City Slicker Farms

Dear Friends of City Slicker Farms,

My name is Karen Williams and I live in West Oakland. Like a lot of our neighbors, my husband Robert and I come from a long tradition of tending a garden at home. For us, growing food is a practice that’s rooted in our family’s history. We do it so that our children can have a strong sense of where they come from.

Growing food is about honoring our traditions. I started my garden to get back to my roots, growing vegetables the way my grandmother taught me. She knew things that you couldn’t read in any book – old methods for growing food and preserving it for the winter. She made the best peach preserves and plum jelly you’ll ever have.

Thanks to City Slicker Farms, families like ours are carrying on our traditions and teaching each other some new things along the way. I first got involved with the Backyard Garden program about five years ago.

I remember when I first got involved with City Slicker Farms. I had a garden at home, and we found out that our backyard had lead in it. So Julie and Alison and a volunteer came over and worked with us to build new garden beds so that our food could grow in clean soil, raised above the surface to prevent contamination.

While the staff and volunteers built the boxes, I cooked us up some southern-style food, and we shared a meal and laughed and exchanged stories. It was like we were all family building together in the backyard, a real collective effort.

I look back on these memories, and I’m so thankful that we had support from City Slicker Farms. That’s why I’m writing to you to ask for your support this winter. Your gift of $50, $100, or $250 can help another family receive services the way ours did.

If you give before New Years, you can double the impact of your gift. A generous donor has offered to match end-of-year gifts up to $25,000. That means that City Slicker Farms will receive two dollars for each dollar you give today.

As I got more involved in City Slicker Farms, I found out that a big part of their work is funded by people who give what they can. It was the generosity of donors I had never met that made my own garden possible. You can be part of this, too! As someone who has benefitted from City Slicker Farms’ work, I promise that your gift of $50, $100, or $250 will make a deep impact in our community.

I have an eleven-year-old daughter, Samantha. I see that her generation is faced with new challenges. I taught Samantha how to use organic methods, like chicken manure and homemade fish emulsion. Her father taught her how to pick vegetables so as not to damage the plant, so it can keep reproducing.

A garden is like a bridge between generations. It’s where we learn about the legacy of our heritage, and where we dream of our future. Every time you plant a garden you make an investment in what is still to come. You can never plant a seed without thinking about the place, the people, and the future we will have here, together.

Thank you for all that you do to invest in this future. From my family to yours, I wish you warmth, peace, and strength this holiday season.

Yours in gratitude,

Karen Williams

Backyard Gardener and Community Market Farms Supporter 

P.S. – Please choose to invest in more families like ours, by giving a gift of $50, $100, or $250 today to support City Slicker Farms. I know from personal experience that your generosity makes a meaningful difference.