Our Volunteer Days
Since our start in September of 2019, we have hosted one volunteer day a month for six months. Our volunteer days usually consist of farmers leading tours around their farm and providing participants more insight into farm operations. After the tours, the volunteering begins! Some of our volunteer activities consist of planting in-season vegetables, building a greenhouse or harvesting plants from past seasons. Depending on the farm and activity we've had turnouts as few as six people and up to fifty-five people. Want to know more about our volunteer days? Check out our volunteer page and sign up!
Meet the Farmers
We have had the pleasure of partnering with six black farmers to make our volunteer days happen. Pictured here are four of the six farmers we have collaborated with. Each of these farmers has at least two years of experience in agriculture and a passion to educate the black community! To learn more about the farmers and which farms they represent please read below.
Pictured in right column is Lucille Founder of Flora Gothica Farm. Lucille has been learning about Georgia agriculture for the past four years through planting, experimenting, and growing with her market garden 'Flora Gothica Farms'. She's also the current farm manager and educator for the Center For Children and Young Adults, a group home for endangered teenagers in Marietta, GA. Primarily self-taught through copious reading and just doing, Lucille does her best to empower and inform everybody about different ways to foster edible gardens using unconventional methods. Blending her cultures (and sub-cultures) into her niche gardens has created opportunities for individuals to learn more about food, flora, and the wonders of plants as a whole.
Pictured in the top left column is Brother Holmes founder of Soul-Spirit Farmers. Holmes graduated as a top male student in the Habesha works class of 2018. Holmes specializes in urban Ag infrastructure, soil cultivation/fertility, food production & urban ag education. He is currently serving as Habesha’s Green Ambassadors' Supervisor and Green Space Manager for Habesha Gardens at Dunbar Recreational center. Additionally, he founded the non-profit Soul-Spirit Farmers which teaches weekly community based urban ag workshops that incorporate the cultural and healing aspects of agriculture.
Pictured in the bottom left column is Chris Lemons, Gratitude Botanical Farms Co-Founder and Farmer. He is an Urban micro farmer who is passionate about connecting Black people to nature. He’s excited to learn and build with his community.
Pictured in the bottom right is Desmond, Gratitude Botanical Farms Co-Founder and Farmer. Farming has been an institution in his family for generations. As a native of Atlanta, a major metropolis, he has been interested in being part of a sustainable society for as long as he can remember. Urban farming is important to him because he wants to show people that they can grow food where they are with what they have.