(upbeat background tune riffing) - [Ray] This is eggplant.

- [Alison ] Really?

- Yeah, and it's actually related to... - [Alison ] Oh my gosh, look.

- [Ray] the tomato, potato plant.

Look at that flower; it's beautiful.

- [Alison ] Wow.

- [Ray] And you got a little egg... Yeah, there you go.

- [Alison ] Wow.

- [Ray] These are collard greens.

So I just go and look at the bottom leaves, right?

And I just take that leaf, and just push down, and maybe twist a bit.

- [Alison ] Okay.

- Can I call myself a farmer after this?

- [Ray] Uh, well, you're, you're starting, helping.

- [Alison ] I'm one piece of the puzzle.

- [Ray] Well, right.

That's interesting that you say, right?

Because there's preparing the soil, there's getting the plants ready, there's planting, managing it, and harvesting, and then taking it to market.

And then I think uh people don't realize they're part of the food system.

Because they take it home, and eat it, right?

And that's really part of that whole system.

These, these are for you.

- This is awesome.

Thanks.

(Alison chuckling) (tranquil background melody droning) - [Ray] Thanks for coming out,... - [Alison ] Yeah.

- [Ray] and, and, and seeing the community here, you know?

- I am so excited.

- [Ray] Yes Farms right in the middle of the city.

It's also really an intersection of Seattle's history as well.

You think about the early settlers, Yesler had a mill at, down Yesler, and he logged off the original forest that were, had been maintained for thousands of years by the indigenous folks that lived here, right.

So they've been displaced.

and now we're sort of in this next level of people moving.

The community center is this really the center of the community here.

We have a, a good relation with Yesler Community Center.

- [Alison ] I would love if we could start by you sharing the mission of Black Farmers Collective.

- [Ray] Our mission really for me is to develop some black leadership on the land.

You know, to have some inclusive spaces, but to, to really elevate that leadership.

There's being outside, being with nature, understanding the connections, stress relief of, of being there, building community around the growing of food.

- You know, in the minds of many people farming, a farmer's a white person.

- [Ray] Mhmm.

- Right?

Can you talk about how is the work that you're doing hoping to deconstruct that idea?

- We've, you know, been acculturated to, to think about things that, that might be very, very good for us, right?

As, as not being something for us.

- [Alison ] Definitely.

- I think um, a, a lot of folks in this country especially my parents' generation, and the generation before did a lot of work to get off the land.

Right, and there's a lot of pain about thinking about what farming was, and what the slave base economy in the United States was.

Right?

(tranquil background melody droning) But I think now more and more younger people are realizing that there are some great advantages to that.

- [Alison ] Mmmm.

- [Ray] Right, to be able to have a job where you're connected to nature, connected to the land.

You're a producer.

- [Alison ] You said something really powerful about, you know, our ancestors did everything they could to get away from the land, and now here we are reclaiming the lands.

Could you say a bit more about that?

- Yeah, well, and I think not only that is, is that part of the history that we're taught is, has been to minimize, right, the contributions of black people in the United States.

Right, and so, you know, we're not taught that the country basically was fed by the people that already knew how to grow rice that were brought over here, right?

We're not really taught about that.

We're, we're, we're, we are taught that there was this minimal sort of only labor around cotton.

In order to maintain this white supremacy.

You can't, you can't talk about the good.

- [Alison ] Mmmm.

- And so we all learn about the bad, and then we feel that well, I, I don't wanna, I don't want to do that work.

- Mmm, mhmmm, mhmmm.

- [Ray] So, and it's hard work, being a farmer.

I, you know, it's not for everybody, but I think if we could teach young people a little bit about it, get young people out there...

I mean, the experiences that you learn growing something can be translated to so many other things.

- Can you just describe to me, or explain what is food justice?

- For me food justice is getting more and more people to be able to eat better and better food, and feel better about what they eat, be more connected to what they eat.

We've really been separated from our food, right?

What we've, we've created a situation where the people that grow our food are lower, second class.

You know, not even eligible for minimum wage, right?

And not everyone is gonna grow all their own food.

And not everyone can eat fresh vegetables all the time.

- [Alison ] Right.

- [Ray] Right.

And you understand we have a lot of people.

And so we need processed foods, and things.

- Well, I am ready to farm.

- [Ray] Hey, that's great!

- [Alison ] So how far from Yesler Community Center, to Yes Farm?

- It's just about two blocks.

- [Alison ] The juxtaposition of heading to a farm in the middle of this scene is wild to me.

- [Ray] It, you know, it's crazy the amount of construction that's happening right now, you know?

That's a big environmental impact on us, and the neighbors, right?

- [Alison ] Yeah.

- [Ray] I mean, eventually they'd be all built up, and it'll be more housing, right?

And more amenities.

(tranquil background melody chiming) (traffic bustling) - [Alison ] Can you tell me about the noise?

It's almost impossible to talk, to think in this space.

- [Ray] So, yeah, noise is a real issue here.

We're, you know, we're in the middle of the city, and there are definitely a lot of environmental impacts.

- [Alison] How do you see potential in, in this space?

- Well, right, I think that's a piece of, of being able to take a look at something, and see what it might be.

To me that comes from experience of being places, and seeing what someone else can do.

So you get a vision of, of, of what might be, and then practice of actually turning spaces into gardens.

Then you start to see it.

And here we have a little pepper plant.

- Oh, the kale.

- Yes!

- I know kale.

(Alison chuckling) - One of the many varieties, curly kale.

Right?

- Yeah.

- [Ray] Here we have tomatoes.

This is basil, sweet basil.

So,... - Oh, that's good.

- [Ray] That's a nice herb.

Green bean plants growing up here.

- [Alison ] Yeah.

- [Ray] Mint.

(Alison enthusiastic gasping) - [Alison ] Awesome.

Thank you for that, because all of this just looks like plants to me.

- [Ray] As you're in the garden, you start to see the di... not only the difference of the kinds of food plants, but you're going through, and you see the leaves of a weed.

You, you know, you feel comfortable about pulling it out, 'cause you can actually tell the difference.

And it's just experience.

- [Gardeners] Right.

- Well, thank you so much... - You're welcome.

- for this tour.

- Thanks for coming down to the farm.

- This will not be my last time.

Thank you so much, Ray.

- [Ray] Great to see you.

Yeah, it's been, it's been a pleasure.

Thanks.

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