S9 Ep42: From Tap to Table: Smart Water Storage Techniques for Modern Communities with Jamiah Hargins
“Trust that you can do the Math and that you have the tenacity and that nature will give you way more opportunities than you even need.” —Jamiah Hargins
Episode Description:
“Trust that you can do the Math and that you have the tenacity and that nature will give you way more opportunities than you even need.” —Jamiah Hargins
Imagine a world where water conservation isn't just a choice, but a critical strategy to survival.
Water isn't just slipping through our fingers—it's vanishing before our eyes. Yet, our current consumption patterns are writing a dangerous narrative for future generations. Hence, the silent crisis of water conservation demands immediate, innovative solutions that reimagine how we interact with this precious resource.
Jamiah Hargins is a visionary urban farmer and social entrepreneur who founded Crop Swap LA, a nonprofit revolutionizing food production in unused urban spaces. With a mission-driven approach, he has developed groundbreaking strategies for community-based agriculture and water management.
Tune in as Justine and Jamiah talk about water conservation, community-driven food independence, entrepreneurial resilience, organic gardening techniques, local food distribution, and innovative strategies for creating sustainable, resilient food systems.
Connect with Jamiah:
Jamiah Hargins is the founder of Crop Swap LA, a nonprofit organization dedicated to growing food on unused urban spaces and promoting food independence. With a mission to transform local food systems, he has developed innovative approaches to urban agriculture, water conservation, and community-driven food production. Over the past seven years, Crop Swap LA has impacted approximately 1,000 people monthly, growing food across 10 different locations in Los Angeles.
An experienced social entrepreneur, Jamiah has previously launched multiple ventures and is passionate about creating sustainable, regenerative solutions to food insecurity. His work focuses on empowering communities to grow their own food, implement water recycling systems, and reduce dependency on traditional agricultural supply chains. Jamiah is also developing educational resources to help other communities replicate Crop Swap's model across the United States.
Episode Highlights:
02:54 Empowering Community Leaders
06:50 Water Conservation and Rainwater Capture
17:44 Expanding the Movement
26:05 Community and Mentorship
29:49 Crop Swap: Impact and Future Plans
35:22 Upcoming Events and Campaigns
Tweets:
Water isn't just a resource—it's our lifeline slowly disappearing. Listen in as @justine.reichman and @lacropswap Founder, @brownsuperdad unpack groundbreaking community-driven solutions for water conservation and food independence. #podcast #entrepreneurship #socialgood #inspiration #impactmatters #NextGenChef #EssentialIngredients #Season9 #CropSwap #UrbanGardenning #SustainableAgriculture #FoodIndependence #WaterConservation #OrganicGardening #EcoEntrepreneur #ClimateAction #FoodSecurity #RegenerativeAgriculture #EarthMonth
Inspirational Quotes:
02:57 “Even just having the question means that you are the leader. You are the one your neighborhood has been waiting on. You have the courage to ask. You have the courage to look for the opportunity, and now you're in charge.” —Jamiah Hargins
06:17 “If there's that much abundance possible in nature, then all I have to do is keep trying at it, then eventually I'll figure this out.” —Jamiah Hargins
07:13 “Just think about your local context, and you'll be more advantageous in overcoming risks.” —Jamiah Hargins
20:24 “Entrepreneurship is a test of tenacity—you can't sit back and earn that money. You have to figure out the systems to put in place so that your mindset can be at rest.” —Jamiah Hargins
22:18 “People feel like they're not being successful if they're not doing everything. But if we lean into what our overarching mission is, we're going to make a much greater impact, as opposed to being so overwhelmed and not doing anything because it seems too much.” —Justine Reichman
25:16 “People always need to eat, so you'll always find an opportunity to try again if you fail.” —Jamiah Hargins
25:53 “Trust that you can do the Math and that you have the tenacity and that nature will give you way more opportunities than you even need.” —Jamiah Hargins
30:15 “We don't have to be enslaved by a food system that hurts us and the environment. Instead, we can opt out of it and regain our independence and our own personal power and our personal rights to grow food and have healthy options.” —Jamiah Hargins
31:51 “We never know how many people we impact, but we do know that once they are impacted, it is an irreversible impact.” —Jamiah Hargins
Transcription:
Justine Reichman: Hi friends. It's me, Justine, the host of Essential Ingredients, and I'm so pleased to be back with you this week. Each week, we try to bring you new founders, innovators and research in the space around building better for you food, or businesses that impact our health, our lifestyle and the planet. So this week, we have Jamiah. He is the Founder of Crop Swap LA and Crop Swap Your City. You're not going to want to miss this episode. I found it truly inspiring, and wanted to innovate immediately and create something on a local level. Crop Swap LA is focused on building community and addressing food insecurity. So if that is something that resonates with you, you're really not going to want to miss this episode, so stay tuned.
