Our February Neighbor of the Month is Von Barnes, owner of Kentuckiana Backyard Farms in the Taylor Berry neighborhood. Read on to find out how he became an urban farmer, and why he hopes you will, too.
Tell us a little bit about yourself.
Hello everyone. I’m Von Barnes, owner of Kentuckiana Backyard Farms. Most people in my neighborhood know me as the person who owns the chickens. I typically introduce myself as the urban farmer or resource for fresh produce.
What have you been working on in your neighborhood?
Lately I’ve been winterizing the farm and preparing an Urban Farm online course. I have a goal to create 1000 urban farmers in the metro area.
How did you get involved in this work?
A lot of people had to pivot during the pandemic and it has been one of the best moves I’ve had to make. I had a head start with agriculture as a teenager. We had gardens growing up every year.
What do you love about your neighborhood?
One of the best things about my neighborhood is how well people communicate and look out for each other. It is very comforting to receive text messages from my neighbors if anything seems out of place. I return the gesture and that’s how we look out for each other.
What are your hopes for your neighborhood in the future?
The bestest hope I have for my neighborhood would be more gardens and growing. If we all grew gardens and shared the yield that would be a dream come true.
Is there anything else you’d like us to know about you or your neighborhood?
I’m very active on social media and would like if it more people from the neighborhood knew that there was another resource for them and that they too could be a BF: “Backyard Farmer.”
Learn more at https://www.facebook.com/KentuckianaBF