2 women-led metro Atlanta businesses join forces to save urban farm

EAST POINT, Ga. — Yennenga Adanya, Queen Yenn to those who know her best, feels right at home on a two acre patch of ground along Washington Road in East Point.

“Even though it’s in the middle of the city—you have a lot of traffic and it’s on a main street—you still feel like you’re stepping away from the world. Nature is so prevalent all around you,” Queen Yenn told Channel 2′s Berndt Petersen.

[DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks]

For nearly two decades, the property was leased to the managers of an organic farm. But when the landowner passed away, it was in danger of being sold to developers. City leaders tried to find the right people to keep the urban farm going.

One of the first phone calls went to Leslie Zinn, owner of the local Arden’s Garden pressed juice company. Zinn bought the farm and Queen Yenn is now running it. To say this has all come full circle would be an understatement.

“We press juice. We have a lot of pulp. So she will use the pulp to make compost to grow the vegetables. We’re going to then buy the vegetables and make plant-based foods. All within a three mile radius,” Zinn said.

• 13-year-old Georgia girl goes to hospital with headache, dies of leukemia just hours later
• Warrant application claims Doraville officer lived near teen, ‘dumped her naked body in the woods’
• 3 suspected gang members arrested, guns and drugs seized by police

Another vision for the partnership is for Queen Yenn to go from managing the organic farm to owning it.

“Anytime a young Black girl can see a Black woman running a business and making it happen, that’s encouraging for them and they feel like they can do it,” Queen Yenn said.

[SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter]

IN OTHER NEWS:

At 93, Xernona Clayton is still fighting the fight for peoples’ rights Channel 2′s Karyn Greer sat down with one of the last remaining pioneers of the movement, Xernona Clayton.

©2022 Cox Media Group