Hi, Jamiah, how are you this morning?
Jamiah Hargins: Wonderful. Thank you, Justine. Thanks for having me.
Justine Reichman: Yeah, it's been a pleasure getting to know you while we're organizing this podcast. I'm really excited to have you be introduced to our community and the friends that follow here, because I think what you're doing is really interesting. And I think that hearing about this as you're building this movement and creating this movement. It is so exciting to be able to share and give people an opportunity to join as well as be inspired to create their own initiatives. I know you inspired me. I'm already doing the Palm Hill farm walk. I'm glad you submitted it together. So Jamiah, if you would, for those folks that maybe are not familiar with you, if you could just give us a high level of what Crop Swap LA is.
Jamiah Hargins: Sure. Thanks again. So Crop Swap LA is a nonprofit that grows food on unused spaces. It could be the front yard, backyard. Could be an apartment building, maybe a school or a church where we work together to find funding and decide where the food is going to go. And then our team creates a regular circulation of that food, usually through a CSA distribution. But we also collect fruit from fruit trees, do workshops, train leaders in other areas, and do installations at people's homes that they can manage if they want to. So we are all about growing food, being food independent, and creating opportunities for people.
Justine Reichman: I hear you saying this, and you're building this platform or framework for people to be able to make themselves more independent, have greater access to food if I'm hearing it right, is that correct? So if I was, or if you were talking to any one of our guests that might say, how can I implement this? Or what can I do in my neighborhood? What would you say to them?
“Even just having the question means that you are the leader. You are the one your neighborhood has been waiting on. You have the courage to ask. You have the courage to look for the opportunity, and now you're in charge.” —Jamiah Hargins
Jamiah Hargins: Well, the first thing is to know that even just having the question means that you are the leader. You are the one your neighborhood has been waiting on. You have the courage to ask. You have the courage to look for the opportunity, and now you're in charge. That said, keep it to yourself first. The best plan is to do the entire plan before anyone else knows. Basically, I have a process that I teach my mentees. I guess it's a cohort of people across the country. Now, it's an initiative called Crop Swap Your City. So it's obviously (inaudible) here.
But if you're in Cincinnati, or you're in Austin, you're in Colorado Springs, Denver, wherever, then you have the chance to be the leader there. Certainly, all I can do at this distance is to guide you and hope that you do well. So we have a monthly video call in order to have a consultancy in a way for all the cohort members and what they're facing at this moment. They may be right at the very beginning just having a concept. They may be where you are, where you have an idea, a name and a community in mind. They may be further down the road and already have a nonprofit with some funding coming, or already have a business with some operations happening. And based on what I've learned here and with my team over the last seven years, I can guide at least a few steps to see what's possible. It's different every time, but the opportunities are endless. You've always got to start right where you are. So in my case, I started with just crop swapping with extra stuff from my garden that turned into a Farmers Market and fruit tree harvesting, which then turned into growing food in yards, and selling that on a CSA down the road. It also turned into more projects being done and water retention during fires and things like that. So people are calling us to hook up sprayers to their house to keep it wet during a fire so you never know where it's going to lead, but it certainly is the beginning, and I'm here to help guide people through it.
Justine Reichman: It's so inspiring. I think that it really spearheads and empowers people to create change, both for themselves and their community, which I think is great. And I'd love to know what inspired you to go down this path.
