Q: How did you get into farming?

There were Somali Bantu folks from Kenya resettling here in San Diego, and they wanted to farm. I was brought in to help them start San Diego’s first urban farm, the New Roots Community Farm, which still operates today. After starting the City Heights Farmers’ Market to provide a viable market for the produce grown at the community farm, the refugee farmers advocated for their ability to farm on open, big tracts of land. That led us to leasing land out in Pauma Valley with an organization called Tierra Miguel.

We started a refugee farming program, and they taught me how to farm. The farming team, who called themselves the Bahati Mamas, mainly lived in City Heights. The drive to Pauma Valley was a bit too far, so many of them ended up folding back into farming at New Roots Community Farm. Myself, my partner Nan, and our two kids stayed on the land and started Solidarity Farm.

Q: From there, how did Foodshed come to be?

In 2019, together with our landlords the Pauma Band of Luiseño Indians, we co-hosted a Carbon Think farming conference with over 150 attendees. The main thing that the group identified was the need for more markets and farmer-led hubs that share resources. In January 2020, we decided to do a pilot project to aggregate food from five farms and distribute it to 60 historically underserved families.

We started March 1, 2020. We stuck our baby toe in and, all of a sudden, the farmers’ markets and restaurants were shuttered, and small farms had nowhere to sell their products. Because of my background working in nonprofits, I knew how to find emergency funds. We received a few grants and started buying as much produce as we could to send to city centers, to the tribe, and anywhere we knew there was a high need.

That’s how Foodshed got started. When you’re truly seeking input, trying to build things as a community, the best ideas emerge. It’s our responsibility to follow those ideas, and when we do, we end up being at the right place at the right time.

Q: Can you describe what a CSA is?

Absolutely. The really important distinction for a CSA is that it requires shared risk between the farmer and the consumer. The consumer is supposed to invest in the farm by making a financial commitment to buy a share each week or every other week. The farmer’s commitment is to grow the best, most beautiful food they can.

CSA is the most reliable and profitable market channel on a farm: reliable because you know those customers are coming in week after week, and profitable because when you’re curating a box, you end up getting more per item. We all live on planet Earth, and we’re all subject to the same risks. If we want farmers to continually take those risks, to experiment with regenerative practices or climate-smart farming, then we need to be taking that risk together.

Solidarity Farm started its CSA 12 years ago, and we have graduated those customers to Foodshed, but we still have some CSA members who have been supporting us all along. We have 36 farms that we buy from regularly; 10 of those 36 producers are Foodshed Cooperative owners. There’s a pretty powerful sense of support, community, and pride that comes from seeing your customers’ kids grow healthy and strong and knowing that you helped do that together.

Q: What is Foodshed up to now?

When the administration changed, there was a whole new set of priorities for spending our federal dollars…or not spending our federal dollars. We’re looking at this moment thinking, ‘what do we do now?’

We’re looking at food as medicine and an opportunity to reach folks through a fresh produce prescription box. We’re working hard to lock in a contract with one of the four managed care providers in San Diego so that we can deliver regenerative, organic produce directly to the homes of people with a diet-related health issue.

Q: What are you most excited to grow and eat this season?

We just moved to a new farm, so I’m so excited to grow anything! Right now, we have big open fields calling our names. There is a yellow melon called Brilliant melon that has a white flesh inside that tastes like ice cream. It is so good; it’s something that you just can’t get at the store, the way it ripens on the vine. I’m excited to get that into the ground. Life just wants to grow!

A version of this article was originally published in issue 78.