About Ramona Street Art Farm
About Ramona Street Art Farm
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In December 2020, our family (Brandon, Amy, Alvah and Heywood) bought the house and land that now holds Ramona Street Art Farm. We moved from a small lot to our dreamy .49 acre little slice of heaven with the dream of creating a farm and art space.
We are a no-dig farm which means we focus on farming methods that disrupt the soil as little as possible, seeking to build and support strong micro-ecosystems below the surface. Soil health is one of our highest priorities on the farm, followed closely by water conservation practices that include capturing and reusing rainwater, utilizing rain gardens to capture runoff from our impervious surfaces, watering deeply and less frequently and layering mulch and compost on our beds to keep moisture in the soil.
Top left: December 2020, Middle Left: March 2021, Bottom left: June 2021, Right: June 2022
Below Left: Sample Vegetable Box August 2022, Bottom Right: Farm Stand July 2022
In May of 2021 we added four ducks to our farm, Babs, Ductor Who, Kathy and Grandpa. We recently added two ducks, Addie Quacksalot and Mabel Syrup to the flock. They are slowly getting used to their new housemates and to being around us humans. Our ducks roam our backyard freely for most the day, chasing flies, resting in the shade and hunting bugs and slugs in the soils. They lay the duck eggs we sell as part of our farm-raised goods.
As a farm, we are committed to providing fresh and affordable food to our neighbors and local community. We acknowledge that we live on stolen land and are fortunate in our opportunity to be the caretakers of this space. We also acknowledge that much of that opportunity is tied to our whiteness and the privileges that affords us in getting to the place we are now.
The land we are on belongs to the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde and the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians as part of the Cascade and Clackamas tribal areas. It is our goal that our efforts and actions always be anti-racist, accessible and honoring of the land. We work hard to run our farm in the most environmentally respectful manner, holding ourselves accountable to our beliefs that climate change is not only real but is a constantly growing threat. We seek to grow our food as responsibly as possible, source as much biodegradable packing materials as we can and keep things as local as possible in our materials.
Art and Performance
Art and Performance
Bringing performance and art to the farm is very important to us. In fact, we used to day dream about the day in the long and distant future where we could buy a bit of land, have a little farm, start a residency and host events. And then many things happened and we decided not to dream and not to wait, but to do. We both have backgrounds in art, Brandon is a musician and has been a long standing presence in the improv and experimental music community of Portland. I (Amy) am an artist and writer and comedian and performer; a creative dabbler if you will. And we don't see the work of creating this farm and growing plants as any different from our other creative practices.
We started hosting performances in the summer of 2020 and are building this portion of our art farm every year. These performances include music, dance, performance, readings and more. We are excited to work together with folks in the community and offer our space as inspiration, background or in collaboration with artists. Our events are always sliding scale or pay what you will, and are open to our neighborhood and surrounding community. We may at times host other local organizations who are presenting their own curated performances at the farm; these events may be ticketed.
We still plan on developing a residency program for visiting and/or local artists. This may include building a yurt on the property near our high tunnel that can house visitors to the farm, visiting artists or serve as studio space.
We will update our events page as we go. Please reach out via email (ramonastreetartfarm@gmail.com) if would like to pitch a project.
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