Common Roots is very grateful to the Central California Alliance for Health (the Medi-Cal health care plan for Santa Cruz, Monterey, and Merced Counties) for supporting this partnership and directly helping our farm grow and distribute healthy food in our community. Special thanks, too, to Michael Molesky for his help in introducing us to the grant program. We’ve made our first delivery of summer squash, cucumbers and peppers, with our tomatoes and onions not far behind!

Inclusion consulting for Common Roots Farm is such an incredibly fun project to be a part of. As a special educator (rooted in an enthusiasm for relationship building, discovery, and self-expression), working at a farm is the “office” of my dreams. It’s a place where folks have a variety of meaningful work choices, and new friendly faces at the curve of every crop row.

When I made the Go Fund Me video last year, I described Common Roots as, “…truly a place where everyone is just caring for one another.” This season, in the light of COVID-19, I often hear the echos of this statement. It just shows up differently. Instead of gathering and caring for one another in the fields, we are caring for those we love by taking all the precautions we can to keep our Farm Family safe. This feels particularly potent at Common Roots as so many members of our farm family are especially vulnerable to the impact of Covid 19. What does care look like this season? We keep our fields and crew safe by pausing our volunteer days, wearing our masks, washing our hands, and keeping a safe distance.

While we can’t have our friends here at the farm, we’re aware of the frustration of our separation and we do what we can to connect. We check in with one another with phone calls and texts and video chats. We shared starter plants with our volunteers so they could grow at home and we built an online community where we can still learn about these plants together. We took “Partner Farming” virtual. I matched up interested volunteers with diverse needs and we’ve met on zoom to talk plants and to build friendships. We’ve sent out “how to” videos for volunteers to help us work on farm crafts at home. I’ve partnered with some extraordinary educators at Santa Cruz Office of Education and have offered virtual farming lessons, using our donated veggie starts, to post-secondary special education students online.

Ezra is not a natural born farmer. Unlike his mom, he does not have a gut-level need to get his hands in the soil, plant seeds, and watch them grow into delicious vegetables and beautiful flowers. He’s not a fan of dirty hands. He does, however, enjoy eating the produce, so that’s a start!

Ezra has volunteered at the farm since its earliest days as a non-profit serving people of all abilities. He has dug weeds, painted various farm structures, and worked at the farm stand. This spring and summer, his day program is closed and many of his normal activities are on hold due to COVID-19. This has been hard for him. He is most happy when his days have structure, predictability, and activity, so his dad and I have done our best to create a weekly routine that is meaningful and enjoyable for him. We decided to add volunteer work at the farm to the mix.

Ezra and I work with Jenny Hernandez, the Inclusion Specialist at Common Roots Farm. We work within the current health and safety requirements at the farm, which preclude us from being in the food production areas, but there are lots of jobs to do on a farm! Jenny assessed Ezra’s learning style and created tasks that are interesting for him and allow him to develop increasing independence and mastery. He has watered the succulents and the newly planted hedgerows, and has dug compost and peat moss which is used to enrich the soil. He is learning how to deadhead some of the flowers to increase their productivity.

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