A Decade In A Year: 2020 Ends
Annual Year End Report: A Letter from Farmer Michelle:
What a decade this year has been. We experienced so many hopeful ups and so many frustrating downs. The new year started off connecting with so many inspirational farmers at a handful of conferences, then COVID-19 shut everything down. In the midst of a global pandemic was a national and world-wide social justice uprising for Black Lives Matter, as the awareness of the intersectionality of Social, Environmental and Economic justice grew so did a call for Land Back and Indigenous Sovereignty. Meanwhile, in India, the world’s largest social uprising is led by farmers- farmers of color who’ve been deeply impacted by colonialism. Our tiny farm sits on the precipice of these calls to action, embracing and embodying Food Sovereignty in Action.
I started the farm with a friend in 2017. Arriving at Vibrant Valley unannounced in hopes to work on a real farm, and finding myself on an all female crew for the rest of the 2017 season. The operation morphed from 50Fifty Farm - with a mission to give back 50% of our efforts to the community, into x̌ast sq̓it, Good Rain Farm - aiming to inspire conscious consumers to decolonize their diets and strengthen a sense of place by sharing traditional ecological knowledge & stories. Though the mission statement has changed the farm has always offered free of charge CSA boxes and found ways to share our bounty with our community. I farmed in 2018 almost entirely alone while simultaneously attending the Zenger Farm Apprenticeship. In 2019 I was crying in the fields, feeling isolated, drowning in the work that needed to get done to feed our 25 foundational CSA members. Thank you, every single one of you! I wasn’t sure I was going to keep operating a farm after 2019. I took a week off and tracked down the elusive Washington State Farm Internship Program and brought on 2 amazing Interns and a few rotating WOOFers. The Farm has experienced growth and a community impact larger that I could have ever imagined this passed year.
2020 didn’t go off without a hitch… or two. But just as in past years we continued to feed our community- growing our Scholarship offerings to our CSA members, donating food to Feed the Mass thanks to CSA site Host help, redirecting food to the PDX Free Fridge Programs and more! We aren’t perfect, we're a little bit raw, we are always learning, but the humans behind x̌ast sq̓it couldn’t be more grateful, fulfilled and stoked for the future of this little farm monster we are creating. We created this report to be more transparent about the farms operations, objectives and goals. I hope it answers some questions, soothes some frustrations and inspires you. Without you this work would not be possible.
Lim̓lm̓t / Thank You,
Farmer Michelle Week
