Zankofa Farm - Winter Storm Recovery Fund Drive

Hi my name is Idara Phillips,

Owning a farm and creating a space where people can learn about animals, plants and nature in general has been my dream for over 35 years.

In 2020 my dream came true, I purchased a 5 acre farm in the rural farm town of Wilton, CA which lies just south of Sacramento. The recent storms, flooded my farm and heavy gusts of wind (as high as 80 MPH) has devastated our farm and we need help to rebuild.

Zankofa farm, has a 2 acre garden and over 200 animals including dogs, cats, pigs, goats, sheep, turkeys and ducks, 36 varieties of chickens, snakes, lizards, rodents etc... Many of these animals shelters have been either destroyed or compromised due to the flooding and wind damage. We lost 2 newly built chicken coops which were sheltering over 100 chickens. We had just built them the month prior to the storm.

We lost the whole run on this coop.

11 levies broke, our town was under water for days.

Our street became a river.

My husband Miguel Ortiz and I are the primary land and animal stewards of our operation. We purchased our farm in 2020, and have worked restlessnessly to build this farm, while caring for the land and animals. I put my life savings into this farm, and alot of it was destroyed over the past month. We are no strangers to hard work, but the recent storms have caused so much damage and destruction, it has become too physically and financially demanding for me to handle at this time. I am also 9 months pregnant and technically on bed rest, my baby is due in February 2023. In preparation for the arrival of the baby we really need to shore things up FAST.

Our two and four-legged friends are in a foot of standing water.

We built this farm for you!

Here at Zankofa, our mission is to create a program that introduces urban families to farming. Not only so they can understand food systems and agricultural systems but also for the therapy it can provide to inner city youth. Originally I just wanted to work with kids exclusively but I have found that people of all ages get excited about the farm life. I want to make this where people from urban areas, especially people of color can come and learn about farming/gardening, domestic and farm animals. When you go to petting zoos you might get to feed animals but you don’t really get to learn about them. My goal is to provide a a hands on learning experience in agriculture.

Your generous donation will allow us to secure:

For those who have enough info please feel free to donate - even $1 makes a difference!

However,if you would like to learn more about my story and how I began farming/ranching read below:

I was born and raised in San Jose, CA and I have been raising farm animals since 1985. When I was little, about 5 or 6, parents started sending me to stay with my dads family in Mississippi every summer. I stayed on the family farms, with my grandma, uncles, aunts and cousins. Almost everyone had a farm in my family. This is where I fell in love with the farm life, especially the animals.

I literally fell in LOVE with the animals on my family's farm. When I returned home I would bug my parents to get me whatever animals I had fallen in love with that summer. This was tricky because I lived in the city. My family had a ⅓ acre backyard farm in San Jose where we grew all sorts of vegetables, but the family land in Mississippi is 100 acres, and i wanted that life.

At age six, I find a kitten at daycare and sneak it home in my backpack. He ended up being so uoung, he needed to be bottle fed. (If you ever hear stories about my cat that used the toilet, not a litter box, thats him) That year I also got a hen and a dozen fertile eggs = chickens! That next summer , I spent a lot of time with my uncle who had pigs. Guess what I insisted on getting when I returned to California? At age 9, I joined 4-H and started with raising and showing pigs. At age 11, I started breeding sheep. Animals were my life!

Feeding colustrum to lambs I just delivered, back in the early 1990's

With hardwork and a plan dreams come true. As a kid my dream was to move to Sacramento area, attend UC Davis, become a veterinarian and buy a farm. It took 30+ years but, I am here. I saved for 15 years and finally bought my farm in 2020, and I am studying Agriculture at Chico State.

The property in 2020 when we got it.

Nature can ground you. My farm and 4-H experinces really shaped who I am today. Which is why I want to get kids involved in Agriculture. I grew up in a pretty rough neighborhood full of gangs, drugs, teen pregnancy etc. On top of that my mom, my rock, died when I was 16 leaving mento pretty much on my own to raise myself and my younger brother. One of the main the reason I never got in trouble, was I was too busy working with my animals. I raised my animals at Emma Prush Park in San Jose. We were the Prush Park 4H Club - East Valley 4H. We were the only minority based 4-H in Santa Clara County. We were not far from Cesar Chavez’s birthplace. We were a super minority 4-H Club. The boarding of the animals was through the city and it was free to keep the animals, but we had to provide all their care. Since this was a city park, we had constant interaction with the public. I loved teaching the visitors about my animals and involving them in their care. When I was 14 I started breeding sheep. I started a program where, kids in my club could obtain one of my baby lambs and raise them and then pay me back when they would sell them at auction. Which allowed low income kids to fully participate in club activities. I actually wrote my college entrance exam about my 4H experience and my community work. In high school I would bring animals to schools and community centers and to interact with the community.

Some photos of the farm in normal conditions.

Here are some photos of past visitors at the farm, enjoying the experiences of farming