By ROBIN STANTON GERROW
BG Independent News
Even something as small as a balcony garden can grow into a life-changing event.
That’s what happened to Mark “Sol” and Kourtney Meyers. They were living in San Antonio, Texas, during the COVID-19 pandemic while Kourtney was attending medical school. As vegans, they found that supply chain disruptions were having a big impact on their ability to get fresh food. And so began the Love Alwayz Foundation.
“During that time, we decided we wanted to do something bigger than ourselves,” Sol said. “That’s when we started collecting fruit and vegetable seeds.”
“I was learning how to be healthy and grow my own food,” Kourtney said. “I was also realizing how important preventative care is, but that wasn’t necessarily lining up with what I was being taught, so I ended up leaving medical school.
“We started seeing a decline in fresh fruits and vegetables at the grocery store,” she continued. “When we couldn’t get the produce and products we wanted, we decided we didn’t want anyone else to control our food supply. That’s when we started growing our own—nobody taught us to do this, we just learned from our own experience and ‘YouTube university.’”
They graduated from the balcony to a small backyard in Texas they filled with fruit and vegetable plants, but after the death of Kourtney’s mother, they decided to come back to Northwest Ohio to be closer to Sol’s family in Toledo. In 2022, they purchased a small farm in Bradner, named it the Garden of Treatz, and began growing their own food—and teaching others how to create their own backyard gardens.
“We decided to start our own YouTube channel to show people how they can grow their own food,” Kourtney said.
They also give children and adults alike the firsthand experience of working on a farm with Rejuvenation Sundays.
For first generation farmers Kourtney and Sol Meyers, the Love Alwayz Foundation is a family project.
“We invite the community, family and friends to come over and see different things we are doing,” Sol said. “One Sunday, we built a chicken supply storage unit, and we put in some raised beds along with more than 60 fruit and nut trees. It’s allowing the community to come to the homestead and get their hands in the soil and learn skills they can pass down generation to generation.”
One of the most valuable lessons they’ve learned is to manage their own growth as a farm. After starting off with large plots near the center of the farm, they’ve scaled back the gardens and moved them closer to a source of water. Since then, they’ve turned the original garden into a native plant pollinator garden.
“We had huge plots we couldn’t manage,” Kourtney said. “Eventually you couldn’t even get in there to harvest the food. A grant from the John Henry Eldred Jr. Foundation allowed us to buy a tiller so we could move the gardens closer to the house.”
“We want to encourage families to grow their food, even if it is just a tomato,” Sol said. “But there are so many other ways to grow beyond gardening. It feels great when you grow something—if it’s growing mentally, physically, spiritually or just connecting with folks—we just want to teach people how to grow in any way possible.”
Two projects they’ve embarked upon include cultivating fruit trees which can be planted in urban gardens, and providing kits with seedlings to help people start backyard gardening.
“We always give away free plants when we have extra seedlings,” Kourtney said. “We want to encourage families to start their own gardens to help with their food bills and maybe support their community to become a little more self-sustainable.”
The Meyers have learned the importance of community connections in building their dream. Not only have they partnered with local businesses, like Portage River Mushrooms and Fremont Fence Company, but the relationships they’ve develop at farmers’ markets have inspired new creations at their Str8 Juice truck. The truck has opening hours at the farm and can also be found most Wednesdays at the WLI Farmers’ Market in Bowling Green. Even for that endeavor they collaborate with local vendors to create fresh juice blends and then repurpose the pulp for chicken food.
You can find Str8 Juice most Wednesdays at the WLI Farmers’ Market in Bowling Green.
“I would say our truck is probably one of the healthiest in Ohio because we locally source the ingredients from the people that we make connections with,” Sol said. “And so, if it’s something healthy and that we feel is that is beneficial for ourselves and our community, we provide it on our food truck.”
They also offer memberships at $8 per month which gives subscribers access to heirloom seeds, gifts and discounts.
The Meyers have big plans for the coming year, including building a growing tower that can serve as a learning center where they can continue educational classes over the winter and have a place to record a new podcast. They are also developing a tree-lined walking path as a tribute to Kourtney’s mother.
The ultimate goal of the Love Alwayz Foundation always comes back to access to healthy food.
“I’ve been to a lot of food security meetings, and we talk about the definition of food insecurity,” Kourtney said. “A lot of people think it’s just lack of access to foods. But we think that you need access to fresh, nutritious and healthy foods and then be able to grow that yourself.”
Last revised by: Jan Larson McLaughlin
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