Help Grow Angel and Raph's Farmstead Project
Donation protected
Help us feed YOU delicious, healthy, climate-friendly food! Why donate to an organic, regenerative Black-led market garden farm? In a time where we are facing a great deal of suffering and terrible hardship related to the global pandemic, climate change and racial injustice, we want to grow something tangible to support positive change in all those areas. Through growing nutritious food, working with community non-profit groups that support food security, and farming in a way that protects and regenerates the natural environment, our goal is to give back more than we receive.
We're Angel and Raph, experienced urban growers of food and flowers, making the leap to full time farmers. We choose organic + regenerative farming as our way to grow a legacy of positive change, create opportunities and cultivate good fortune with you, our community. We are also committed supporters of the farmers trying to protect Ontario farm land which is disappearing at the rate of 175 acres every day. Ontario needs more farmers and more folks who can offer training to grow food in our changing climate.
Through working hard at multiple jobs, by early 2020 we exceeded our original savings goal set in 2015. However, we have had to increase our budget by 40% in a 6-month period due to the skyrocketing prices of farm-able land.
Only 5 percent of Ontario land mass is suitable for growing food. In the past few years it has increased in price anywhere from 30% - 150%.
New farmers / market gardeners like ourselves are now facing prices upwards of $850,000 to $2,000,000 + for the average small family farm. Farming organizations and advocates recognize this as a crisis and are doing everything they can to raise awareness. We hope our story can help spread the word as well.
We continue to work multiple jobs and are now 90% of the way to our new higher budget goal. Our GoFundMe fundraising goal is very modest, as we understand that this is a very difficult time and so many are suffering. For those in a position and inspired to support, this fundraiser will still help us to move quickly when a land purchase opportunity arises. We continue to hunt every single day with great determination and are ready to leap when we find our property, hopefully in the rolling hills of Northumberland County, east of Toronto.
Typical expenses of establishing a small-scale organic market garden (also called a micro-farm) are:
- The down payment on a 3+ acre property (with 1 - 2 acres under intensive cultivation)
- Start up costs for farm equipment such as walk-behind BCS tractor, seeders, hand tools suitable for small-scale market gardening
- Farm infrastructure such as irrigation, wash/pack house, walk-in cooler, farm stand
Our story:
We are city-raised folks with a deep love for growing food and flowers in a way that also nourishes and restores the earth. Working with nature and feeding people fill us both with joy and purpose. Angel has worked for many years in the non-profit sector helping community members facing barriers such as mental health, homelessness and poverty to access good food and employment opportunities.
Why "market garden" type of farming?
We believe that acting in our food system will have the biggest impact for the change we hope to seed in the world. Without exception, every person on this planet needs to eat! With the increasing threat of climate change to farmers (later frosts, droughts, extreme weather events that destroy crops), we believe agriculture can be part of the solution.
A small scale farm on as little as 1 - 2 acres make this an achievable goal for new farmers, as there is much lower overhead and the possibility to work without large, extremely expensive mechanical equipment. Market Garden superstar JM Fortier believes this a great way to help increase local food security while helping farmers make a living wage on a small area of land.
"Farmland under ten acres may one day be some of the only land available – microfarms could quite literally be the small farms of the future."
Our Vision is to be part of a powerful, expanding network of small-scale, organic farm stewards, growing equity with those who have been the most exploited and dis-empowered in our food system. In the past year, the Black Lives Matter movement and the ravages of COVID-19 on farms across the country, have made it clear that the food we eat is deeply rooted in injustice. We want to be part of the solution.
Our Mission is to grow delicious, nutrient-dense produce and harness the power of what we eat to increase local food sovereignty, protect our farmland and build community.
Good Fortune farming will support:
- Cultivating a Climate Change Resilient, beyond-organic farm that offers beautiful, nutrient-dense veggies and fruit. Our goal is to leave the land better than we find it, for future generations.
- Opportunities for education and joyful skill-building for Black youth and adults, to support our Black community's economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Our community hub goal is an Each One, Teach One model that empowers folks to help each other start their own food-growing projects, while spending peaceful, restorative time in nature.
- More broadly, we pledge to work in solidarity with local Indigenous and communities of colour in our common goals of food and land justice.
Regenerative roots:
We are skilled, hard-working and deeply committed to regenerative farm practices in line with our ancestors’ traditional knowledge, and the land’s original Indigenous caretakers. With Angel’s roots as a Black, mixed race person descended from Afro-Caribbean / Acadian farmers and Raph’s family tree rooted in Quebecois / French millers and farmers, we are drawing on centuries of skilful food production and loving stewardship of the earth.
BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, people of colour) own less than 2% of farmland in the United States, and in Canada it is estimated to be even lower, due to historical and current systemic racism. Good Fortune Farmstead will help grow a new generation of farm-owners, with a focus on Black growers.
We will use our platform to advocate for the protection of and equitable access to farmland, and for subsidies to support affordable land for diverse, resilient small-scale farms.
These are long-term goals but with the recent victories of Farmers For Climate Solutions ($270 million for climate-healing farm subsidies) we are hopeful and energized.
As decades-long enthusiastic supporters of farmers markets and Community Supported Agriculture shares, we truly believe that we need to shift from mass production to production by the masses. With your help, we will grow Good Fortune.
