Seattle Portal

Mission

Our mission is to empower youth and build community through sustainable food production.

Goals

Empower youth
Through meaningful work on the community farm, young people will acquire agricultural skills that will help them provide food for San Jose. Youth will also learn business, management and organizational skills that directly translate into the world of work. As the project develops, we seek to push participants into leadership roles - managing workdays, sales of produce, and the everyday operations of the farm. As we cultivate our crops, we will also cultivate young leaders that will later go out into their communities and contribute in a variety of capacities.

Young people today have fewer and fewer opportunities to experience nature and interact with the natural world. We seek to develop an ethic of environmental stewardship in youth, which will prepare for leadership in this changing world. Participants will be exposed to all aspects of sustainable food production. They will observe the seasons throughout the crop cycle, and learn how their communties are tied to these natural processes.

Embrace Diversity
We seek to recruit individuals from a wide variety of economic and ethnic backgrounds, thus creating an atmosphere in which all participants can learn from each others unique experiences. We acknowledge that racism and inequity exist. Through working together, students will develop new relationships and understanding of eachother's backgrounds. We will encourage all participants to contribute to their full capacity. Creative solutions to problems will be found by drawing from the skills brought to the table by participants of many cultures.

In our operations, we will try to incorporate crops traditionally grown by the many cultures represented in San Jose.  This will deepen people's understanding of their respective cultures. In addition, it will provide much needed, organic varieties of these specialty crops that can be used by ethnic communities.

Build community
Consistently, cities find that wherever there is a community garden, a vibrant and active community of people springs up around it. We are proposing a community farm, in which individuals will participate in a collaborative effort to grow food on one large, self contained farm system. We seek to create a focal point for community on the East Side, a farm which community members can take ownership of and feel pride in. As well as students, we intend to invite other community members to participate in the farm at every stage of production.

We seek to create a farm in which multiple generations are represented. Children, teenagers, adults, and seniors will all be invited to work on the farm and encouraged to interact with eachother during workdays. We believe that along with building bridges across racial, etnic and economic boundaries, we must build bridges across generations.

Create a healthier, more sustainable food system in San Jose
Though the Santa Clara Valley was once known as the "Valley of Heart's Delight," much of our food is no longer grown locally. Urban farming is a solution to many of the environmental and public health problems represented in San Jose. Encouraging youth to eat pesticide-free, local vegetables and giving them an opportunity to work outside is one solution to the growing epidemic of diabetes and childhood obesity. By growing food locally using sustainable farming methods, we will reduce the energy needed to transport food long distances and thus reduce San Jose's carbon footprint. We will also be contributing to the local economy and putting prime farmland to good use. The benefits to an urban farm are too numerous to list. But ultimately, what we seek to create is a new focal point of sustainability and community in San Jose.

Backyard Gardens

Have you ever thouht about how cool it would be to grow your own food? Here at SJSU, there's a group of students who are doing just that. Several downtown homeowners have invited us to grow vegetables in their backyards. We currently have 4 gardens going strong, with the possibility of starting one or two more in the near future. This winter we will be growing lots of things, like salad greens, broccoli, cabbage, peas, carrots, onions, leeks, and so on. Some of our veggies may even be served on campus!

If you want to get involved in our community, you can start by attending either a workday or a cookout. Our garden workdays are on Saturdays at 10am (it's ok if you want to show up later), and we do lots of different tasks like planting, digging, making compost piles, and weeding. Cookouts are on Wednesays at 7pm, and we bbq veggies, talk, eat, and have a great time. It really feels great to slow down and share a meal with a great group of people. If you want to attend either of these, please call or email us. Hope to see you there!

Watch our video

Read a Spartan Daily article about our group.

Read an older Spartan Daily article about us.

Visit our google group