by Amy Hosa

I hadn’t heard about Common Roots Farm, nor the endeavors of families to create housing and community, until last summer when talking with a friend. I came home and looked at the farm’s website and thought, “This place speaks to my heart,” as I am the mother of an adult son with severe disabilities. Then my eye caught the call for entries for the logo design contest. It would be a good challenge for a good cause.

The name, “Common Roots Farm,” says it all. While the logo needed to express the literal: the land, the crops, and perhaps the people who farm, the dream was as important to portray. I used a hand-drawn approach to feel more friendly. Started with simple plant shapes like lettuce, flowers, and carrots, then doodled a lot of images combining generic farmer people and mixed produce, but none quite connected or inspired. I came back to the words “common roots” and started thinking about what that meant, such as, “shared in common” and “growing and thriving in common.”

The light bulb went off: “It’s like the plants and people are joined at the hip and growing in unison because they share common roots and actually sustain each other. That is what this place is about.” And so the dynamic of the logo image was born: half person half plant striding across the land. Instantly I thought, “This is it, it feels right.” We tried a few different combinations, but in the end, came back to this one.

I feel honored to have my logo design chosen for Common Roots Farm, offer my thanks to the committee, and wish the farm well in all its endeavors. Once the pandemic subsides, I can’t wait to drive down with my son, Gannet, for a volunteer day and come home with a box of produce!

Thanks to Matthew learning to wear a mask, agreeing to extra hand and tool washing, and practicing social distancing, as well as the commitment from his community to assist him with transportation to and from the farm, Matthew has returned! We are delighted to have him back, and his particular skill with weed management has meant our farm is beginning to look better!

Organic growing, of course, means no herbicides. We rely instead on mechanical means of managing the natural occurrence of weeds. This includes tarping growing areas before they are planted, using hand tools to weed once crops are established, and weed wacking the perimeter of our farm so that weeds don’t go to seed and create more problems in future seasons.

Common Roots is still a young farm and we have invested much of our donors’ support in building up our infrastructure. Those who have followed our progress will remember that our land was fallow when we acquired it and the weeds were waist high! Since then, with the generous support of so many wonderful people, we now have a sophisticated system of drip irrigation, deer fencing protecting our production area, a greenhouse, hydroponic equipment, tool sheds, a walk behind tractor, multiple coolers, a produce wash station, and the many growing supplies needed to successfully operate a diversified market farm. Wow! Lots of hard working volunteers, a small but dedicated staff, and many very generous donors have shared in our vision and made this possible.

Now that we are successfully growing produce and flowers for our community, we are turning our attention to creating an additional layer of infrastructure. This next phase is aimed at expanding what is possible for people with disabilities to experience at Common Roots. We began this phase with a generous grant from the Presbytery of San Jose, and the work of Rev. Ryan Althaus of Sweaty Sheep Ministries, who negotiated a combination of donated material and a discount on our purchase of TRUEGRID permeable pavers for our future accessible garden area. Our partner farming consultant, Jenny Hernandez, spearheaded a wonderful GoFundMe campaign to raise the funds needed to build our our Seed to Salad accessible garden space.

I am so pleased to be able to share the great news that we are building upon this success with a generous grant awarded by Helpers Community of San Francisco to complete a wheelchair accessible perimeter path around the entire farm! This is a key piece of our dream to allow farmers and visitors of all abilities to be able to travel the farm and get to the greenhouse, production area, tool sheds, chicken and goat pens, and accessible garden area. Our plan is to have this path also connect to our future small orchard and barn. This is a tremendous gift! Through their generosity, Helpers Community is literally creating access to year round activities and opportunities on our farm for those with developmental disabilities.

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