, if you wanted to start a newsletter or an Instagram page or a volunteer, volunteering event, there are a lot of places where you can actually use their platforms to market, to sell your product, to share the information that you're learning. And then [00:29:00] network with other communities that are doing work.
Maybe there's an organization that is similar to MCF that isn't offering the same type of program that you're offering, but a partnership would be really beautiful. And we did that with several of our additional educators. We did a, the woman who was very interested in forest bathing, and she said, Hey, can I run a forest bathing workshop in your on the farm?
And we said, of course. And it's very, very popular. We just gave her the space and the platform and helped advertise for her event and things grew from there for her. I now see her working with other organizations, but really just building those connections, starting at low cost and networking, I think is a good place to start.
Christa Hein: That's all great advice. Now, as someone who started teaching out of your own backyard, what encouragement would you give to someone who thinks they need a big farm or a lot of land before they begin?
Lana Mustafa: I think I mentioned that I started here at home, my whole [00:30:00] entire property start to finish with a driveway, a garage, and my home is only 50 x 100 feet.
That's tiny. That's a micro backyard when you think about it. But I had enough space to run an educational program for 10 kids at a time. So really the only limitation is probably your own self sometimes. And just seeing what your community needs, starting with something really low cost. Networking. The homeschooling community is very, very welcoming.
A lot of the families that I started educating here at home were actually homeschooled schooling family. They're very open and welcoming and very creative with the way that they're teaching their children. So that gives you some freedom and flexibility, and really just starting where you're at there.
There's no such thing as needing a big farm. Actually, the smaller farms are more common. You know, somebody that's coming to learn from you is going to have a backyard or a community garden and not 10 to 30 acres of [00:31:00] land.
Christa Hein: Lana, thank you so much for sharing your story and giving us a look at what you're doing at Montclair Community Farms.
I love how your work shows that you don't need hundreds of acres to make a big impact. Sometimes a little land, some chickens, and a whole lot of heart can change a community.
Before we go, can you let folks know where they can find you online and follow along with Montclair Community Farms?
Lana Mustafa: Of course.
It's been such a pleasure having this conversation. Thank you, Christa. Thank you for the invitation. I hope that the work that we do continues to inspire people all over the world to grow their food locally, whether it's in their backyard or joining the community garden or supporting your nearest farm. For folks who are interested in learning more about us, you can find us online at montclaircommunityfarms.org or simply give us a follow on Instagram at MontclairCommunityFarms.
Thank you.
Christa Hein: Thank you so much for joining us. To our listeners, I hope you're walking away inspired to think about what's possible right where you are. Whether [00:32:00] you've got a backyard, a balcony, or a full farm, there are ways to connect people to food, farming, and nature. If this conversation sparked ideas or encouragement for your own journey, be sure to follow the Farm Educators Roadmap wherever you listen to podcasts.
Leave a review and share this episode with a friend. Until next time, keep planting those seeds of connection.
Christa Hein: Hey farm educators. I hope you enjoyed today's episode. Before you go, I've got something special for you. If you're ready to build a farm education program that people are excited to book, grab my free guide, Five Simple Steps to Growing an In-Demand Farm Education Program. It's packed with the same steps I used to grow my own farm education business.
It'll help you get noticed, attract clients, and make an impact. Just head over to www.farmeducatorsroadmap.com/fivesimplesteps to get your free copy. It's quick, easy, and will make your programs [00:33:00] irresistible. I can't wait to see what you create. Thanks for listening, and I'll catch you in the next episode.
