This blog is written by Tim Ward who is the main founding energy behind this farm project incarnation. Tim’s biography and resume is included in a blog entry soon to follow, but in short words Tim is returning to a long standing passion for farming after years of studying the environment and economics in college, educating youth outdoors about science, farming, and leadership, and as an activist trying to help save our threatened natural environment and community systems.
The Boontberry Community Farm project has had many other important contributors to its founding, early visioning and initial successes including most significantly Regina Williams, Justin Laqua, Burt Cohen the farm owner, Andrew of Pacific Wildcraft and Alex Kielty my good friend.
Boontberry Community Farm is envisioned to be a non-profit educational farm center and community gathering place on an amazing 50 acre prime agricultural property adjacent to downtown Boonville, CA. The founding impetus for this endeavor is the belief that the modern food system is destroying the natural environmental systems, making people sick, and threatening greatly our future food security. The mission is to create for the local community a stable, “closed system” farm that will produce food for the local foodshed and be a learning center about self-sufficient agriculture. The project is organized by the following areas of mission focus:
- Healing and building the soil, water, and other natural systems on the farm
- Producing high quality organic food and medicine for our local community
- Creating opportunity for people to connect to nature through agriculture
- Educating about organic food and herbal medicine production, biodynamic methods and permaculture
- Raising heritage breeds of plants and animals to help preserve their diversity
In this time of visioning and preparation Tim is actively seeking collaborators of many types for this project. If you have any interest in the future of the farming project please consider these needed roles:
- Experienced farmers- as partners in the farm operation. The structure of the farm crew is still being visioned and budgeted for and there is still room for creative exploration of ways to incorporate different partners
- Farm members - who purchase ownership of a share of the farm operation and some of the animals and receive a proportional share of the farm produce
- Investors- Who would like to support the farm through a financial investment in the initial capital campaign to cover the costs of start-up
- Consultants- In the realms of farm management, soil science, animal husbandry, orchard management, business planning, financial planning, and marketing
- Volunteers- Who would like to help on the ground to make this farm reach its full potential. Volunteers can choose to work through the WWOOF organization or directly through our non-profit project
Please contact Tim Ward with your interest in any of these areas, I’d love to connect: timocratical@gmail.com (831) 332- 5131
