Save Earth Tone Farm

Hi my name is Armand and I'm raising funds to save my farm, Earth Tone Farm, which is a small scale produce farm at my home in Garrison NY. I have been living here for 10 years, my partner Erin has been with me here for 8, and we’ve been officially farming here for 6 years. It has been very hard work; serious manual labor, a lot of learning on the go and learning from mistakes. Despite the hard work, growing vegetables for market has been immensely rewarding. We love being able to provide truly fresh, healthy, food with minimal environmental impact (minimal packaging and travel, no spray) to like-minded people in our community at local markets. We also have relationships with a couple of local restaurants who source some vegetables from us as well. We believe strongly in the importance of supporting the local economy. We use organic growing practices as well as some regenerative agriculture practices, and we plan to keep moving in the direction of regenerative organic farming. As a farmer with a significant disability, it is a long term goal of mine to create an area for adaptive gardening, where we can hold workshops to share the joys of growing your own food with children and adults with disabilities.

So why are we raising funds? Unfortunately, our relationship with our landlords has soured, and Erin and I, along with our 4 senior animals (2 old pups and 2 sweet kitties), are facing eviction as well as a lawsuit, and potentially an order to stop working (farming) on the property. We have a rent-to-own option in our lease that we were hoping to move on this year as we finally have just enough funds for the upfront costs of buying a home, and have been approved for a mortgage. We've been building equity towards the home/property for 10 years, and, with the understanding that we were going to own our place one day. We have also invested tens of thousands more into the home and farm over the years with the landowners' full support and encouragement. We are planning to not only fight our eviction but to force them to sell to us according to our contract. It may be their house but it is our home, farm, and our blood sweat and tears that have been shed here. We can't walk away without a fight. We are seeking funds to help with our attorney fees, because if we dig into our savings to pay our attorney, we will no longer have enough funds to purchase the house when the time comes. THERE IS NO DONATION TOO SMALL! Every dollar helps, and we are grateful for you just for reading until the end, even if you are unable to help.