The leaves and light turn golden as another harvest season reaches its climax in the Capay Valley. Tomatoes and melons burst - sometimes literally - with ripeness. Winter squash and pomegranates color up, orbs of red and orange. Strawflowers, zinnias and marigolds are a fiesta in the fields.
This Saturday is the annual Hoes Down Harvest Festival – a romping rural fundraiser at Full Belly Farm with the Ecological Farming Association.
Lupita and Ana are cooking up a storm in the Full Belly Farm kitchen. Alex is running to keep the tractors running. Miguel is shaking the trees of Full Belly’s walnut orchards. Manuel and Nefi are harvesting endless crates of glorious vegetables and fruit. Chyca is sorting almonds, and harvesting hibiscus (jamaica), which she grew from seed Zeke brought her from the Jardines del Pueblo in Sonoma County.
Farmworker Advisory council members at work yesterday!
If you are planning to attend the Hoes Down, come say hi! Casa Agraria will have a table in the Kitchen area and will be hosting a short presentation: “Land Access and Housing for Farm Workers” at 4:15 p.m. in Non-Profit Grove.
I couldn’t be more proud of the recent achievements of the Casa Agraria team and advisory council:
Seven Casa Agraria Advisory Council members and four staff/board members attended a statewide Cooperative Housing “Encuentro” at the California Endowment in Oakland, and/or the California Community Land Trust’s annual conference in San Francisco in September. Chyca and Kendra spoke on a panel on agricultural CLT’s in front of this statewide audience!
Casa Agraria’s board of directors and Farmworker Advisory Counil are actively building a nonprofit community land trust: participating in governance trainings, voting on org Bylaws, and seeking legal review of the resident/lessee selection criteria.
We are being called upon as a model for rural land access and housing equity. We’re in conversation with leaders at the county and state level about how to prove this model and scale it up.
The bargain sale by Dru and Paul of our first farm lot is sooo close to fruition!
Good progress is being made on the grant-subsidized manufactured homes for our first project, and a plan for the third unit is nigh!
We are actively fundraising. Now is the time for support!
With our world so divided, and our lives bombarded with bad news, it is easy to feel disempowered. Yet when we look to our communities, we find in-person connection (a basic human need), differences we can reconcile, and a chance to change the status quo.
Casa Agraria Community Land Trust, says Paul, affirms the relationship between those who care for a foodshed and those benefiting from abundance. If a CSA is community supported agriculture, a CLT is
Community ownership of land, an asset that benefits the whole foodshed
Community investment in land stewardship
Community construction of solid, efficient housing
Community affordability for generations
This work is not only about housing – it is about land stewardship, food sovereignty, financial equity, and a healthy agricultural community.
The Casa Agraria Farmworker Advisory Council members have been patient, cooperative, attentive and engaged. They are aware that only three families will be housed in this first project, and their response is, “this is why we must stick with it and prove that it can be done – then do another one.” They are unanimous in their enthusiasm to begin working the land – starting with planting trees and hedgerows, and a cooperative organic cropping plan for the three acres of land surrounding the first three homes. They come from a diversity of places and bring a diversity of strengths– from orchard management to seedling production, from harvest and postharvest to equipment operation and repair. Some have worked with ejidos or cooperatives in their youth, others say they just want to have and be good neighbors. What they have in common is a love of el cultivo, dreams for a healthy future for their families, and relentless optimism.
-Kendra Johnson, Program Director, (530) 902-3579
Send your support today! www.casagraria.org/donate
Or ask us how to get involved: info@casagraria.org
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