Black Yard Farm winter and recuperation funds
Donation protected
Hello Everyone,
My name is Ashanti and I am the last remaining member of the Black Yard Farm Collective. I have created this campaign to raise $15,000 to fill in the gap of what I wasn’t able to make this year farming alone. These funds will aid in allowing me to keep this project going.
Black Yard Farm is a Black centered farm collective. Black Yard provides space for folks of the African Diaspora to learn, experience and enjoy an Agricultural space dedicated to uplifting African/African American ancestral practices and contributions to farming.
Earlier this season, I was put in a difficult situation left with the option to farm this season alone or call this project quits. Because I’ve finally connected to an opportunity with secure affordable land access with the option to purchase, I decided to continue forward.
I have invested the last three years of my adult life roughing it and making things work with farming being my primary source of income. With all the challenges this season and farming alone, I am finding myself coming up short on the capital I need to continue moving this project forward through the winter.
Raising this money will mean that I can actually have time to rest and recuperate this winter. It will allow me space to focus on developing curriculum and job/membership criterias for new members and employees so I don't have to do this alone next season. It will cover the cost of feed for the remaining animals, and the cost of some of the utility bills required to heat
the farm house.
Anyone who has cultivated land and/or raised and cared for animals knows how rewarding and extremely labor intensive it can be. Doing it alone was completely insane and nothing I ever want to do again. To say that I am tired would be an understatement. Despite all the challenges and curve balls I received this year, I managed to keep the farm afloat and that feels like a success. I was able to have the green house completed, and a high tunnel built for season extension. I was able to sell produce and protein to two different food pantries, one in the Bronx and a local one 10 mins down the road from the farm.I was even able to attend a couple of farmers markets. I’ve downsized the amount of animals I have to make things a bit easier as I prepare to get my bearings this winter.
I have been so blessed to be as supported as I’ve been on this journey. I feel like Land stewardship is my calling, this work is life work for me and I can't imagine doing anything else. I truly believe in the space that is being created by Black Yard Farm. It is a space that I longed for on my journey to being reintroduced to Agriculture on a rural scale. It is so important to see yourself and folks that look like you in the spaces you hope to exist in.
If you too, believe in liberated black centered Agricultural spaces, please consider supporting this mission by sharing this campaign and making a donation!
My name is Ashanti and I am the last remaining member of the Black Yard Farm Collective. I have created this campaign to raise $15,000 to fill in the gap of what I wasn’t able to make this year farming alone. These funds will aid in allowing me to keep this project going.
Black Yard Farm is a Black centered farm collective. Black Yard provides space for folks of the African Diaspora to learn, experience and enjoy an Agricultural space dedicated to uplifting African/African American ancestral practices and contributions to farming.
Earlier this season, I was put in a difficult situation left with the option to farm this season alone or call this project quits. Because I’ve finally connected to an opportunity with secure affordable land access with the option to purchase, I decided to continue forward.
I have invested the last three years of my adult life roughing it and making things work with farming being my primary source of income. With all the challenges this season and farming alone, I am finding myself coming up short on the capital I need to continue moving this project forward through the winter.
Raising this money will mean that I can actually have time to rest and recuperate this winter. It will allow me space to focus on developing curriculum and job/membership criterias for new members and employees so I don't have to do this alone next season. It will cover the cost of feed for the remaining animals, and the cost of some of the utility bills required to heat
the farm house.
Anyone who has cultivated land and/or raised and cared for animals knows how rewarding and extremely labor intensive it can be. Doing it alone was completely insane and nothing I ever want to do again. To say that I am tired would be an understatement. Despite all the challenges and curve balls I received this year, I managed to keep the farm afloat and that feels like a success. I was able to have the green house completed, and a high tunnel built for season extension. I was able to sell produce and protein to two different food pantries, one in the Bronx and a local one 10 mins down the road from the farm.I was even able to attend a couple of farmers markets. I’ve downsized the amount of animals I have to make things a bit easier as I prepare to get my bearings this winter.
I have been so blessed to be as supported as I’ve been on this journey. I feel like Land stewardship is my calling, this work is life work for me and I can't imagine doing anything else. I truly believe in the space that is being created by Black Yard Farm. It is a space that I longed for on my journey to being reintroduced to Agriculture on a rural scale. It is so important to see yourself and folks that look like you in the spaces you hope to exist in.
If you too, believe in liberated black centered Agricultural spaces, please consider supporting this mission by sharing this campaign and making a donation!
Organizer
Ashanti Williams
Organizer
Argyle, NY
