Photo by Kyla Springer
The mission of The Urban Farm Collective is to transform vacant lots in N. and NE Portland into productive food gardens. In the process of building gardens,we build community by providing educational opportunities,improving access to healthy,local food and empowering neighbors with food self-reliance. We also partner with St. Andrews church to provide a Youth Garden,in which children learn the economic,environmental and social affects of the food supply as well as gain the valuable life-skills of gardening.
Photo by Kyla Springer
The Urban Farm Collective was founded in 2009 by Janette Kaden and a small group of other dedicated gardeners in NE Portland. That year,collective members gardened cooperatively on a plot at 7th &Skidmore,and brought the produce from that garden,along with produce grown at their individual gardens,to a weekly mini-farmers market at the Tin Shed Cafe on Alberta. In 2010,the UFC eliminated this cash market,and switched to a sort of work-trade or “barter”system,where members received a share of the harvest in exchange for their time spent working in the gardens. In 2011,Urban Farm Collective became a program of Oregon Sustainable Agriculture Land Trust (OSALT),a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that accepts donated land and holds it in perpetuity as agricultural land,for the purposes of education and research into sustainable agriculture. This partnership provided the UFC with the ability to accept tax-exempt charitable contributions and grants.
If you would like to get involved or become a member,please contact us through email at: urbanfarmcollective@gmail.com.