After nearly two years of helping to co-pilot the Farm Alliance of Baltimore as Deputy Director through the COVID-19 pandemic, building a new farmer training program for folks from the Black Butterfly to learn to grow food at production scale, and building our new Black Butterfly Teaching Farm at West Bay Ave. in Curtis Bay,  we are thrilled to announce that Denzel Mitchell Jr. will be promoted to Co-Executive Director of the organization! He and Strauss will be Co-EDs, and the membership and board of directors of the Farm Alliance are thrilled to have him join her at the helm. "The pandemic threw up challenges at urban farmers that we didn't even know existed," says Mitchell. "Labor shortages, illness, safety concerns -- we just threw ourselves into helping farmers to survive this. And it worked." Mitchell says he is looking forward to strengthening the Farm Alliance's anti-racist approach and lifting up the work of the Black, Indigenous, Latinx and other farmers of color in our membership. "Denzel is a farmer's farmer," says Strauss. "He inspires me every day to believe that we can and will grow our own food in the city, and he's going to lead us into the next phase of growing new farmers who can do that."

As an African American farmer and educator who has farmed in the city for many years, his leadership will be transformational for the Farm Alliance in so many ways. We couldn't be happier about this. (Mariya will be stepping back into a support and development role as Co-ED. They begin their new roles in January 2022.) Please give generously to the work of this organization and our rebirth in 2022 as a Black Farmer-led grassroots urban agriculture org!  

https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=MWBF2YLRC6ET4
 

 

In Celebration,
The FAB Board, Staff and Membership 
 

Fall Around the Farm Alliance

Here's an overview of some of what Farm Alliance members have been up to this fall!  -- By Elly Ren, CIIP Intern, Johns Hopkins 

Black Yield Institute (BYI)

• As they transition away from the land at Cherry Hill Urban Community Garden (CHUCG), BYI has been preparing the farm for the big move–packing equipment, harvesting their last crops, all while continuing programming. At their #WeLitForSix party, BYI celebrated their sixth birthday, where they honored the time spent stewarding the land and the contributions of everyone who have helped them reach this six-year mark. 

BLISS Meadows/Backyard Basecamp

• Founder-Director Atiya Wells is nominated for Baltimore Homecoming’s third Homecoming Hero Awards! Read more about the award and cast a vote for Atiya to be one of the five winners here (you can vote once every 12 hours until Dec. 31).

Nature’s Colors Initiative 

• The Parks and People Foundation and FAB Members Bliss Meadows, CHUCG, and Plantation Park Heights Urban Farm have been producing the crops to be processed for natural dyes by FAB Member Blue Light Junction. This month, Backyard Basecamp hosted a natural dye demonstration and Blue Light Junction hosted a community dye day. Read more about the initiative here.

Black Butterfly Teaching Farm at West Bay Ave.

• Thanks to the help of volunteers and Black Butterfly trainees, we planted the first crops of garlic and leeks at Farm Alliance's new Black Butterfly Teaching Farm at West Bay Ave. in Farring Baybrook Park in Curtis Bay. Our new teaching farm is in its early stages and was made possible by a generous grant from the Kentfields Foundation! This week, the farm will be getting honeybees from John Newman Honeybee Company, a Black-owned and Woman-led apiary in Baltimore.
   

There's Still Time to Give to FAB's New Scholarship Fund!

Safe Urban Harvests in the Leading Environmental Health Journal!

We are published in the leading environmental health journal with our Safe Urban Harvests Study! Led by Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future, the study tested our soils and produce for toxic metals and found no consistent difference in results between Baltimore City and non-urban settings. You can find the study in Environmental Health Perspectives here.

Farm Alliance of Baltimore has a new home! As we've grown over the past two years, it's become clear that we needed a dedicated office with access to classroom space, kitchen, and enough space to accommodate our growing staff (!). The exciting news is that we've found our home at 2801 Sisson St., right at the off-ramp of the 28th Street bridge over I-83. Please add our new mailing address to your contact lists! 

Farm Alliance of Baltimore
2801 Sisson St., Suite 202
Baltimore MD 21211

 

See you in Remington!