SEEDS Farm Leaders

Hola, we are the SEEDS Farm Leaders that have been taking part in an intensive summer cohort with SEEDS Community Agriculture (SEEDS) in Nogales. We want to share more with you about what we have been learning and accomplishing this summer. We also aim to inspire you to support our fundraiser and share it with your friends, family and networks. Thank you for reading along as we share with you more about what we’re working towards.

SEEDS is a grassroots group in Nogales that is building capacity to use culturally based traditional practices to expand local organic food production and leadership in our community. We use a Train the Trainer model so that we can take the knowledge and skills we learn and share them with community members young and old. And in this way, we propel the diffusion of agriculture and leadership knowledge while creating opportunities for young adults in Nogales.

This is what we as Farm Leaders have been learning throughout the summer:

We are in the final phase of planting and building SEEDS Farm, a project envisioned by local young adults who participated in a sustainable design course. Set to open in the fall, the purpose of the farm is to build a space where community members, families, teachers and students can learn how to grow their own fruits, vegetables, harvest water, make compost, and attract pollinators.

To develop SEEDS Farm local young adults trained in sustainable agriculture, which includes the ethics and principles of permaculture design, passive and active water harvesting practices, the components of soil health and composting, seasonal and companion planting, and the importance of pollinators and their habitat.

Working as a team and in community, we also trained in understanding personal leadership styles, popular education practices, effective group work structures and public speaking.

As Farm Leaders we are building capacity to:

· Manage and operate SEEDS Farm programming

· Build strength around our school garden programs

· Launch our apprenticeship program so that we can keep expanding leadership and local food production.

Your support will help us raise awareness on how the world can transform for the better through local farming and youth leadership, so that all of us can have hope in a brighter future for us and future generations. More specifically, this fundraiser will allow us to continue our important community work in Nogales. We are raising $2500.00 for each of our 8 Farm Leaders. Funds will be distributed in 3 ways of support that are essential to continue this work:

1. Transportation costs for training and farming

2. Further intensive training through the fall

3. End of the summer bonus for each Farm Leader

We hope that our work has inspired you to support and share our fundraiser with your friends, family and networks. We will be reporting back regularly with short videos produced by our Farm Leaders fundraiser progress and more.

In community spirit and hope,

Sheyla, Denisse, Peter, Jesus, Juan, Anthony, Jazmin and Sofia

SEEDS Farm Leaders

Traditional O’Odham Territory / Borderlands / Nogales

Follow: FB: @seedscommunityagriculture Instagram: @seeds_semillas_

Website: seedsnogales.org