FareStart Gleaning at Ayeko Farm

#SweatySelfie

FareStart provides food security and economic mobility for people experiencing barriers to employment.

Ayeko Farm creates space for communities - especially displaced communities - to reconnect with the land and to their cultures through food and farming.

I’m proud to support both. Today I gleaned blackberries and raspberries that will go to FareStart’s Mobile Community Markets.

Blackberries and raspberries

Stream through Ayeko Farm

The other volunteers had traveled nearly an hour to be there. It’s a meaningful summer activity for the kids. They also volunteer at FareStart’s Guest Chef Nights, which looks really cool!

We started gleaning raspberries, but they were already picked pretty clean. We switched to blackberries, and I relearned a lesson from living on the family apple orchard in North Carolina: Move Slow. Tragically, I scratched up my hand and arm before I remembered!

We saw a lot of bees just sleeping on the raspberry leaves. We thought it might be from pesticides, but Victor, one of the Co-Directors at Ayeko Farm, told me that they don’t use any pesticides. The day was cool and the sky was full of grey clouds that completely hid the sun, so maybe the bees were just sleepy and unable to navigate.

Afterwards, I spoke with the FareStart folks to ask how they’re going to handle the impending loss of federal funding; they’re working on it, and they promised to let me know. I’m certain the state, county, and cities will have to pick up some of the slack, and we’re going to need new revenue sources to do that.

I also talked with Victor, asking nerdy farm boy questions. He explained that they’re slowly building permaculture on the 9 acre upper farm, and restoring native forests and pollinator plants on the lower 11 acres. I’m so glad Ayeko Farm is working towards these goals!

By buffering the stream with native plants, Ayeko Farm hopes to cool it and encourage salmon to return

I felt so peaceful looking over the grass towards the stream.