Farmers & volunteers at a work party. Photo by Gerry Chu
At City Grown we believe it is important for people to be involved with the fundamentals that sustain us and to have access to fresh, healthy food. Seeing, smelling, and feeling the crops that we rely on is an experience we want our community to be close to once again.
We love growing and producing food. We created City Grown with the intention of bringing the people of Seattle’s neighborhoods together in this growing and sharing of food. 2011 was the first season of sales for City Grown. 2012 will see us ramp up production and start our CSA as well as a farmers market. As we develop, we will look to others to create a stronger network of farmers throughout Seattle to get more backyards and urban spaces used for food production.
A little about our current farmers:
Scott Behmer loves to grow food. He values many forms of sustainability and views reconnecting with the earth and the food we eat as a very important step in living a fulfilling life. The bonds we build through this work will help repair the harm that has been done to our communities and our environment. He has been involved with Seattle’s organic urban agriculture movement for years with his involvement in Harvest Collective and developing the land he is living on into food production. Besides City Grown, Scott works with Lettuce Link and is managing a new urban farm that is breaking ground in Rainier Valley. Scott loves the cooperative model because it embodies true democracy.
Noelani Alexander has been concerned about our food system since her High School days, when she took her first Seattle Tilth gardening class in 1996. Noelani has worked with a number of farmers around the Northwest both as an intern and in marketing their produce at Seattle’s farmers markets. She has been running a small gardening and landscaping business in Seattle while mulling over what to do about our food system and how to utilize her love of producing her own food for many years. Her involvement in developing another urban farm cooperative, Harvest Collective, helped her to solidify what she wanted to do with the resources on hand. Her previous work led her to form City Grown with Scott Behmer. Noelani is working towards growing and raising a majority of her own food in her own backyard.
Becky Warner is joining City Grown in 2012 after two seasons of apprenticeship on two different organic vegetable farms in the Puget Sound region. She is unbelievably excited to bring her passion for growing food into the city. Becky is a former software developer. She loves riding bikes as well as growing, cooking, and eating good food. Becky is active with Tilth Producers of Washington and the Washington Young Farmers’ Coalition. Becky blogs about farming and life at rwarner2.wordpress.com.
