A community leader is launching big projects in two Atlanta neighborhoods.
Chuck Meadows -- who previously served as a Metro of Atlanta Chamber vice president and executive director of the Atlanta Beltline Partnership, among other positions -- is set to open Jim Adams Farm & Table and Jim Adams Farms this month.
Jim Adams Farm & Table is gearing up for a a planned Feb. 21 opening in a Bolton Village storefront in the Riverside community. A counter-service kitchen will serve seasonal dishes made with produce grown at Jim Adams Farms, from a menu designed by a team of executive chefs. Offerings will include house-made soups, salads and sandwiches served with from-scratch sauces and dressings will be made in-house.
The kitchen will prepare a number of items for carry-out each day, in addition to made-to-order items.
Produce grown at the Jim Adams Farms will also be sold year-round including fruits, vegetables, herbs and flowers, as well as small-batch goods from regional craftsmen and artisans.
At Pittsburgh Yards at the intersection of University Avenue and McDaniel Street, Jim Adams Farms will grow a broad assortment of crops in a combination of greenhouses and raised farm beds. A variety of lettuces and microgreens, root vegetables such as carrots and turnips, cucumbers and beans are on the planned crop slate. Herbs and spices such as ginger, garlic and cilantro will also be produced. A variety of flowers will be grown, and two beehives will be installed in the spring. The business will also seek organic certification.
Credit: Yvonne Zusel
Credit: Yvonne Zusel
At the onset, the farm will exclusively supply the year-round farmer’s market and café at Jim Adams Farm & Table. The harvest schedule will carry fresh crops 10 miles to the Jim Adams storefront every other day. A dozen raised farm beds have been constructed just a few yards away from the storefront to create a community garden. Groups from the surrounding community are signing up to “adopt” a bed.
Invest Atlanta will contribute to the build-out of the farm through their Business Improvement Loan Fund.
Jim Adams, the company's namesake, bought just under 100 acres of land in Greene County and farmed it with his wife, Rosa, for much of the 20th century. Jim's grandson, Willie Adams, still grows food on the same land, which sits near the end of Jim Adams Road outside of the city of Greensboro. Jim Adams is the great, great uncle of Jim Adams Farms founder Meadows, who was inspired to open the farm and cafe after taking his daughters to visit the land Jim Adams used to farm. He noticed Willie Adams was growing vegetables and herbs in raised beds on the concrete foundations where large commercial chicken houses used to stand, and thought he could replicate the same concept in Atlanta.
Willie Adams will serve as a lead advisor for Jim Adams Farms. Rashid Nuri is also providing technical support through his urban agriculture and community development non-profit Truly Living Well.
Jim Adams Farm & Table, 2011 Bolton Road NW and Jim Adams Farms, 352 University Ave. SW, Atlanta. jimadams.farm
RELATED:
Read more stories like this by liking Atlanta Restaurant Scene on Facebook , following @ATLDiningNews on Twitter and @ajcdining on Instagram .
About the Author