Jamiah Hargins: I was mostly inspired by having my first daughter. I'm grateful I have two and a beautiful wife. But the first daughter triggers something in every person, and I want to say it triggers something different in a man. Certainly, I was thinking about protecting her, and I just looked around Los Angeles to understand what the food availability was? What's the food price? What's in it? How well did I understand the food? I just didn't trust it so I decided to go ahead and grow my own garden. I had very little knowledge, very little experience. And like I said earlier, I grew too much. And so that turned into almost an awareness and enlightenment moment where I said, wow, if I can accidentally grow too much food, then I suddenly have the ability to have something valuable. I may not have gold or have property at the time. I may not even have a reputation at the time, but I can create something that's useful as someone else. So that triggered all my entrepreneurial energies that I'd always had and I thought, well, if there's that much abundance possible in nature, all I have to do is keep trying at it. Then eventually, I'll figure this out. So I encourage people to look closely at their own life.
“Just think about your local context, and you'll be more advantageous in overcoming risks.” —Jamiah Hargins
Do you have a partner, lover, lifestyle, a person you care for, an elderly person, or a community that you love? The core of the motivation that will get you to get over the risks that are necessary for you to be a leader, and to really engage in a meaningful way that's relevant to that community that way that sticks. Because we found ways here in LA using water, rain water capture water retention and water recycling to really engage the economics of our operations, and make it financially reasonable to people. When their water is being recycled, it costs a lot less for their own food. And of course, in a city like this, it's a very important thing. So just think about your local context, and you'll be more advantageous in overcoming risks.
Justine Reichman: That sort of really lays it out for people. And as you're sitting there and explaining it, and you're talking about your city, LA, as well as all of the state of California has been known for droughts, so being able to recycle that water seems really, it sparks my interest. I'm like, okay, so now tell me, how do I do that? How do people do that?
Jamiah Hargins: Well, if you don't have experience in landscaping, I think finding a local mentor in landscaping is essential. Showing them videos and what we've done here, finding someone that's keen in irrigation and a little bit of waterfalls, rainwater capture. It may be rare, and you may be the only one in your town, but it's very easy to understand once you get into it. There are videos on YouTube on various landscaping platforms that just show you the process of how it's done. Try not to get caught in the weeds and intricacies, but knowing that you probably don't need a license for this kind of thing, especially if you're using your own property. But there are people who are licensed in certain categories of the work, like the electrical and the landscaping piece, the plumbing, each of those are specialty. So if you just try it once or twice, you kind of get the hang of it. I'm big on mentorship. It's okay to pay your mentors. If you have money at the time, work together as partners in that way because they're proud of their sport too. And no matter where you live, you could be up in the Midwest or the Northeast, you could be in Canada, rainwater capture is always going to be useful. In fact, rainwater capture is something that has been, I think, taken out of our culture where we used to have natural refrigerators out of pots that have sand and two layers of pots. Just keep it cool, keep it wet, and it stays cool. We used to have streams that can come through our kitchens, and that's the water we use to clean dishes, wash, drink and so forth. Just natural passing by.
Justine Reichman: I also think that with global warming and the changes that we're seeing around the globe in terms of weather, etcetera. Last year there was a drought in New York, and they were told that they couldn't water their logs, which is really unusual. New York is not California, and I'm wondering what you think that as we continue on this journey and see the effects of global warming, this process could be very useful for so many other people outside of California to maybe avoid some of that. So the question to you is, if we thought about this, depending on how many people, and even looking at what you have now based on the number of people that you have participating in this, doing rain capture and recycling the water, what kind of impact can you see on a local level that we can then sort of imagine what it would be like on a global level?
Jamiah Hargins: Massive impact. Even locally, in Los Angeles, there are 20,000 people living in every one square mile, and each person needs five gallons of water each day in order to live, to drink, to wash and clean. And right now, we're getting our water in Southern California from the Colorado River Basin, way over in Colorado, and from the Shasta mountains, I think, on the way up north in California. But certainly not coming locally. We have no groundwater to tap into like many places would. So we're just waiting for catastrophe. We're waiting on one of those pipes to break and for it to not be fixed for six months. I think that would change the whole city. Most people would have to leave the city and create a migration event to all the other surrounding areas, and those who remain here would just be in trouble, frankly.
