Help Build the New OK Community Farm!

Help OK Community Farm Access Farm Land!

OK Community Farm (OKCF) was established as an LLC in 2023 in Lewiston, Maine. A small-scale vegetable farm, OKCF is owned and operated by Omasombo Katuka and Poya Ndjadi, in collaboration with their family members, friends, and a broader community of supporters around Southern and Central Maine.

Poya holding onions.

Rented farmland in Scarborough.

African eggplants.

African sweet potato leaves.

Arriving in the United States in 2010, Omasombo and Poya found their way to Lewiston in 2012. Omasombo’s involvement in Lewiston Adult Ed programming, working to refine English literacy skills in the hopes of finding better employment opportunities, connected him with staff at the New American Sustainable Agriculture Project at Cultivating Community. Since then, Omasombo has built a vegetable enterprise that not only demonstrates a successful pathway for growing food business, but also makes tangible and meaningful progress towards shared goals of a diversified agricultural economy and a more equitable food system.

The Maine food system is stronger when Omasombo and Poya have a place in it. No other Maine farm produces anywhere near an equivalent volume of fresh produce for the growing West and Central African community in Maine like OKCF. Though the farm has grown in sales, reach, and impact – the lack of a permanent land base continues to hinder further expansion and the building of generational wealth.

Spreading production across fields over an hour apart, with the majority of the rented acreage in Scarborough, 70 minutes away from home in Lewiston, the farm intrinsically can’t achieve the efficiency to make vegetable production profitable and sustainable in the long run. Additionally, without long-term tenure, investment in the type of equipment and infrastructure required for effective vegetable operations is too precarious: no permanent home for a wash-station, and no cold storage to name a few.

After many years of renting small parcels while searching for land, we finally purchased 20 acres of farmland scheduled to close on May 27th, 2024*. This is a community farm, and we need our community's help to build it. Being able to secure the land was an exciting first step, but to turn its former hay field into a thriving vegetable farm, it will need a lot of work including a well, farm equipment, a wash-station, and for us to pay off the short-term loan. This farmland contains:

OK and Louise visiting the parcel in Wales, ME.

This opportunity provides an immediate opportunity to address the land needs, but the timeline is tight. We need your support. Please help OK Community Farm access farm land and continue to make changes in Maine’s food system!

Below are newsletters featuring OK's farm journey.

Maine farmers newsletter featuring OK

OK featured in Sunjournal Magazine

Blog Archive featuring OK

*UPDATES 07/02/24.

First and foremost, on behalf of the entire OK Community Farm’s family, we want to extend our gratitude and many thanks for everyone who has donated in supporting of our farming business. We wouldn't have done it without your support and endless checking-in and follow-ups. We are happy to publicly share that we were able to close on the loan and now own our farmland located at 818 Gardiner Rd, in Wales. You can only imagine our excitement, and yet anxious, about the amount of responsibility and hard-work that must be applied to turning this land into a farmable land.

As of today, 07/02/24, we have received a $9,252 donation of a $300,000 goal. As such, we have decided to keep this GoFundMe open for any additional support there may be. Our journey has just begun, and we hope that you’ll continue to support us by either making additional donations or by sharing the link in your social media pages with friends and family, and with other interested parties/sponsors.

We hope to start farming at our location next year, 2025.

Again, we are tremendously grateful for YOU, your support toward our family/business, and those in need.

Stay blessed, always

Omasombo and family

OK Community Farm LLC

*UPDATES 10/21/24.

Hello family -

Just a quick update as we continue to receive additional support from the community near and afar. We want to remain transparent with you and keep you informed on how your donation is contributing to our farming business. With the current donations received as of today, 10/21/24, $10,452 of $300,000 goal, we were able to purchase some equipment, paved the accessible road to the farm, and install the well. We couldn’t have done it without you, so THANK YOU.

Once again, thank you for your generosity and support, and do continue to share our testimony with others.

Sincerely,

Omasombo and family

OK Community Farm LLC