MT. HEALTHY, Ohio — Every weekday morning, Chef Jeff Jones has a new routine at the Tikkun Farm kitchen. He spends the early hours chopping fruit and scrambling eggs so by 9 a.m., his new clients get to feast on his breakfast as he hits the stove for round two.
It’s a humble job, feeding teenagers in Tikkun Farm’s new summer program, but after years of hoping and training, Jones hopes it’s the start to his culinary career. How fitting then, it should come from the organization that helped him keep that dream alive.
Jones has had a complicated relationship with food. He spent years, suffering in pain, going to doctors, needing surgeries, wondering why so much of what he ate made him sick.
Jones said it got so bad, it was difficult to hold down a job.
Jones cooks in the Tikkun Farm kitchen
“I got diagnosed with Crohn’s disease about six years ago,” he said.
Crohn’s disease is chronic and incurable, often triggered by fatty foods, foods high in fiber, caffeine or carbonated drinks.
To manage his symptoms, Jones tried to convert to a plant-based diet, but he said he didn’t know much about vegan cooking. He said that’s why he decided to take culinary classes.
“I needed to know how to cook for myself and wanted to be self-sufficient,” he said.
From there he not only saw a way to cope with his condition but also a potential career as a vegan chef. Then the pandemic happened.
Jones said his classes took a hiatus and he took a financial hit. Meanwhile, a small 3.5 acre farm north of Cincinnati was looking for a new way to help its neighbors.
Pastor Mary Laymon started Tikkun Farm 10 years ago as a place for healing. It’s offered classes addressing trauma, green space and after-school programs, but for the first time during the pandemic, Laymon decided it was time to offer food.
Jones came by last March, grateful for the fresh food the farm was able to provide without triggering his pain.
Jones fills pantry freezers at Tikkun Farm
“It was a hard time I was between jobs and stuff,” he said.
As he kept coming back though, Tikkun Farm’s budding food insecurity program began to rely on him as well.
“I came to get food and I came a couple weeks and I came one week they needed help setting up so I helped set up and the next week I helped set up,” Jones said.
From then on, Jones was a regular volunteer, helping make sure Tikkun Farm’s food program would stick around.
Now a few times a week, he volunteers at the “Well House” stocking the pantry shelves or giving out bread, produce and other fresh healthy food to families in need.
“I was part of the crew who helped set it up,” he said.
Jones brings a tray of bread to the Well House
Laymon said he also helped prepare Crockpot meals and other cooking kits and she got to know his story. That’s why then the opportunity arrived and Tikkun Farm needed a part-time cook, they knew exactly who to ask.
“It’s probably not enough to pay the bills but it’s definitely we love having him,” she said.
Jones considers it a great start. Now back in culinary classes, he still dreams of getting his own kitchen one day, but Jones said he has no plans to leave Tikkun Farm behind.
“As long as I can keep it going,” he said. “It’s gonna be a time constraint when I finally get out there and get a job but I’d like to keep coming back doing things for them.”
Meanwhile, Laymon expects Tikkun Farm will find plenty for him to do.
“Maybe he can teach a cooking class,” she said.