So really, this has a way to save LA by having multiple rainwater reservoirs around Los Angeles. That's one of my goals, to have multiple,and for that water to be promised on a financial model to other people in the case of emergency. So my neighbors right now got five around me. Each one of them could have 500 gallons of our water at my house if they're paying me to maintain it, and that's something on arranging on our legal side. And that's part of the piece of the leaders listening that you don't want to announce anything until you file the legal figure it out the financial model, and who's gonna run it in your team. But we're putting some arrangements together that they could sign and then pay us a monthly fee, say $50 a month in perpetuity, in order to have this water available in case of emergency. Once this earthquake hits and our pipes break, then they know they've got 500 gallons here to use until they choose to hit the road. We got to think that way. Survivalism is reality. But then once we do it here in LA, it's even more important to other areas outside LA that are used to having water. Places like Wisconsin, naturally, the rest of us are going through weird climate changes. If they hit a drought one day, then they'll suddenly say, oh, my goodness. We need to have rain water captured up here. Does anyone know how to do it? Well, no. We've never had to think about it. It's not a desert. We'll suddenly be more important to lead and guide them in the right directions even people down here.
Justine Reichman: Similar to what I was saying in New York, how they had a drought last year, right? And we're gonna continue to see this problem around the world, around the country as global warming continues. I just find that so inspiring. And as you're sitting there and you're talking about it, what does that look like? How are you housing it? What's the most you can house?
Jamiah Hargins: At my house, we have 5000 gallons of potable drinking water that stays fresh due to our aeration, biofiltration and other filters. But that was going small. That was a modest space. It's like a 20 by 20 platform that you can use the top of, but stored underground. If we would have gone massive, instead of 5000 gallons, maybe 40,000 gallons. Maybe 40,000 gallons. And that might even be modest. Each property can have that and then still have an entertainment space on it. A waterfall next to it, the water is going down through an efficient electricity using solar panels and timers on low cost energy timing. So 40,000 gallons, that would probably be enough for maybe 15 families to last three quarters of a year. That was all costing just one house. The expense of the installation, and then the expense of the electricity. I haven't done all the math yet, but I do know that it's a real cost that if cities say, city leadership leans in and says, okay, if the cost is $50,000 for that installation, let's choose 100 families. Just give them each $50,000 from our tax base or from the police budget, which is always infinite and growing. Let's give them each $50,000 and have it in their properties that will ensure that this area of 100 families like 20 square miles is taken care of, and not going to flee in case of emergency. Because if people flee during an emergency, your tax base is gone. And the city is going to go bankrupt. So it's almost a huge liability for cities not to lean into this. We're talking about the mayor's office in LA exploding at a number of mayor's offices around LA, there's like 87 cities in LA County, and I've spread this message. So eventually, I think people are going to catch you into this.
Justine Reichman: I think so. I'm thinking about this intellectually as you're saying, If I'm imagining all these different homes that you've got relationships that they're implementing this, I live in a town and I'm wondering, well, perhaps there's land here for the town to do it, for the town to find the space, the land to input this, to pay for it, and then including in our taxes. I mean, we pay taxes they charge more every year. Every year, we're getting new assessments and all sorts of new things. And then you have the town managing it, doing it, and it's not on somebody else's property. Not that it's a bad idea to put on somebody else's property. I'm just thinking of more urban settings where people may not have that amount of space to carve into their garden or something. And if we could find a space, is that something you've considered, or you thought about or explored?
Jamiah Hargins: Yeah, I'm open to that. Most towns have some type of capture, some type of reservoir, but the use is different each time. It might be recycled water. It might be just rain water. If it rains there often, sometimes it goes out to the sea. It just depends. But I do think it's wise. I think now, the question becomes, who has access to it in case of emergency? I think individuals would have a hard time competing against corporations who would claim the need to use it on a corporate level.
Justine Reichman: I think about it like that. You're framing it, and your viewpoint is, I didn't consider that, which I could imagine could be a really big challenge.
Jamiah Hargins: I probably can't name the exact corporation. But if Corporation X comes up and says, we need 10,000 gallons every day in order to keep this thing running, and we pay this much tax money. Then the mayor will feel pressured to allow them to do that. So our model on a residential method allows for a decentralization of power and an independent approach where nobody can corrupt or intervene on the agreement that we have with say our neighbors, it would stand up in court, and it'd be the decisions of the landowners, the water is their property. They're deciding who they want to give it to.
