Hispanic Women's Farming Proyecto--Our Fifth Year!

[mar...@hereandnowfarm.com]

 

April 26, 2024

Hola amigas, amigos, and supporters of Hispanic Women’s Farming Proyecto,

It’s been a while since I sent you an update. I hope you have been engaged in activities you find meaningful since my last email.  

As you know, for three years, the Proyecto women worked together at Buena Vida Farm to learn about agriculture and to grow and sell vegetables as a team. Buena Vida Farm has sold, so last year we adopted a new model in which each woman pursued her own individual project related to agriculture, each in a different location. The women continued to meet periodically to support one another and continue their education, specific to business/project management, with the help of Larimer Small Business Development Center at Front Range Community College.

The new model was a great success! Take a look at the stories about each of the women’s “proyectitos” as told in their own voices, on our updated website: www.proyectofarming.org/portfolio-1

As we approach a new season, our fifth year (!), we are continuing to build on our new model, giving each of the six women (and a seventh woman we have brought onboard) increased opportunity for entrepreneurship and leadership.  This year, each woman brought forth her proposal for her own project, and the group as a whole approved her requested budget.

                         

Here’s what the women are doing this year:

• Nora and Magdalena will each farm her own plot at a farm in west Fort Collins, with land, water and tools donated by the Schmid/Goering family. They anticipate selling their vegetables at various venues that were successful for Nora last year. (Magdalena is our brand new participant, having come to Fort Collins from Guatemala just three months ago.)
• Marta and Juanita will once again administer their program Jardines de Salsa (salsa gardens) for immigrant mothers in Greeley. Their 2023 contingent of ten women is growing this year to 15 women (with the growth funded by Plymouth Congregational Church—thanks Plymouth!) These fifteen women will each be growing vegetables in her own raised bed at her own home--many in trailer parks.
• Cilda will once again be teaching children in her trailer park on Harmony Road how to grow vegetables in raised beds as they work as a team to conquer those pesky grasshoppers! 
• Rebeca is launching a brand-new project, working with eight families in Hickory Village in north Fort Collins as they grow vegetables in soil made whole through a decontamination project in cooperation with the City of Fort Collins and CSU. Rebeca has named her project “De la tierra a tu paladar” (from the earth to your palate.)

I am continuing in my role as mentor, but increasingly the women are making the big decisions and taking on the leadership of the Proyecto. This year the women have chosen their educational emphasis to be “how to manage pests and disease” since they grow all their vegetables without chemicals. Alma Vigo-Moralez, a long-time friend from Puerto Rico has been continuing to help us hone our communication skills.

We have been fortunate to have sufficient funding for our efforts the past several years by applying for and receiving a variety of grants. We have 80% of our funding in place for the 2024 season, but we are gearing up to raise that last 20% and funds for 2025.  Individual or group contributions can be sent to us via check written to our fiscal sponsor, Fort Collins Community Action Network, P.O. Box 400, Fort Collins, CO 80522, noting Hispanic Women’s Farming Proyecto in the subject line.

Hispanic Women’s Farming Proyecto has had amazing “exito”—success—through the years because of the interest and support of many of you. Though we did not have our typical harvest festival at the end of 2023 to celebrate that success, we hope to bring back that tradition in October of 2024. Watch for “noticias”—news—about that around the end of the summer.

Muchas gracias to all of you,

MaryLou Smith

mar...@hereandnowfarm.com (note that this address is new; please update your database)

Text: 970-222-9682