“ The past few weeks have been busy and they are only getting busier. It’s spring on the farm, we’ve felt the onslaught of seeding since March. Breaking open the earth after a winter’s slumber, amending soil that hadn’t evolved to grow my great french ancestors food, soil that is eager to have the roots of the native plants etching through its layers. And all throughout the normal hectic start of a season there is a pandemic. “

“ But really, I'm not behind, I am right on schedule. I need to stop comparing myself to others who have awesome hoop houses and other fun toys. “

“ I try to bring the ancestors with me everywhere, admire the world, wonder at the world and worry less about the future, stress out less about the logistics, and seek out less definitive answers. Because everything is still just as murky at the primordial soup. We just have hummingbirds to speak to and Nootka roses to smell (and eat!) “

“ This winter I have had opportunities to hear from some of the most inspiring folks involved in the Native Food Sovereignty movement. They've helped me think more deeply about the vision and mission of Good Rain Farm and I want to share them with you! “

“ It's an effort to preserve culture and tradition. It also means that sometimes we lose some of the 'real' knowledge when our elders die and all we have to go off of is the wrong way a European anthropologist managed to record. “

“ I hope you look forward to learning, eating and hearing all the stories my ancestors managed to record enabling me to share them and the taste of them with you. I dream of a day where we gather under the Oaks, surrounded by Camas Lily and feast on Salmon berry pemmican (Vegan Acorn Flour Version?), roasted Camas Root and fresh spring foraged salads with a warm fire, comfortable chairs and I am up in front of you performing an Oral Story of the foods we are eating, who gave their lives to nourish ours. “

“ There was so much food and resources here in the Pacific Northwest there was no reason to breed a plant for maximum production. There was so much here before settlers began arriving that twice as many people lived on this land than today. TODAY! There are less people living on this land than lived here in the past. And we have so little left of what was here. I tear up thinking about what happened. What went wrong? “

“ I can't begin to pick apart how interconnected Food is in our lives. Food is a large part of our cultures, traditions, moments of bonding. Food impacts our health, physical and mental. Food exists outside in the ecosystems impacting and being affected by Climate Change. Food is social justice, our society withholds it from some and over feeds others. “

“ As you heard, if Rain didn't oddly fall in love with the grotesque, lying and cheating Coyote (Sin-ka-lip) the Arrow Lakes wouldn't have formed and her blood wouldn't have carved out the Columbia River's path. I'm grateful that she found the strength (and anger) to hold Coyote to his promise though, without that conviction Salmon and so many other critters and plants wouldn't be here with us today. “

“ Am I really a Native? Do I really deserve to identify as Native? Am I culturally appropriating my own culture or perpetuating stereotypes or signalling to other white people that it's okay to wear or use Native fashion or practices? Did I make this whole thing up? Am I just grasping with some need to have a unique and exotic heritage? Am I using my heritage to gain leverage somehow? This is what assimilation looks like. “

“ Tree Ash is a great resource for the farm. As your farmer and the steward of this little chunk of land I struggle deeply with every day choices. I try to make the best ones, and when it comes to soil preparation and amending it's a hard bit of truth that I struggle to swallow. Soil is so complex and it's literally the land we stand on and I want to treat it with deep admiration, thanks and respect. “

“ Besides the continued physical tasks on the farm I am also taking these colder weather months to cozy up inside with a cup of Mint tea and my city cat, Duke, to really dive into the Farm's Business plan. This year I started what I hope to be an annual event, the Farm Retreat, I took a much needed 'Workcation' and stayed in a Yurt on the Oregon Coast. “

“ This year I learned that I may lean towards the workaholic side of the scale. That I have frequently in the past and this year especially over extended myself. Self improvement is a lifetime goal achieved in little chunks every January and February before the new years resolution is forgotten in favor of the comfort of familiarity. “

“ The support we've received since both articles were released has been amazing--from a spike in our social media traffic and followers, to a huge surge in sign-ups for our CSA boxes. As we head into the third week of April, we only have a few CSA's left! If you've been on the fence about signing up, now is the time! “

“ First and foremost people love supporting their local farmers (us!), by giving us our "literal and figurative seed money". Building a relationship with your farmer also changes your relationship with your food; you have a closer more informed view of how your food starts from our simple seeds, and end up in your families bellies. “

"Basically it was the government discriminating against black farmers. For not lending them money on time, for not processing their loan applications.

I always said farmers are faced with acts of nature such as hurricanes, tornadoes and droughts. But you never should be faced with the actual hand of the federal government. They're supposed to give you a lending hand up, and not a lending hand down and mistreat people the way the government mistreated black farmers."

--Dr. John Boyd Jr. via NPR

“ Have we mentioned how much fun we had at our very first Meet & Greet event last week?! Salud! Wine Bar graciously provided us the perfect space for our community to gather and learn more about what it means to become a CSA Member with us (Community Supported Agriculture). “

“ We have successfully put our farm to bed, laid out our various cover crops of grains, pollinator plants and garlic. Though we still have a few growing crops as we move into the winter season they are not of market value. Never fear we are feeding our families and friends from these slower growing and hardy veggies. We are so excited to keep growing our farm, we have sat down and created projections and cost analysis as well as developed our CSA ready for release near the beginning of December. “

“ This is a very important event for us, especially in light of the recent horrific events taking place around the country. One of our goals with this farm is to become a community resource, one that the most vulnerable populations in our communities can turn to for support. Please join us as we work towards making this possible! “

“ There is always more to do but we accomplished everything on our list for that day and that feels like a huge win. Thank you for all who came out and even to a few of those who couldn't make it in person but still volunteered time helping create menu's and locating supplies! “