Justine Reichman: My mom had a house in Woodstock, and she had (inaudible). We're going back to that a little bit, except that we're intentionally creating a solution where you could be more community driven to support that initiative as we experience global warming and the change in the droughts. That's right. Wow. So, okay, so this is, I love what you're doing. I love how you're expanding and how you're expanding into different cities, and that takes a lot of strategy and forethought thinking in a new way. And I'm wondering, as you've done this and you've built this all out, is it your first? Let me restate, okay, is this your first time being an entrepreneur?
Jamiah Hargins: I've tried a few times before. I had a cute little dating app when I lived in New York City that would help young people have a wing woman where they went out to meet people, and then I had a concept of a co-working space for parents that would have a nursery on site. And I've always been an entrepreneur. As a child, I had a little lawn mowing business. I was a paper boy, that's entrepreneurial, and I just love writing business plans. When I was in college, I had a little translation business, little things like that. And I have an invention that I have yet to bring to market,related to water and growing food, not growing food, but growing plants off of your toilet.
Justine Reichman: Wow, tell me more about that.
Jamiah Hargins: It's called toiletries, and it's a product. It hooks on the side of the clean tank, and uses that clean water to grow in iridescent, or like a nice smelling and nice looking plant. I just haven't had time to follow the trees. I have all the intellectual property ready, I just haven't had time. But those kinds of things, those inventions and ideas come to mind. But what really ends up mattering is beyond the idea stage of the implementation, the operations, and that's where Crop Swap LA has been so amazing. The team that we built does our farming, does our projects. The team on our HR, finance and fundraising sides, our board of directors, that piece of it is really where the grit comes into play because there are operational challenges or limitations, there's personalities, there's a different environment. Every few weeks that you get to operate in, there's big scale things like politics, subsidies, grant decisions and all that I have to operate within. Entrepreneurship is a test of tenacity, and you can show that even if you have a simple business. Say that you just bought laundry mats and you just bought five laundromats, it's not even that simple. You can't sit back and just earn that money.
Everyday, some of those machines are gonna break. Your staff are gonna be stealing coins, people's gonna damage something or some crisis and you just gotta figure out the systems to put in place so that your mindset can be at rest. Because right now, as much as we've had a lot of success, I do still wake up every morning at like 3:30 and I just snap awake and my brain is working on about six or seven things at once in bed. I just have to get up and write them down or start working. One day, things will be settled enough that I'll be such a good entrepreneur that there are systems in place for others to think about those things, to anticipate problems. But right now, I'm still really essential. I'm still really essential to the mission. Our teammates are so essential to this mission as well. Each one of them, I need them doing amazing things and being confident so I'm grateful for who we have. We've been involved over the last seven years in different phases. But really, it's just the willingness to take on risk and the willingness to trust, and almost the faith to keep going despite seeing continual challenges, and despite knowing whether or not it's enough. I told my wife this morning, I'm just not sure if Crop Swap LA is enough to solve the problems that our society is facing. But then you have to narrow into your own mission and say to yourself, my job isn't to fix politics at all. I'm not there. My job is not to fix our wars, conflicts or issues. My job is to work on this problem, and this is where my purpose and passion would most likely most be useful.
“People feel like they're not being successful if they're not doing everything. But if we lean into what our overarching mission is, we're going to make a much greater impact, as opposed to being so overwhelmed and not doing anything because it seems too much.” —Justine Reichman
Justine Reichman: That's so important to highlight too because people feel like they're not being successful, or they're not being sustainable, or they're not being regenerative, or they're not solving the problem if they're not doing everything. I know for myself, just thinking that way is so overwhelming. So instead, I focus on my little narrow place, and I stay in my lane. And if I can't do the other stuff, that's okay because I'm making my impact here, and it changes the narrative in my head so I can feel successful. I'm having an impact versus somebody else. I'm just making it up, right? And they want to compost, and they want to not drink out of plastic. They want to do all these things and it just feels like, oh, my God, I can't do all of that. I can't even figure it all out, but I can do this. So am I still being a good person and supporting the environment. What impact am I having? Is it as great as that? And I think that one thing we've got to remember is everybody has different interests, different values and knows how to do different things. We lean into what our overarching mission of ethos is, and we stay there. We're going to make a much greater impact because we're actually going to be successful, as opposed to being so overwhelmed and not doing anything because it just seemed too much.
