September 8th marks six years since we launched our first Overalls Farm. You may have missed it in the beginning because we didn’t post publicly about it for years. Growing up-an-alley in Jacksonville’s Springfield neighborhood- tucked in a residential backyard (mine, as it were)- it was intentionally kept on the down-low, except as far as the neighborhood was concerned. But then, in June 2023, I shared the origin story on the stage of Florida Theater ending with the dream to replicate our neighborhood farm model. Now, with Overalls Farms One and Two thriving, we’re growing Farm Three to fruition, and we need a little help making it happen.
When we started, to ensure we were growing in service of our immediate community, we asked ourselves three questions:
- How can we grow food IN our neighborhood FOR the neighborhood
- What business model will allow us to keep growing season after season? And,
- How can we cultivate neighborly community atop the farm?
In other words, “How do we grow food in a community and a community on that farm - over the long haul?”
Long story short, our "silly" idea of a subscription "unlimited urban uPick" beat out several other experiments we ran in parallel. Within 1.5 years our membership grew to 25 families before we started a wait list.
Overalls Farm 1 & 2, fully subscribed, now serve 75 families in the neighborhood, and our wait list of neighbors is over 120 additional households not to mention 200 more from around Jacksonville and beyond. (We actually have a few families from around the state and one way out in Tacoma, WA encouraging us to get growing in their neighborhood as well). On the community front, we've hosted 70+ events with over 1500 visitors - workshops, potlucks, birthday and retirement parties, church services, book clubs, nonprofit fundraisers, and the like. And that's just what we have records of; it's to say nothing of the (probable) hundreds of impromptu farm member-led tours with friends and family.
It's because of all this interest and success that we're developing Farm Three.
Though we bootstrapped 1 & 2, Farm Three is 6x larger and envisioned as a destination with more amenities like a Parisian-themed central event space, accessible through a brick “moon door,” where we can invite our growing Overalls Community as well as the general public for workshops and farm-to-table meals and a micro market and the like, so we're looking for financial support to bring it to fruition.
Would you consider sponsoring, lending to, or (continuing to) make purchases from Overalls to help us underwrite Farm Three? And, would you be willing to pass the word?
There are lots of details at www.Overalls.Fund where you can give directly or pledge larger contributions and loans. The take away is this: we've raised $60k of $250k budgeted. In other words, we’re far beyond zero, but we’ve got a long way to go. And though our model is viable over the long term, we’re doing our darndest to avoid market rate financing to avoid wasting money on high interest.
Our next goal is to raise $10,000 in donations to underwrite the edible hedge of espaliered fruit trees that will surround Farm Three, providing bounty to both farm members and passing neighbors & visitors. Can you contribute $20? Or $100? Or…?
While we’re asking questions, we’ve got another for you: Who do you know that might be interested in helping us, financially, to bring Farm Three to fruition? Would you be willing to make an introduction or pass this along to them?
Visit www.Overalls.Fund for more info, to give directly online, or pledge larger amounts as you’re able.
PS- if you’re wondering what we’d do if we received “too much” funding for our Farm Three budget, don’t worry. We’ve got a plan for that: as our wait list suggests we’ve got at least another 7 or so farms to build in Jacksonville before taking Overalls Farm “on the road,” which is to say, “Big checks warmly accepted.”
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If you're ready to grow your groceries... Please, click here to see our services & book a consultation, so we can assess your site; we'll discuss design, answer your questions, talk #s, and get your project lined up. We offer turn-key raised bed food garden support services. Or, if you've already got a garden, but need a little seasonal support, click here. If you just need a quick DIY gardening question answered, try our Overalls Chat Bot. Then again, since this whole post was actually about Overalls Farm, click here to join our wait list or follow the Overalls Farm story on FB, IG, or TikTok.
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Nathan, Man in Overalls & the rest of team Overalls
904.240.9592
ManInOveralls@Overalls.Life
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