Farmer Hector Tejada’s paid medical leave

On January 18th I had my 3rd open heart surgery. After 20 years of farming and feeding Fort Greene consumers, my doctors recommended that I stop farming temporarily so that I could get this surgery and save my life.

I am so grateful for the friends and family who have taken me to the doctor and my partner, Maggie, who is taking care of me in the hours between her job. I am recovering well from my surgery, but I am not able to work for the next 3 months. I am not even able to drive for the next 6 weeks.

To get back to my baseline and get back to doing meaningful work for my community, I need to rest and recover. As a farmer, I don’t have the support many people are lucky to have from their jobs: like paid sick leave (or even unpaid medical leave). Therefore, I am reaching out to my community to feed and fuel my recovery for the next 3 months, so that I can continue healing without financial stress compromising my health in all of the ways it can.

I hope to raise $16,000 which will help to cover my nutrient-dense, high-quality food (like bee pollen, medicinal mushrooms, bone broth, etc.), mortgage and utilities for the next 3-4 months as well as paying for gas and tolls for friends and family to take me to the doctor in the city for check-ups during this time.

If you’ve ever bought microgreens from me or asked me to help you pick out the perfect heirloom tomato from my stand at Fort Greene farmers market, I hope you can support me at this time.

Please help me get the word out on social media to share with farmers and food lovers in our community.