Our Skyway Sanctuary: 2 Brown Chicks Family Farm

In the past year, Skyway has mostly been in the news for incidences of violence; domestic violence, the fleeting location of Maurice Clemmons as well as multiple shootings. So how did a small urban farm get started in the middle of Skyway?

When my partner and I fell in love, I was living an activist grind in Beacon Hill and my partner was working heavy shifts on construction projects around town. We are two queer women of color who are both heavily involved in our communities. I did some fairly normal activist things; slept too little, ate a lot of junk, stressed out about the world and went to a lot of meetings.

In the fall of 2008, we found out that I had a big ovarian cyst. It was big enough to convince a naturopath and acupuncturist that I needed surgery, so I did it. In the process we learned that I had endometriosis and that it probably came on as my body’s response to heavy stress as well as exposure to environmental toxins. That fall, and in the winter of 2009, we spent a lot of time thinking about how I could get better and how we could live healthier lives together.

In the spring of 2009 I decided to start a garden. My partner had a house in Skyway and we both decided to move there together. In the past, I moved so frequently that I always resisted planting seeds and roots. However, I decided to give it a shot and my partner sweetly supported me—digging plots, clearing rocks, helping me build a compost bin.

Instead of going to my computer every morning, I made a commitment to eat breakfast and take a walk or play in the dirt.

By the time it was summer we had a lush and plentiful garden. My partner–a meat-lover who barely recognized veggies as food–was outside with me on sunny days happily eating fresh peas. She celebrated our home-grown carrots in freshly made carrot cakes. She ate garden salads and exclaimed about the sweetness of our tomatoes.

In August, we were having such a good time that we decided to take on raising a few chicks and started a flock of Rhode Island Reds in our back yard. During free weekends we built their coop and moved them from our kitchen to the great outdoors. After that, we just kept going.

About a year after my surgery, we decided to launch 2 Brown Chicks Family Farm as a way to commit to living in a more sustainable way and teaching others to do the same. We currently have a flock of 14 chickens, seeds in storage, barrels for rain harvesting and a plot that is waiting for spring. We are excited to open our home and Family Farm to the broader community and talk more about how to live in this world as healthier, happier, community-building people.

Of course the world is still in struggle and thus we are keeping to our hearts’ work by visioning this urban farm as a way to provide for activists and organizers. We know this will become a reality, just as our seeds have ripened into fruit. This season we are enjoying farm-fresh eggs and looking forward to the coming sweetness of tomatoes, crispness of springtime peas and building community with other enviro-justice freaks like you!

2 Brown Chicks Family Farm seeks to supply working folks with sustainable means to care for their families. Our products include nutritious and delicious fresh foods and produce as well as high quality, recycled rain barrels. You can visit our site and learn more about what we’re doing at www.2brownchicks.org.

About the author: Joanne Alcantara and her partner operate the 2 Brown Chicks Family Farm in Skyway.

Related posts:

1. Urban Homesteading: Bringing the Chicks Home
2. Urban Homesteading: The Chicks Lay Their First Egg
3. People On The Move: Sandy Pernitz from Seattle’s P-Patch Community Gardening Program

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