We can't wait to welcome you to our future farm!
Love and good vibes.
We're Angel and Raph, experienced urban growers of food and flowers, making the leap to full time farmers. We choose organic + regenerative farming as our way to grow a legacy of positive change, create opportunities and cultivate good fortune with you, our community. We are also committed supporters of the farmers trying to protect Ontario farm land which is disappearing at the rate of 175 acres every day. Ontario needs more farmers and more folks who can offer training to grow food in our changing climate.
Through working hard at multiple jobs, by early 2020 we exceeded our original savings goal set in 2015. However, we have had to increase our budget by 40% in a 6-month period due to the skyrocketing prices of farm-able land.
Only 5 percent of Ontario land mass is suitable for growing food. In the past few years it has increased in price anywhere from 30% - 150%.
New farmers / market gardeners like ourselves are now facing prices upwards of $850,000 to $2,000,000 + for the average small family farm. Farming organizations and advocates recognize this as a crisis and are doing everything they can to raise awareness. We hope our story can help spread the word as well.
We continue to work multiple jobs and are now 90% of the way to our new higher budget goal. Our GoFundMe fundraising goal is very modest, as we understand that this is a very difficult time and so many are suffering. For those in a position and inspired to support, this fundraiser will still help us to move quickly when a land purchase opportunity arises. We continue to hunt every single day with great determination and are ready to leap when we find our property, hopefully in the rolling hills of Northumberland County, east of Toronto.
Typical expenses of establishing a small-scale organic market garden (also called a micro-farm) are:
- The down payment on a 3+ acre property (with 1 - 2 acres under intensive cultivation)
- Start up costs for farm equipment such as walk-behind BCS tractor, seeders, hand tools suitable for small-scale market gardening
- Farm infrastructure such as irrigation, wash/pack house, walk-in cooler, farm stand
Our story:
We are city-raised folks with a deep love for growing food and flowers in a way that also nourishes and restores the earth. Working with nature and feeding people fill us both with joy and purpose. Angel has worked for many years in the non-profit sector helping community members facing barriers such as mental health, homelessness and poverty to access good food and employment opportunities.
Why "market garden" type of farming?
We believe that acting in our food system will have the biggest impact for the change we hope to seed in the world. Without exception, every person on this planet needs to eat! With the increasing threat of climate change to farmers (later frosts, droughts, extreme weather events that destroy crops), we believe agriculture can be part of the solution.
A small scale farm on as little as 1 - 2 acres make this an achievable goal for new farmers, as there is much lower overhead and the possibility to work without large, extremely expensive mechanical equipment. Market Garden superstar JM Fortier believes this a great way to help increase local food security while helping farmers make a living wage on a small area of land.
"Farmland under ten acres may one day be some of the only land available – microfarms could quite literally be the small farms of the future."
Our Vision is to be part of a powerful, expanding network of small-scale, organic farm stewards, growing equity with those who have been the most exploited and dis-empowered in our food system. In the past year, the Black Lives Matter movement and the ravages of COVID-19 on farms across the country, have made it clear that the food we eat is deeply rooted in injustice. We want to be part of the solution.
Our Mission is to grow delicious, nutrient-dense produce and harness the power of what we eat to increase local food sovereignty, protect our farmland and build community.
Good Fortune farming will support:
- Cultivating a Climate Change Resilient, beyond-organic farm that offers beautiful, nutrient-dense veggies and fruit. Our goal is to leave the land better than we find it, for future generations.
- Opportunities for education and joyful skill-building for Black youth and adults, to support our Black community's economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Our community hub goal is an Each One, Teach One model that empowers folks to help each other start their own food-growing projects, while spending peaceful, restorative time in nature.
- More broadly, we pledge to work in solidarity with local Indigenous and communities of colour in our common goals of food and land justice.
Regenerative roots:
We are skilled, hard-working and deeply committed to regenerative farm practices in line with our ancestors’ traditional knowledge, and the land’s original Indigenous caretakers. With Angel’s roots as a Black, mixed race person descended from Afro-Caribbean / Acadian farmers and Raph’s family tree rooted in Quebecois / French millers and farmers, we are drawing on centuries of skilful food production and loving stewardship of the earth.
BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, people of colour) own less than 2% of farmland in the United States, and in Canada it is estimated to be even lower, due to historical and current systemic racism. Good Fortune Farmstead will help grow a new generation of farm-owners, with a focus on Black growers.
We will use our platform to advocate for the protection of and equitable access to farmland, and for subsidies to support affordable land for diverse, resilient small-scale farms.
These are long-term goals but with the recent victories of Farmers For Climate Solutions ($270 million for climate-healing farm subsidies) we are hopeful and energized.
As decades-long enthusiastic supporters of farmers markets and Community Supported Agriculture shares, we truly believe that we need to shift from mass production to production by the masses. With your help, we will grow Good Fortune.
We can't wait to welcome you to our future farm!
Love and good vibes.
Fundraising team: Team Good Fortune Farmstead (3)
Angel Beyde
Organizer
Toronto, ON
Angel Beyde
Beneficiary
Natalie Kouri-Towe
Team member