Jamiah Hargins: And I think if you narrow down on what you're doing and then try to replicate yourself in others, aka, inspire others like, I'm really glad we've had an effect to inspire others to try something to do it. People see a very real human in me. Someone who tries hard and is a normal guy wasn't raised as a farmer or anything, and they themselves are normal people too in different phases. So hopefully, they'll be inspired to say, I can try. Like Jamiah, he just had opportunities popping up, and maybe I will too. That's what my hope is, to replicate myself.
Justine Reichman: What would you say to somebody that might be tuning in today that says, that sounds amazing. I want to do that, but I'm not an entrepreneur. Do I need to be an entrepreneur to do that? To be Crop Swap LA Cincinnati?
“Trust that you can do the Math and that you have the tenacity and that nature will give you way more opportunities than you even need.” —Jamiah Hargins
Jamiah Hargins: Yes. You do need to be an entrepreneur. But because you're working with nature, which gives you infinite seeds from a plant and gives you infinite opportunities to try again because you're doing that. You have a lot less risk than an entrepreneur in a field that doesn't do that. So if you're just trying to start a steel plant or something where there's a certain amount of input and a certain amount of output, and has to be the right ratio, and can't make a big mistake, then that's tricky. When you plant one seed and it works, and then it goes to see, suddenly, you have 1000 seeds of that same plant, and you have 1000 opportunities to do something else, and you can keep going with the next season, the next season, next season. Plus, people always need to eat so you'll always find an opportunity to try again if you fail. And there's really no failing at this, you just have to find the right scale to match the economics. And that's something that takes time. But because it's an in demand field, and because the food system is worsening, it's going to be more successful. Even without your effort, people are naturally going to see you succeed. So there's good will involved, and you've got good leadership and examples between those before me and then me. And now, you're hearing this today. I'd say by all means, trust that you can do the math, and that you can have the tenacity, and that nature will give you way more opportunities than you even need.
Justine Reichman: And the other thing I also remember that I just want to add is, I believe you've also fostered a community for support and mentorship that's integral to this. And as a result, those new founders or people that want to do this in their community have access to that. What does that look like?
Jamiah Hargins: Now, there's about 10 people involved in our Crop Swap Your City initiative. They signed up initially to join. It's about a $300 one time fee. You can come as often as you want forever. And when you sign online, it's a one hour meeting each month. So it's not much time, but we get right to it. We get right to it where I ask people where they are in their process. They present their problems and challenges, and I immediately give them the feedback. So all of them are learning from each other, and we're all learning about their situations. Like one woman out of Dallas, she has a daycare in her home so I proposed to her that she asked each parent. Right now, there's 20 parents, 20 children attending. They're asking them each for an extra $100, and that'll pay for a $2,000 installation of a garden in your backyard, and promise them that they'll be the first group to have regular bags each, I don't know, a month or so. And you could create lettuces out of that, and just make sure that you increase the retention of that family in being a nursery member. They'll be happy to continue coming knowing that they'll also get vegetables out of it. That's just one creative way to leverage existing opportunities. We talk through those.
And then other people, they may just see fruit trees in their neighborhood so I'll guide them on what it takes to create a fruit tree harvesting program and a regular paid distribution system to others, or start a Farmers Market or corner market, or pay or get paid by market to sell to local markets. Oftentimes, exotic fruit that tastes way better than the store may cost a lot less, and they'll be happy to see it. So the opportunities are there that we've talked through. And for me, that really helps me to replicate myself as I mentioned earlier. And this can replicate our mission across fields. So what we're doing is copywriting. We're writing manuals that are going to be part of the curriculum. I'll be teaching later on and guide people on some of the critical steps of, say fruit tree harvesting, or say gardening in front yards, or creating water recycling systems, all of that. Each one could be a book on its own. But we have to take the time to do it right, to make sure that the information is complete and disseminated properly. And then at that point, we think people who don't even attend our meetings would be able to pick it up and give it a try.
Justine Reichman: What role, if any, does organic or regenerative play in your plan as you're educating and conveying what these people can do, and how they can integrate this into their community?
