2023 Small/Beginning Farmer of the Year - Takunia “TC” Collins.

Takunia “TC” Collins’ non-profit 501(c)3 operation, Willow Run Acres, may be small in breadth, amounting to about 5 ½  acres across Superior and Ypsilanti Townships, but TC’s vision, drive, and community outreach are vast and impressive.  His accomplishments and perseverance are even more remarkable considering his personal story, which has driven him to pursue a life dedicated to advancing the intersection of food systems and social justice.  TC founded Willow Run Acres in 2018, but his journey towards a life dedicated to building resilient communities around food started in childhood. 

As a toddler, TC recalls retrieving eggs, a chore he hated, as his earliest introduction to farming and food systems.  As he grew, he took on more responsibilities tending a farm in Ypsilanti using knowledge from past generations of his family - great-grandparents, who had been forced to farm through enslavement, and sharecropper grandparents.  TC’s journey deviated from food briefly after high school, when his community fractured following the departure of friends for jobs working on oil rigs in Texas.  During this transition, TC dabbled in music but found his way back to the culinary arts and was a successful chef when he suffered a life-changing accident caused by a drunk driver.  The incident left him in a coma for six months, followed by a year and a half of rehabilitation from which he emerged depleted of funds and lacking a home or job.  TC vividly recalled his frustration with being offered only canned food and lacking any ability to heat or prepare it. This proved pivotal in the direction of TC’s life, as it set him on the path to change a broken system for the better with grass roots movements at a local level.

With assistance from a federal program, TC was able to secure housing. In what is now the Danbury Park apartment complex, he earned the nickname “Ghetto Gardener” for transforming the turf grass outside his home into a fruit and vegetable garden.  Neighborhood kids were the first to approach, curious about the transformation occurring outside their windows. They were the impetus behind more neighbors getting involved, until 18 families had gardens lining the block.  TC recognized the dual benefit of engaging kids – giving them a creative and immersive outlet to benefit themselves and their community and the potential to seed change at home and with the adults in their lives.  As of November 2023, TC was aware of only two other Black farmers in Washtenaw County, but hopes his leadership of Willow Run Acres and role modeling for kids will change the future landscape.

Since 2018, Willow Run Acres has expanded and contracted, based on funding and TC’s capacity as a staff of one, to manage farms and gardens across southeast Michigan and northern Ohio.  Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, Willow Run Acres had engaged over 2,500 youth in classes, workshops, and volunteerism.  Current and planned conservation practices include: no-till, composting, vermiculture, cover crops, and riparian buffer strips and restoration.  Taking into account the operational costs of Willow Run Acres, TC has recognized a need to build more revenue streams into the operation, including charging for classes and having some rental plots.  However, for TC who has faced homelessness and hunger, Willow Run Acres has never been about money, it’s about a transfer of produce and a transfer of knowledge - making fresh food accessible in food deserts as well as the skills and understanding of how to grow them.  Although Willow Run Acres encourages community members to donate time managing the crops in exchange for produce, food is often given away for free. 
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With the help of dedicated volunteers, including Jan Piert of Superior Township, TC has turned his focus to two properties: a community garden at Appleridge Park in Ypsilanti Township and the development of a small farm operation, farm store and agricultural learning center (STEAM curriculum) at Clay Hill on MacArthur Blvd in Superior Township. In 2021, the WCCD was pleased to partner with Willow Run Acres in holding a “Community Tree Planting and Celebration” to kick-off the commencement of the Appleridge Park space with 25 fruit and nut trees.  Willow Run Acres also received a water pump through the WCCD’s Farmer-Cost Share Program until a well could be drilled to provide water for crops.  Since that time, raised beds, rentable plots, a sensory garden, and an Underground Railroad garden (featuring plants that were prized and cultivated by indentured peoples) have been installed. Turf grass, invasive species, and a neglected parking pad are all that exist at Clay Hill currently, but TC is laying the groundwork with partners, including Township officials and County staff, to erect a thriving farm and farmstand, as well as perform invasive species removal and restoration along the banks of the Bazley-Foster drain that divides the site and runs into Fowler Creek.  The Clay Hill location is especially meaningful since directly south across MacArthur Blvd is Danbury Apartments, the former home of the “Ghetto Gardener” and where his new direction in life took root.

The Washtenaw County Conservation District is grateful for the tireless efforts of “Small/Beginning Farmer of the Year”, Takunia “TC” Collins.