Secure a Future for Laurae and Gray Fox Farm

Laurae Hughes, Native land steward of Gray Fox Farm, and her collaborative farmers are facing potential displacement from the land that they have been tending for almost 5 years! We need your help in order to secure their housing and livelihood, as they have been given a 90 day eviction notice in the midst of attempting to secure a purchase agreement for the farm!

Here is Laurae's story ~

"I am enrolled in a federally recognized tribe in Oregon, The Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians. My family is Chetco, Rogue River, Tututni, and Shasta Costa. Growing up in a small town, pretty much everyone is family. That’s a reality that has never left me. When everyone is family, you get really good at sharing.

I landed on this property in 2019, completely unaware of the state it was in, and the years of cleanup it would take just to reach the start point of farming. In the first year alone, 13 tons of trash, 14 tons of metal, four vehicles, and two trailers were hauled off the land. The fields were covered with the invasive reed canary grass and blackberries. Rolls of carpet, logging cables, vehicle parts, all came belching out of the ground. Once I started mowing the canary grass, more hidden obstacles came to light, and those too were hauled out of the dirt. After countless years of neglect, orchard trees finally stood taller than the blackberries, and the soil surface saw the sun. The first year that I mowed, I saw only reed canary grass and one lonely dandelion. I let it blossom and go so seed, then picked it and blew it into the wind, to land again in the field.

The biggest part of healing this place, was starting with the dirt. Healthy food will not grow in unhealthy soil. I refuse to put chemicals of any kind into the dirt. Companion planting, cover cropping, nitrogen fixing, aerating, microbes, there’s so many ways to get to healthy soil without resorting to fast fixes and cutting corners. Chemical additives would make it easier, but it wouldn’t make it right, and I choose to do what is right, not what is easy. I enjoy the hard work and sore body, because I know what I’m doing is best for the soil, and it makes a difference in what I feed my myself and my community.

In the last five years, a workshop has been built, a greenhouse is going in, there’s power and water now, chickens and ducks, more orchard trees and blueberry bushes galore, honey bees and berries of all kinds. This place now houses more than just me. I share this space with others who want to farm but needed access to land. I have more space to share. Throughout the season when I mow to keep the canary grass at bay, I walk the fields and see native grasses coming back. I see clovers, rush, cattails, field grasses, and so many dandelions. Five years of blowing the seed puffs into the breeze, seeing the fields of blazing yellow make me smile, knowing my bees and the native pollinators have food coming out of winter, they won’t starve, that they’ll be nice and strong when spring comes, ready to pollinate the fields that await them. I see healthy soil with a diversity of plant and animal life, vigorously thriving with the love and care it receives, birds singing all day, and coyotes calling from the treeline as darkness falls.

What was once abandoned, devoid of diversity, and overrun with suffocating invasives, is now a thriving farm, full of health and life, producing naturally grown healthy food for our community.

I did what I was taught. Take care of the soil. Keep it healthy. Give more than you take. Share what you have. Love what you do. Take time to lay in the soft grass under the shade giving trees and be thankful. Above all, respect everything that you touch, for it is impossible to neglect what you truly respect. I belong to these fields, as a component of its healthy balance, existing here to keep all the things that would choke it, overrun it or pave over it, at bay. In the evenings as I sip my tea, I watch the fog roll up and out of the banks of the creek, rising up like a billowing downy blanket, and I swear I can hear the earth sigh, happy and content, able to breath and provide-as is her purpose-and she is thankful for the work I do for Her.

I have donated what I grow here at the farm to local schools, day camps, veterans homes, food banks, and community members. It goes back to that small town mentality I grew up with, we’re all family, and family shares, even when the family is actually pretty darn big. I share this space with people that were once strangers, with nothing more than a shared desire to grow in the dirt, and they are my family, and I relish in their successes with them. There is still more space to share.

In the off season, days are short, dark, rainy and cold. There’s not much outside farm work to be done when the soil sleeps and replenishes itself, so I teach classes. In the big workshop I teach basketry, hide tanning, drum making, bee keeping, food preserving, as well as hosting learning circles with advocacy groups and industry experts. This farm is a place to share. Share time, knowledge, food, space, security, and respect."

With your support, Laurae will be able to continue reaching her goals of providing providing affordable housing for our lower income community, offering land sharing to local farmers, and supporting our community through skill sharing and offering all of her gifts that she shares so generously.

It truly takes a village. Weave with us.

Every little bit count towards our goal of $175,000 in 90 days!

Bless this Land and bless the journey Home.

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Others ways to support

•Attend our Gray Fox Farm Fundraiser Festival - Facebook Event Page

•Donate Raffle Basket Items by contacting [email redacted]

•Purchase Blueberry Bushes, Jams, and More from Gray Fox Farm! Gray Fox Farm Website

With gratitude,

Gray Fox Farm & community