Hi everyone!

Thank you so much for checking out our fundraiser. All money donated goes towards the purchase and development of our new land. Wanna know the whole story? Keep reading!

Let’s do a quick introduction:

We are Halima and Dria, two amazing black farmers who live in Mississippi.

Halima was born in Jos, Nigeria and has been a resident of Mississippi since 2019. She has an undergraduate degree from Abilene, Texas and a Chefs certificate from Chefs academy in Abuja, Nigeria. Halima is very passionate about farming and food. She sees herself as a bridge between West African food and the foodways of the south.

Dria has been a resident of Oxford since 2003, when she moved here with her family. Since then, she has graduated from the University of Mississippi (twice!) and has been active in a variety of projects in the community.

Halima and Dria met during the peak of summer in 2019 during a farm visit in Water Valley, MS. Halima was going to check out some goats and Dria was just there to tour the operation and learn about herbs/mushrooms.

This random visit sparked the beginning of our friendship as we made promises to visit the farm often and volunteer. Well, we kept that promise and for quite some time. We worked in Water Valley so much that Halima moved out there in the fall of 2020. With time we took over market operations, media relations, and general farm tasks. As we continued to work and develop our own ideas on farm practices, we discovered our passion for doing the most to restore damage done to the earth through the traditional way of farming. In order to pursue sustainable and regenerative farming, we’ve decided to start from scratch on our own land. Once we find our new home, we’ll start our own farm operation, where we can implement what we’ve learned with what we believe about regenerative farming, soil health, and sustainability.

What do we do?

Apart from being amazing black women who farm in North MS (and there aren’t very many of us at all), Halima and Dria also have a few businesses that were birthed out of our love for not only farming but health and food.

Our first child, Justevia, was born in the midst of the pandemic. Halima tasted the pure stevia leaf, right off the plant, and said that we needed to make tea. With the amazing herbs that we were growing on the farm in addition to the natural sweetener growing right out of the ground, we had the perfect recipe for herbal tea blends. Our first launch was in September 2020 at a local market featuring black entrepreneurs in the community. We dried herbs, ordered packaging materials, and created a quick logo in the days before the market. We were hoping to sell a few bags to cover fees but to our surprise we sold out! Since then, we have had teas at our local farmer’s markets, predominantly Oxford Community Market, and in a local health food store, known as Chicory Market.

Recently, we have started a new business that ties in perfectly with our love for food and farming, Gimbia’s Kitchen. Through this operation, we do pop-ups in our local community with the goal of educating people on the evolution of West African cuisine to southern cuisine. Our current theme is known as Journey from Home, where we take traditional Nigerian dishes and compare them to more familiar dishes here in the south. One of our most popular aspects was honey beans, which is like a sweeter version of black eyed peas. Gimbia’s Kitchen has also volunteered at local events, such as a tasting with the public library and giving out free recipe cards at events. Our goal is to have most of the produce used in these events from our own farm as we move to a farm-to-table operation.

Apart from these things, we still do a million other things. We grow seeds for an amazing, Pennsylvania-based seed company that focuses on connecting people with ancestral seeds, Truelove Seeds. We have tons of farm animals, including honey bees, chickens, ducks, peacocks, goats, sheep, and probably something else we can’t remember at the moment. We're involved with various organizations in the community, always looking for a way to help who we can. We’re taking herbalism courses in hopes to better serve those around us with what plant medicine we can grow.

What are we asking for?

As mentioned previously, we have big dreams of owning our own farm. We’re both tired of moving and signing leases. It’s time for us to be somewhere permanent and stable, in order to be successful in our endeavors. We’re looking for farmland where we can have our regenerative operation, with our produce, herbs, and animals.

If you’ve been looking for land recently, you probably know how prices have soared astronomically over the last few years. It seems everyone is looking for a nice place to escape to in the countryside. Unfortunately for us, this puts land out of our price range.

We are raising funds so that we can buy land without sacrificing ourselves and things that we love. We would minimal loans, as history shows how loans have been discriminative towards people that look like us. We are two people of color, an immigrant and also black. We are aware of the disproportionality of access to resources when it comes to people in our demographic. We do know that we come from a community of people who love us and want to see us do well.

How can you help?

1. Donate! Any amount helps, we’re not exaggerating. We are incredibly grateful for every penny that we receive.

2. Buy! Find our products locally at the Oxford Community Market (every Tuesday 3-6:30, rain or shine at the Old Amory Pavilion) and at Chicory Market. We’re working on getting products on our online store but the local community loves us so much that it’s a struggle! It is also another reason we need more land. We would love to be able to share our teas with customers across different states.

3. Share! Tell everyone you know about not only this fundraiser, but also what we’re trying to do. If you hear of reasonably priced, decent sized land in North Mississippi, send the listing our way.

4. Send good vibes! Whatever way you connect with your higher powers, we ask that you do so on our behalf in our journey to success.

Help Justevia Find a Home

Justevia is looking for land to call home!

Team Members