Oliview Community Building Farm Project

Participants on a cool March day are digging into one of their first garden beds. Work is so much more enjoyable when done together!

Photo courtesy of Shasta County Probation

Community Starts Here

Just as transition ecosystems - the edges - hold so much of life and diversity, so it is with human communities. A diverse community fosters increased innovation, growth, and harmony… and requires ALL of us!

The objective of the Oliview Community Building Farm Project - the Oliview Project, for short! - is to grow a stronger society through lifting up young people, teaching through hands-on work and learning, building their capacity to use their unique skills and passions to grow food for their families and the broader community. Through the Project they learn practical skills they’ll use for the rest of their lives:

  • Starting garden plants from seed, with very few inputs;

  • Building soil, tending a garden, and respecting the plants’ process;

  • Cooking fresh, delicious food to build personal independence; and

  • The value of their own good, hard work, especially in supporting and providing for each other.

Through working side by side, we build relationships and trust. These relationships blossom into long-term connections, facilitating community reentry and improving longer-term educational, health, and overall life outcomes for participating youth and their families.

Growing food from seed is the most economical way of feeding yourself and your family and friends.

Photos courtesy of Shasta County Probation

Recording what was planted and when helps to keep track of what’s growing.

We would like to especially thank the following Oliview Project funders, who have dove into the deep with us, even before we had results to show (listed in order of their funding commitment):

  1. The Redding Rancheria - an amazing California Native American Indian Tribe showing in their actions, more than any group we know, that they respect diversity and inclusion in our community.

  2. The California Department of Food and Agriculture - a state agency providing funds (through the California Ag Plate fund - go get a special license plate and fund these awesome projects!) to projects working in agriculture with youth.

  3. The McConnell Foundation - a local foundation providing support to local non-profits; in particular, their grant team is incredibly engaged with the work on the ground, and understands how to galvanize a new program.

  4. The Smullin Foundation - a nimble, smart, and effective foundation investing in programs advancing education and serving underserved populations in northern California and southern Oregon.

Finally, we are SO EXCITED to announce a significant investment by the Sierra Health Foundation, through the Elevate Youth California program. This investment will allow us to build our organizational capacity utilizing local resources, and will support planning efforts in the pursuit of long-term programmatic sustainability. We are so grateful for this investment in rural California!

Learning happens in a lot of different places and ways. One of the highlights of the Oliview Project is bringing in leaders from the community, region, and state to talk with the young people about their experiences. Sometimes it’s about education, nature appreciation, or journalism and telling your own story. In the photo above, we were lucky to have Chairman Jack Potter, Jr. of the Redding Rancheria, speak about his youth and evolution into the leader he is, today. The kids were struck by the Tribal history he shared, and we discussed it in the garden for days afterwards. This kind of personal interaction builds connections and social literacy, supporting community reentry and strengthening our civil discourse.

Does this sound as amazing to you as it does to us? I still get shivers when I write grant applications, celebrating the amazing youth participating in this program, who have overcome so much and are willing to go farther, and trust people they’ve never met to support them in building the future they want and deserve.

We need you!

We are always looking for partners for the Oliview Project! You can:

  • Donate! Money helps us support the continued involvement of a passionate and highly-qualified educator, pay participants a small stipend (they are doing real work!), pay college enrollment fees for credits, purchase farm tools, and more. We’re working on a “donate” button, but right now you can write a check to the Oliview Project and send it to our farm address (at the top of this page).

  • Purchase produce! All proceeds go to supporting the farm and the Project.

  • Help us through a building project, offer your life experience as a guest speaker, or provide food or snacks for these hungry teenagers! Everything helps - remember, it takes all of us! - so please contact us if you have a passion to provide.

We can’t build community without YOU. Thank you for being a part of this Project, for your care for Oliview Farm, and for the affection you share with us and all members of our community. As Wendell Berry says, it all turns on affection. In the end, these are the building blocks to a stronger and healthier community.