Support ANV's work to challenge oppressive dynamics and environments through urban farming

As a tweenager, my parents took me on my first trip to Taiwan since leaving there as a baby. I was excited to see my “homeland” and also to visit my grandmother’s farm. As early as I can remember, I had eaten peanut candies and peanut snacks from Peng Hu, and sometimes looked at the individual peanut pieces trying to imagine which of them was grown by my family. But as I stood on the edge of our family field I could not see the peanuts below the earth, nor did I find the rootedness I thought I’d feel.

My search for connection and belonging continued through early adulthood and I traveled as much as possible. Two months into my first big solo-trip, I had a total meltdown in a Phnom Penh internet café. I walked outside and rented the first rickety bike I saw for $1 and rode out to the countryside. Bumping along the red earth road, flanked by lush green rice paddies dotted with farmers and occasional oxen, I breathed deeply. Pulling over at a hammock bar, I ordered an orange soda, climbed into a hammock, and allowed myself to be hypnotized by the tall slender leaves, whispering, swaying, and reflecting light. I felt a little less lost and displaced, and a little more connected to my fellow rice-bred humans.

2020 has afforded me many opportunities to call up the memory of those soothing rice paddies, but also to reflect upon the importance of farming and food. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect the first time I walked along the fence at Tassafaronga Park to the ANV Farm. Children played on the other side of the fence, and inside a couple young women looked hard at work. My eyes were immediately drawn to the ripe red tomatoes hanging from the vine. I imagined those tomatoes being carefully packed into a CSA box, pictured the delight of someone opening that box to enjoy them, and I saw the proceeds from them being deposited into a young person’s savings account.

I joined the Board of Directors of Acta Non Verba Urban Youth Farm Project because in that tomato I see the future of our community. I invite you to join me in supporting ANV and to make a contribution that will help strengthen our connection to the earth we walk and those we walk it with. Just a small donation will go a long way to helping me meet my goal for ACTA NON VERBA YOUTH URBAN FARM PROJECT.

Please check out anvfarm.org for more info about this incredible organization!