For Pennington farmer Tomia MacQueen, teaching others about gardening and farming is like planting seeds.
“The beauty of a garden is that you learn all these life lessons just walking around, said MacQueen, owner of Wildflower Farm in Pennington.
“You have all these plans, and then nature totally derails you. Yet somehow it comes out beautiful,” she said. “For me, teaching is that way. You get to plant all these beautiful seeds and watch all the diversity and how it comes to fruition.”
MaQueen, a Detroit native who moved to New Jersey in 2018, owns a 42-acre certified organic farm that produces and sells vegetables, seeds, organically raised poultry, and pastured lamb.
“We produce culturally meaningful produce, which simply means foods that are culturally relevant to a given community,” said MacQueen, who opened her farm in 2019. “For example, I’m African American, so for me, that means turnip greens, mustard greens, collard greens, sweet potatoes, fish peppers (and) okra.”
MacQueen said her farm, located at 321 Pennington Harbourton Road, produces crops that can are also found in Afro-Caribbean cuisine, like callaloo, Scotch bonnet peppers, Jamaican pumpkin, Indian peppers and Indian okra.
In addidtion, MacQueen said her farm delivers 50 boxes of produce a week to the Mercer Street Friends Food Bank in Trenton.
“We do a lot of education on farming, so we do a lot of conservation and agriculture classes and workshops to teach people how to feed themselves and their communities,” said MacQueen. “We also do animal husbandry classes, gardening classes and seed saving classes.”
MacQueen said her farm also hosts the Healing Waters Land Access Project, which provides over three acres of her land to beginner farmers to help them learn how to get into the farming industry.
As a stay-at-home mom for 20 years, MacQueen’s journey into farming started with her wanting to learn organic gardening.
“As I started battling scarring alopecia, I dug more into nutrition, the food system in the U.S., and how it works,” said MacQueen. “I realized very quickly that not only did I want to produce food for myself and my family that was nutrient dense, healthy and without chemicals, but I also wanted to be able to produce that for my community.”
MacQueen, who had been an edible garden consultant for 16 years, said she founded Garden for L.I.F.E (Love, Inspiration, Faith and Empowerment) in 2013, a K-12 curriculum to educate students about the agricultural system and food systems.
“There is something about the ability to pass on the knowledge that you have, and have it well received, taken on board, and ready to pass on to another generation. That is just awe-inspiring to me,” said MacQueen, who travels around the country educating people about farming and gardening.
MacQueen is also the head farmer at Trent-Towne Market, a community hub/farmers market that will sell local produce and feature live bands and farm-to-table education.
Tyrell Smith, owner of Trent-Town Market, said the 5,000- square-foot establishment inside a warehouse, at 16 West Ingham Ave. in Trenton, will open in January 2026.
Smith said he first met MacQueen in 2023 when they volunteered on the Trenton-based nonprofit, Outdoor Equity Alliance‘s advisory committee.
When establishing the market, Smith said he wanted to work with Black farmers. He said MacQueen “has been a wealth of knowledge and working with her has definitely been a learning journey for [me] on how to be self-sustainable and bring that knowledge to underserved communities.”
MacQueen, a state-certified educator for over 19 years, admits that farming is her passion, but teaching is her calling.
“Agricultural history was in our culture long before our ancestors were snatched and brought over here, and it was a part of our ancestral culture,” said MacQueen. “I think part of it is not just teaching farming, but connecting the dots, especially for young people, so that they understand they are reclaiming a heritage that is already theirs.”
“I love that young people, especially when they get out here at my farm, they’re floored at what’s capable,” she said.
MacQueen said she believes it’s her responsibility to pass along all her knowledge about gardening and farming.
“When I come to the end of my life, I want to have passed on every piece of knowledge that I have,” said MacQueen. “I want to give what I have to give while I live, I don’t want to die with everything that God has put in me and never having passed it on.”
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