Jalen Prater is getting fresh produce to a table near you
You might have seen Jalen Prater on a Saturday morning at the Cooper-Young Community Farmers Market. Maybe he was promoting frilly purple mustard greens grown at one of The Works Urban Farms locations. Or he could have been chatting up customers about the many environmental virtues of the native plants for sale from Memphis Native Tree Works. Jalen, 28, is the sales and marketing lead for The Works, Inc., a holistic community development corporation, or CDC, advocating for disinvested neighborhoods to provide security in housing, food, health, and economic prosperity.
I wrongly assumed that Jalen had grown up in Memphis. I mean, being a convincing booster of the city’s perpetually under-resourced areas, I’d think you’d need to be homegrown. But he actually grew up about as far from Memphis as you can get in the continental U.S., just next to Joshua Tree National Park in the little town of 29 Palms, California. Having such natural splendor practically in his backyard fostered Jalen’s passion for and knowledge of the natural world.
“I’m a rockhound,” he says. Jalen began rock collecting while attending Birmingham-Southern College in Alabama. His room at home and his desk at work are filled with agates, fossils, and gemstones. Recently, he’s been working on incorporating some of his finds into wooden sculptures that he’s installed in his grandparents’ garden. (No, none are for sale yet. I asked.)
“My mom used to bring home food from the orchard and farm at the 29 Palms Inn where she worked,” he says. The inn’s restaurant is a pioneer in farm-to-table restaurant cuisine and culture. The inn’s Faultline Farm is built on an ancient lake bed with fertile organic matter built up over thousands of years. “The restaurant uses the farm as its backyard garden,” says Jalen.
I was older than I should have been when I learned flea markets and farmers markets are not the same thing, but Jalen was raised with a personal connection to farm-to-table philosophy.
That connection has influenced his style of cooking, as well. “I cook every day,” he says. “My favorite dinner to make has been a ground beef bulgogi stir-fry with asparagus and garlic scapes, served with a romaine and scallion salad topped with Thai peanut dressing.” He says it’s a quick meal, which to me is cheese and crackers, but Jalen clearly puts a lot of dedication into whatever he’s doing.
Mike Larrivee, vice president of strategy and regenerative development for The Works, told me, “Jalen is such a good dude—talented, driven, and passionate about the sustainable food and conservation systems that we’re building.”
Jalen, like most nonprofit employees, wears many hats—coordinating volunteers, manning farmers market stands, promoting wholesale and retail products, making social media content. I asked him which parts of his job come most naturally. “The granola parts,” he replies. And The Works, Inc., has several. The CDC’s regenerative initiatives include The Works Urban Farms, Memphis Native Tree Works, and Memphis Urban Wood.
“I also have an uncle in video production, though,” says Jalen, explaining how he learned to be a videographer and manage some of the more technical aspects of the job.
With family in Memphis and Millington, Jalen spent a lot of time in the area before moving here permanently in 2012. “I love the tri-state geography and the rural areas,” he says.
Jalen’s college career focused on urban environmental studies, specifically fresh water restoration and native plants. After graduating during the pandemic, he has worked as an elementary school teacher, a park ranger, a nonprofit farm manager, and an employee for the city of Memphis.
With approximately five total acres in four locations around town, The Works Urban Farms is able to deliver produce to local restaurants, often on a day’s notice. Jalen sends out emails to local chefs outlining availability of products and offering photos and recipes.
Even with about 10 local restaurants purchasing products, creating a demand for locally grown foods is no simple task. For one thing, “tastes are finicky,” Jalen says. Restaurant patrons may not like the items available at a certain time of the season, and a lot of us expect consistent offerings. If we like a menu item, we want to know we can order it again. Buying locally grown produce usually means buying seasonally available produce, and that tomato tartine you loved in July is not going to be available in December.
“Not to mention, a lot of the successful brands or restaurants Memphis is known for don’t require fresh produce,” notes Jalen. Think barbecue. Ultimately, he’d like to see “more chefs coming to farms and picking out their produce.”
Jalen sees his job not only as educating restaurants and consumers about the economic, environmental, and taste benefits of locally grown fresh vegetables and fruits, but telling a compelling story that is easy to pass along. “Sales are occurring with the servers,” he says. While a restaurant’s chef may know all the reasons she chose local turnips for a dish, it’s the servers that have to tell customers the story behind the food.
“The chef has to communicate the what and the why to the staff,” says Jalen. Some chefs are doing just that. Last November Chef Theresa Schuenke of Fawn took her staff on a field trip to The Works Urban Farms in Midtown’s Washington Bottoms neighborhood. It’s a lot easier to create a narrative about turnips when you’ve seen them come right out of the dirt.
Jalen called out several Memphis bakers among customers and noted that they are often serving some of the most creative foods using local produce. If you’ve ever been to LuLu’s Cafe & Bakery on Poplar Avenue, you may have been lucky enough to try the blackberry cake with basil buttercream or one of the other delights chilling in the pastry case. O’Regan Creations and Blanchard’s also showcase local produce in their offerings.
“But it’s tense in the scene,” Jalen says about the thin margin restaurants and other food sellers have to maintain to even break even. “I try to be a source of positivity and inspiration.”
And he’s got that part down. Whatever Jalen is doing, it’s going to be about lifting up his community. Memphis is lucky ours is the one he’s chosen.
Ashley Harper is a native Memphian and tomato enthusiast. Soapbox issues include the importance of native plants and the scourge of outdoor cats. She surrounds herself with generous and talented cooks. @dagfreddie
Andrea Fenise is a creative professional who focuses on telling compelling visual stories of people, places, and movements that are making an impact on her beloved Memphis. She is also creative communications manager at The Works, Inc. @andreafenise