Last summer a good friend of mine did an internship at Tierra Nueva, a mini organic farm located nextdoor to Burlington, Washington. I got to visit her then and help harvest some of the produce in the fall both last year and this. What impresses me the most about this farm is  their dedication to three main aspects of healing.

1. Heal the land. The staff at Tierra Nueva is dedicated to growing organic produce on healthy soil. One of their farmers told me a few weeks ago that they want to move away from using motorized methods when cultivating the land. Every season, they leave about half of their two acres to rest while carefully cultivating the other half.

2. Heal your body. They grow wholesome, healthy food that nourishes both the farm staff and those in Seattle or other nearby towns who purchase their produce boxes. Customers are invited to join in on the farming process by volunteering at a work party or harvesting U-Pick items.  Plus, their website provides a delicious recipes list where you can search by produce type. I love that they partially fund their work through this social enterprise aspect.

3. Heal the community. The farm staff simultaneously works with both the local migrant community and people in recovering programs from the jail and juvenile detention. Two of the farm’s primary workers are a lovely couple–Salvio and Victoria–who speak Spanish fluently and were once migrant workers themselves. Another cool aspect is that women, men and youth in their recovering programs also participate in farm activities. For instance, one woman set up culinary classes in the barn where she taught group classes on how to cook with the fresh produce.

Update: I drafted this post on Wednesday this past week. This morning I was talking to my friend who interned at Tierra Nueva and she told me that this lovely farm is closing because the produce sales were not covering expenses. I decided to publish this post anyway as a case study of an attempt well-made. Many social enterprises are difficult to sustain because they lack the organization, structure and strategy behind them (although even business start-ups often don’t take off until an entrepreneur’s third or fourth attempt). A short peruse of their website screamed for the need of a marketer and web designer. Transporting produce all the way to Seattle required a lot of time and fuel. Their new farmer (who will continue farming on another plot of land) said this land could have been better utilized. Yet in spite of its shortcomings, the farm met numerous needs during its time of operation and many of their practices and principles could be replicated in a myriad of other settings to bring about holistic healing for communities.