E50: Be the Change: From healthcare to farming, a food activist is born | Ivy Walls in Houston, TX

I’m excited to invite you to my conversation with Ivy Walls. Ivy is a farmer, entreprenuer and food justice activist located in Houston, Texas.  Before farming, Ivy worked as an epidemiologist for the CDC and later became an infection preventionist for a hospital in Houston where she worked closely with COVID-19 patients. During the pandemic, Ivy witnessed firsthand how the virus further exposed the inequities faced by her Sunnyside community   – including higher rates of infection and mortality. Ivy already had experience gardening for herself, but felt called to grow food for her community when she realized there weren’t local places to source fresh produce without having to drive to another part of town. Serendipitously, the day Ivy quit her job at the hospital, was the day she found out she received a $10k grant from Beyoncés charitable foundation.Ivy has found that climate change and uncertainty has been the biggest challenge for her as a farmer – and unpredictable floods and other weather events has shortened her growing season, but the value she's brought to her neighborhood by taking the task of providing health affordable food into her own hands has been tremendous.This is a story about community action, being the change you wish to see, and the power of plants to heal and connect.Read more about Ivy and see photos from her farm on urbanexodus.com/blogSupport the showSign up for  Apple Podcasts premium or our Patreon Membership for ad-free listening, rapid-fire guest interviews & our new mini-pod Ditch the City. urbanexodus.com | @theurbanexodus | buy the book