Sustenance - Emergency Food Network

to the project, was in hand. The funds were provided by the Bill & Melinda Gates,
Ben B. Cheney, Fuchs Foundations and Grantmaker Consultants, Inc. In 2000 the
project began.
Enter Carrie Little
In 1993, Carrie became a volunteer at the newly formed Guadalupe Gardens
urban community garden project. It was the goal of this group to provide fresh
vegetables, free of charge, to homeless and low-income people in Tacoma by
turning empty space in the economically depressed areas of that city into organic
gardens. By the end of that fi rst season, Carrie had become “the farmer in charge”
and by 1996, the project had grown from one lot to nine lots providing signifi cant
produce not only to low-income individuals but also to the community’s largest
food bank, St. Leo’s Food Connection, and largest hot meal site, The Hospitality
Kitchen.
EFN immediately sought
out Carrie Little and
offered her the daunting
task of turning the high
production, pesticideriddled
acreage into an
organic farm. Carrie,
having conquered the
task of developing
scattered urban organic
gardens, accepted the
offer of rebuilding soil
and producing food that
would go directly into the
community’s emergency
food system.
While not certifi ed,
Mother Earth Farm uses
no non-organic materials of any kind in the production of fruits and vegetables.
Since full acreage use began in 2004 (after four years of rebuilding the soil), the
farm has produced more than 1,000,000 pounds. All of this food has gone into
food banks and hot meal sites in Pierce County.
It’s not just about the food. It’s also about building community and giving
people hope.
It was Carrie’s idea to provide customers of local food banks with an annual
survey to suggest crops to plant. Based on the results of the surveys and growing
capabilities in the northwest, Carrie planned crops for the upcoming year.
It was Carrie’s efforts that developed a model program for the Washington State
Department of Corrections, bringing crews of female inmates from the Purdy
Correctional Center for Women to plant, weed, and harvest crops on a regular
basis. The success of this program led to the development of a curriculum
providing successful crew members with a certifi cate in organic farming from a
local post-secondary school. It was also Carrie who was responsible for creating
a fl ower garden at Mother Earth
Farm that was tended by a Girl
Scout Troop imade up of girls with
mothers incarcerated at Purdy.
While the mothers and daughters
were not allowed to be at the farm
at the same time, each could watch
in the development of the labors of
the other. The Girl Scouts delivered
all of the fl owers to seniors in
housing centers.
Carrie also worked to link local
school district classes with
volunteerism at the farm and to
tie that work into the curriculum of
those classes. One middle school
student, when interviewed while
weeding at Mother Earth Farm,
was asked by The News Tribune
columnist, Kathleen Merryman, how
he felt about working on the farm.
He responded by saying: “ I do
things for my family when they tell
me to, but this is different. It makes
me feel good to do something
for somebody I don’t even know.
It makes me feel like I am not just
taking up space.”
After so many years of hard work to foster a program with such a tremendous
impact, it is time for the next generation to carry on Mother Earth Farm. We wish
both Carrie and Canyon success.