“We don't have to be enslaved by a food system that hurts us and the environment. Instead, we can opt out of it and regain our independence and our own personal power and our personal rights to grow food and have healthy options.” —Jamiah Hargins
Jamiah Hargins: I think when we look at our grocery stores, almost none of them are regenerative. Even some of the good ones, like Trader Joe's, they've admitted to me that they've seen less and less organic fruit on their own shelves. Even though they're a good place, they just have trouble putting it on the shelves. And so all of our methodology across population is organic and has regenerative features to it, from the style and choice of our fertilizers, style and choice of our pesticides. Because you do still need pesticides, but they can be organic pesticides or plant based. All the seeds being non GMO, all the delivery methods being hyper local, efficient and light on the environment. All the materials chosen are not plastic, and various other pieces that help augment the efficiency of the system, which is the real problem of big ag. It's highly inefficient. It's designed to make money. And there are multiple people involved, maybe 20 or 30, before you get your food. We're saying that there should be maybe two or three people involved before you get your food. Or if you want to get involved, maybe two people. So we show that, and we've been doing this now for seven years in different forms, and it's just really showing people that there's an alternative method, that there's hope, that there's a better way. That we don't have to be enslaved by a food system that hurts us and the environment and costs too much. But instead, we can just opt out of it. I'm not trying to close down the grocery system. I think there are moments when it's useful, but I think we can opt out of needing something and a dependency on anything like that, and regain our independence, our own personal power and our personal rights to grow food and have healthy options.
Justine Reichman: As you've built this over the last seven years, can you give me a percentage of how many people in the LA Community you've converted that are now doing this versus going to the grocery store?
Jamiah Hargins: Right now, we estimate that there are about 1000 people involved in our circulation of those receiving food, growing food, contributing fruits, receiving fruits, contributing to our workshops or coming on school tours. We probably affect about 1000 people every month. And right now, we're growing food in 10 different locations between schools, churches, apartment buildings and residential spots. And our teammates are 16 people doing that so we're all really dedicated and hard working. It's hard for any of us to take vacations, but that's because food keeps growing and the need continues to be there. In terms of location, we're probably around 20,000 people that know about us in Los Angeles. We've been all over the news. But in fact, some people just see me and walk up to my truck. And somebody mistook my brother for me the other day. I thought that was really funny. But we never know how many people we impact. But we do know that once they are impacted, it is an irreversible impact. Once you drive by my home, all this food growing outside, kids look at it and they point to dad and mom on the commute to school and they say, Mommy, Daddy, we should have a garden too. And then all of a sudden, it's in their heads, and there's no going back.
“We never know how many people we impact, but we do know that once they are impacted, it is an irreversible impact.” —Jamiah Hargins
Justine Reichman: Wow. That's amazing. I can imagine it passing by being inspired, wanting to have that on your own. We have a little edible garden in our yard. In our garden, we have kale and lemons, and we've got limes, and we have basil. We have an urban garden on the first tier of the garden. And then on the second tier, we have vegetables, and we've got fruits all around. But it's new, and it takes time to build. And as you're building Crop Swap LA, how many more people do you hope to touch in the next three to five years? And how many more people do you hope to convert to this?
Jamiah Hargins: We're estimating, we'll be able to build 10 more micro farms or nano farms each year. And a micro farm is one that captures recycled water. A nano farm is a simpler version that we also do over farm, and redistribute most of the food. So we think about 10 a year. We should have about 60 locations five years from now. Right now, we have 10, and we're shooting to 80 people every Sunday. So if you multiply that by five, then that's about 400 families that should get food from us each week.
Justine Reichman: Wow, that's amazing. I wonder how and what impact that will have on the way that grocery stores are set up.
Jamiah Hargins: I think right now, we haven't had any negative pressure from grocery stores. We've had some interest in the smaller ones to partner with us. I hesitate, though, because I don't truly think the business model of the grocery store is efficient. I think it is based on the science of plants. When you harvest it, it's got phytonutrients in it for about 24 hours, and phytonutrients are only active based on the sun and that 24 hour period. And that makes the other nutrients easier to digest in your body, easier to ingest. So without those phytonutrients, it's harder for those other nutrients to go in your body. It's almost like you're not eating anything at all. So when you think about the health and the benefit the buyer gets, they're better benefited from our food that's dropped on their door in the morning it was harvested, and they would be from the lettuce in the grocery stores three weeks earlier.
