Darciea has a passion for holistic health & wellness, family empowerment, nutrition, farming, horticulture therapy and permaculture. She graduated Summa Cum Laude from Paul Quinn College. Her area of focus was health and wellness with an emphasis on nutrition. She has certifications in conversation coaching, horticulture, food handlers and international resilience training for permaculture.
While in undergrad, she participated in a few notable progressive and innovative programs like the DukeImmerse at Duke University, Nicholas School of Environment and the Emmett J. Conrad Leadership Program. Additionally, she was nominated for and won the 2014 National Black Caucus Regis Groff Award for leading social entrepreneurship.
As a result of her life experiences, her mission is to "Inspire Healthy Habits" as a: Healer, lover of life, entrepreneur, product creator, health coach, motivational speaker, panelist, farmer, curriculum creator, teacher, and manager of a few local farm-to-table markets. Her vision is to holistically empower individuals and encourage neighborhoods as they transform into communities.
Hear from Darciea in her own words about her journey and inspiration as an entrepreneur!
Tell us about your company, Filthy Rich Nutrients! What do you want people to know about what you do and why you do it?
Filthy Rich Nutrients (FRN) is a local urban garden resource that supplies nutrient dense soils, soil amendments and agricultural information to homeowners who lack access to fresh produce and/or have eroded soils or otherwise toxic growing spaces.
How much of your time each day/week goes toward growing Filthy Rich Nutrients as a business?
9 hours + daily
Your work is deeply related to food deserts and supporting the underserved in terms of access to healthy food. How did this become your work/purpose?
Prior to becoming a farmer, I was a registered childcare business owner who gardened and focused on helping young men and the way that they think (or their corpus callosum). By implementing a natural and organic diet, outdoor learning opportunities, community field trips and physical activity to encourage cooperative behavior for the purpose of learning safely, I was successful at maintaining the immunity of all of my children and childcare children, and parents did not have to take off work because their children were sick.
After 10 years, I closed the childcare business and went back to school to study nutrition through health & wellness. While in undergrad, I entered this program called DukeImmerse as a Paul Quinn College student. I studied ecological restoration, social injustice, environmental racism, community planning and outreach. I became a master gardener through Texas A&M, became a master composter, studied in Cuba, started getting mentored through indigenous Indian tribes, and acknowledging African reservations’ thriving through the southern parts of the east coast called Gullah Geechee using sacred geometry.
I proudly entered agriculture as an unofficial chemist, and my lab was my kitchen. Using organic and natural food to maintain or boost the immunity of those consuming my artisan dishes was very fulfilling. I began getting closer to the soil and learning the impact it has on the available nutrients in our produce. With healing in mind, I decided to create a nutrient dense soil that will yield nutrient dense produce. This is how Filthy Rich Nutrients became a driving force in my life. While creating nutrient dense soils, I am helping the environment and people heal simultaneously.
Where/how did you learn about gardening and growing food?
Farming and gardening are within me. It is in my DNA! My great grandmother on my mom’s side gardened, my aunt gardens, my grandpa on my dad’s side owned a farm and my dad grew up on a farm in Perry, Iowa.
In the early 90’s, my grandmother called and requested that someone come over and start a garden in our front yard. I remembered watching and being inspired, since I loved to play outside in the dirt anyway.
The second encounter I had with growing plants was my mom’s thriving house plants. Around 2008 - 2009, my husband built some stairs, turned them upside down and made an indoor winter/spring garden that was successful when I was a childcare owner.
We grew carrots, beans, herbs and tomatoes. The children and the parents were amazed and I remember loving to show them the garden’s progress.
Lastly, I chose to attend Paul Quinn College based on the fact that they had a farm. Once employed on the farm, I got as close as I could to perfecting a successful soil mix for the microgreens that improved the quality of the microgreens and transplants. The proof was in the produce and the health improvements that our customers raved about upon returning each week for more and more microgreens and other produce. All in all, that one encounter with the gardener that my grandmother requested has been with me this whole time. I literally created a business around my 1st gardening experience. That experience improved my health and wellness forever.
How did you find your way into education and gardening?
I found my way into permaculture / sacred geometry immediately upon entering into the agricultural industry, I noticed that there is very little diversity. I personally witness how culturally irrelevant some gardening topics are to me as an indigenous Indian. I desire to be the solution, connect people to the earth and share culturally appropriate growing techniques in person and virtually. I aspire to empower my audience to grow their soils to improve their own quality of life.
Where do you usually find yourself doing your best work, and what’s your favorite thing about that workspace?
I work best in nature. I prefer to be around plants and soil; however, I do desire to stock back up on chickens in the spring of 2022; I like to have chickens around because they are great safety indicators and they communicate well. I like watching them too.
Junk Yard Farm is where I am able to implement all of my growing techniques. The farm is my new lab. I love watching soil develop worms and attract the things it needs. I like learning how to read the land and communicating to viewers what the plants are telling us.
There are 4 favorite things that I love to do: learn, share, assist and financially profit for doing so.
What have been some notable and memorable events or workshops that you’ve hosted?
Providing community lectures about garden health and how that correlates to human health. After the lectures, we followed up with interactive workshops.
Both events were held biweekly at HeyyHealer in the Grow DeSoto Marketplace, in DeSoto, Texas. The 2020 - 2021 in person and virtual learning opportunities were for the clients seeking to learn and implement holistic health & wellness.
I taught the community about growing with Filthy Rich Nutrients and sold other gardening supplies to improve each organ as we covered it. With each event our mission was to collaborate with other health professionals such as a private practicing medical MD, registered nurses, LVN's, clinical medicine personnel, certified herbalists, acupuncture, chiropractic information followed by meditation to make a huge impact holistically.
https://www.instagram.com/p/COGLbiuJeHD/
Name a person, past or present, whom you admire or look up to. Why?
My Soil Sistah's are who I admire and look up to. Soil Sistah's is an organization I created to have a network of indigenous women who wanted to share the things I look up to them for. Their personalities, characteristics, and presences are amazing. I look up to my Soil Sistah's because these women already proved to have their own exemplary well thought out paths that lead to self-love, ultimate support for their families, friends, community and environments.
These ladies are super self-motivated, creative and supportive. Personally, I aspire and desire to be as successful and unapologetic as these ladies have been during their journey of struggle towards their own definition of success and self-preservation.
