Before he was a successful organic farmer, James Mutinda was a musician. “I was born with music in me,” he says.
Growing up in a village in Kenya, James knew a young boy who experienced mental health challenges. “I noticed whenever I’m playing the drum, the boy is happy,” he says. “He wants to join. He wants to play.”
This idea of “healing through music” stayed with James as he studied for a music degree and later pursued a career in music therapy.
“You involve people—who are freely willing—to deal with issues in their lives,” he says. “In my area, I dealt with older people and young kids, children with autism.”
This same commitment to caring for others led him to farming. While working for a short time as a pediatric consultant at a hospital, he would advise families on nutritious eating.
“If you want to be healthy, if you want to be safe, if you want to have strong immunity, you eat,” he says. “And you don’t just eat anything. You eat good, nutritious food.”
His work with these families led to a lightbulb moment for James: “Farming is the main activity that leads to food on the table, good food.”
So James became a farmer.
Healing through music, healing through agriculture
The family grows kale, spinach, managu (a leafy green related to eggplant), and terere (amaranth). They also raise dairy goats, rabbits for meat, and pure-bred local chickens for eggs. “And then, of course, we have our dairy cows,” says James.
But their biggest source of income is a uniquely nutritious vegetable called the orange-fleshed sweetpotato. It’s a drought-resistant crop James learned about as he dove into agriculture—it can grow even without ample rain, which is an invaluable feature for farmers as the climate grows more unpredictable.
James’ work on the farm has brought him full circle back to the work he loves—serving his community and, especially, the children around him. The orange-fleshed sweetpotato has become a fixture at his son’s school.
“I told them, instead of doing bread every morning, do orange-fleshed sweetpotatoes. You’ll feed the kids nutritious food.”
The school agreed, and James planted half an acre of the crop on the school grounds.
He also restarted his music therapy work, welcoming all children to join. And instead of buying expensive instruments, he is reusing the objects around him. “I can use pipes, I can use bottle tops, I can use bottles, I can use any waste that is around. We play music with plastic waste materials.”
This sustainable approach to caring for those around him is the thread that laces through everything James does.
“What if we multiply, or rather replicate, whatever we have? And have others do it on their farms? Have them do it in their schools?”
He envisions a future where the knowledge he has gained—on practices ranging from farm design to tree cultivation and beekeeping—can be shared across his community. He is well on his way.
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