Justine Reichman: Even the fruits and vegetables that come from Mexico or somewhere else. We're talking about carbon footprint, and we're talking about eating local and supporting the local environment, and just building that community around what we should be eating at that moment. So many reasons to get on board to do this. I think it's self fulfilling. I think it's better for us, and it's better for the planet too. And it's healthier. And I think that there's a lot of positive impact that you're having on a local level, but also a global level by inspiring others and replicating this platform. It's really great. It made me think about it in a new way, and it made me think about collaboration, community and bringing people together. But you don't go to the store together. Generally, that's not a thing. Like, oh, hey guys, you do meet and go to the Farmers Market.
Jamiah Hargins: Yeah. Lots of community, lots of stories shared between people about, oh, my grandma had this type of line when I was a child. Oh, lots of memories, lots of recollections. Something that they remember from their childhood, and lots of learning and enlightenment. When children see something happening, they say, oh, that's how tomatoes are made. I\t's just so much more enriching doing it this way that we wouldn't want anything else for our community. We have a big garden walk coming up here in our Leimert Park area of Los Angeles, and I'm excited to introduce this to more people because our gardens are edible, and other gardens may not be. They may be just like succulents and things for pollinators, but ours is for the human pollinators, and we need to eat. I'm just thrilled about the community that's forming around us and the example that we can be for the rest of the world.
Justine Reichman: I think that's amazing. I know that you have some exciting things coming up, and I'd love for you to share a little bit about that.
Jamiah Hargins: Well, April is Earth Month, and so Crop Swap LA is launching its next fundraising campaign around a few key events. We have a big TV spot happening on NBC. I was invited onto the Kelly Clarkson show, so that'll be happening April 2nd on TV, if people want to see that. We also have the Leimert Park Walk, which is happening on April 14, and that's exciting. We also are launching a new school garden at a school for the deaf. I won't say their name right now, but I'm just excited that they'll have that kind of experience. I just think about somebody who is deaf and all the other sensational experiences of touching a plant, smelling a plant, tasting a plant, there's so many great benefits that will come from it. Right now, we have a veteran, a disabled veteran, on our team who works at my daughter's school garden that we put in, and she's making a lot of headway. So there's just so many levels of impact that could occur that we're just happy to be sharing all through the month of April.
Justine Reichman: Awesome. Jamiah, thank you so much for joining us today, for sharing your story with our community. My friends, everyone that tunes in each week to Essential Ingredients, it's really an inspiration. It's a real inspiration to hear about this as an entrepreneur and what you're building, and the impact you're having. And equally, the opportunity for other people that are entrepreneurial to see the resources that they have available to them to be able to do this themselves as well while creating such an amazing impact for our health, our wellness and the planet. It's a real give back. And as my mom used to say, it's like a triple win. I support you, and I can't wait to explore the idea of the Palm Hill Farm Walk.
Jamiah Hargins: I love that, Justine. I hope it goes well. You let me know if you ever need advice, but I'm so grateful today.
Justine Reichman: You totally inspired me, and we just want to do it on a couple blocks on our hill. People just put out their leftovers, and they can go at certain times. We'll see. I'll keep you posted, and I'll pick your brain for insight. I'll send you a photo of our edible garden as well. If you guys have any questions or want to learn more about this, Jamiah, tell them how they can best get in touch with you.
Jamiah Hargins: The best way is, our website is cropswapla.org. Or if you're on Instagram, I'm Brown Super Dad on Instagram. Or if you're using TikTok, I'm Captain Plant It. It's a coloring book, and I actually haven't announced it yet. It's behind me on the wall here, but I'll be announcing that through April as well. People can buy that coloring book that rhymes ,and it's about a superhero carrot that teaches the neighborhood how to grow food.
Justine Reichman: Awesome, and I'm at the edge of my seat waiting for toiletries. Thanks again for tuning in and sharing what you're working on, and the impact after having with our community.
Jamiah Hargins: Thank you, Justine. Thank you everyone.
