Tag Archives: YES Farm

Community

Black Is the New Green: The Beauty of Black Earth Day at Yes Farm

by Syris Valentine

Clouds couldn’t keep the crowd away. Over four less-than-sunny hours on April 22, an estimated 400 people flowed through Yes Farm — the one-and-a-half-acre urban farm on Yesler Terrace stewarded by the Black Farmers Collective — to celebrate Seattle’s second annual Black Earth Day with food, music, and good old-fashioned gardening. The event was co-organized by the Black Farmers Collective and the Urban League of Metropolitan Seattle to celebrate Black people’s contributions to the environmental movement, provide a green space that’s welcoming for Black people who feel disconnected from the land, and encourage more people to get involved in the environmental justice movement.

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Community

BLOOM Giving Garden Teaches BIPOC Youth Black Liberation and Food Sovereignty

by Chamidae Ford

As we transition into fall, the BLOOM Giving Garden at Wa Na Wari is beginning to wrap up the season. The BIPOC-youth-run garden began as a response to COVID-19 and has continued to grow and expand in its second summer. 

The garden is a collaboration between Wa Na Wari, Seattle Public Library (SPL), YES Farm, The Black Farmers Collective, and EarthCorps. The project aims to educate and uplift BIPOC youth by fostering food sovereignty and honoring sacred land and Indigenous practices whilst building community. Eight fellows have been selected to run the garden through their involvement with farm-related programs. 

C. Davida Ingram, a Wa Na Wari partner and SPL public engagement employee, teamed up with Hannah Wilson from YES Farms and came to Wa Na Wari with the idea for a garden.

“Our goal is to look at the environment that Communities of Color look in, live in, and to look at it through the lens of creativity,” Ingram said. “At the beginning of the pandemic, there was a spotlight on economics. People were losing their housing and also people were running out of food. And because Seattle is such an incredible space for conversations around food justice and food sovereignty, we reached out to Wa Na Wari and said, ‘Would you be interested in creating a space where people could learn about food sovereignty and also would you be open to creating space for community gardening?’ And they said ‘yes.’”

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