Grow your own food where you are is the mantra by which entrepreneur and farmer Dasia Edwards lives. It is this mantra that inspired her to create her grow box and vertical garden, Jelani Ubi, and the Living Environment Arts Festival (Leaf).
“It’s important to grow your own food so you know who’s growing your food, what’s in your food, and where it comes from. It’s safer, healthier, and more importantly, you can have some more dollars in your pocket, and right now who doesn’t want to save money?”
Edwards said her specialty garden kits are designed for specific local dishes, as well as container gardens for families to grow in any available space. The grow kits include the salad garden kit, breakfast garden kit, steamed vegetable garden kit, pizza topping garden kit, and the cocktail garden kit.
[caption id="attachment_932957" align="alignnone" width="750"] Dasia Edwards of Living Environment Arts Festival (Leaf) holds one of the specialty cocktail gardens consisting of sage, rosemary basil and mints. - Photo courtesy Dasia Edwards[/caption]
She grows herbs such as basil and mint and a variety of peppers including jalapeño, sweet, pimento and chilli. Produce include lettuce, kale, cabbage, eggplant, bodi and ochro, among others. These kits include recipes, plants, seeds, soil, compost, seedling trays and plant pots made from biodegradable coco peat. Some of the grow kits also includes recycled pallets made into grow boxes. Jelani is her younger son's name, and ubi is the Igbo word for garden.
Her love for art and the environment also led Edwards to start Leaf, an environmental festival celebrating everything eco-friendly. She said the festival connects food and people to the environment, while promoting sustainable clothing, agriculture, and living.
“As a human that loves the earth and as a mother of two, I wanted to live a sustainable lifestyle that I can enjoy and which won't harm the environment. A great part of that included the use of eco-friendly products for everyday living, which was really difficult to find, especially in one location. That's where Leaf came in, a group of artists came together with inventors and other eco entrepreneurs and we had our first eco celebration in 2015. The idea was to create a space to connect people to the environment and share my love for the environment with them. As an artist myself I had to obviously include the arts, creating this fusion of fashion, food, art, technology, environment, and lifestyle.”
[caption id="attachment_932956" align="alignnone" width="815"] Living Environment Arts Festival (Leaf) breakfast garden kit - Photo courtey Dasia Edwards[/caption]
Edwards said the Leaf signature eco-friendly products started in 2019 with beeswax wraps, jute grow bags and grow boxes made from recycled pallets.
“The genesis of Leaf Garden Grow kits came while trying to figure out what to cook one day, using the ingredients I had with some plants I had growing outside. The idea to turn these from recipe ki
