Happy Summer Solstice! 🔆 The Summer solstice reminds us to celebrate and nourish the light within each of us. It is a great time for reflection and to remember just how far we've come on this journey. Only about 3 summers ago we had just expanded to our first side lot and had 21 short rows of produce and were still watering using one rainwater tank and our residential water hose and an overhead sprinkler! That year we grew and distributed over 600lbs of produce and we're feeling super proud. Wow, look how far we've come! Fountain Heights Farms has grown to 4 farm lots, an aquaponics learning center, an urban mushroom farm, and plans for an urban orchard and...
When my crops are looking sad or strange and I'm not sure why, in addition to tapping into my network of wise farmers, I also use some tech resources. These are three apps that I have used and find valuable.
It's been an incredibly challenging year, with the continuing pandemic and resulting economic challenges, people in the Fountain Heights community already experiencing poverty had even greater unfulfilled needs. Our own family didn't escape the financial challenges of this year but were able to make ends meet thanks to the farming and land justice Braiding Seeds Fellowship that Dominique was awarded midyear. Even with our challenges, we remain incredibly grateful of all the support we received and have been able to give, our community, our friendships, and all we have been able to accomplish this year. In 2021 we have grown to four neighborhood-based farm spaces, built an aquaponics learning center with the support of a Farmers of Color Network Infrastructure Grant from RAFI-USA, have distributed 10,802+ pounds of...
I'm so excited to be among the graduates of the 3rd BeBhm BECOME J.O. Diffay Cohort. BECOME is a 5 month business accelerator program (powered by StartSpark + CO.STARTERS) and and hosted by Birmingham's own Urban Impact that covers key areas of business operations and management. In addition to the amazing program facilitators like Joseph Dees and Jessica Bynum, all of us had direct access to experts in a variety of areas like financial management and marketing. The program consisted of a 12-week (10 sessions) facilitated core curriculum and will be followed by an intensive and individualized 30-60-90 technical assistance period. Why are we doing this? Why is a community-centered farm like ours so interested in "business", you ask? For us it's another way to view our work through multiple...
