Welcome to Black seed FARMS

Black Seed Agroecology Farm & Village is the first farm to join the Puget Sound Agrarian Commons. Black Seed is a project of Modest Family Solutions, and grows food to gift and sell to BIPOC communities, facilitates youth agroecology education, and helps to establish economic stability and a dignified, culturally appropriate food supply chain.

The Puget Sound Agrarian Commons (AC) has chosen Adasha Turner, founder and director of Modest Family Solutions, to steward the land gift that started the Puget Sound Agrarian Commons and the Agrarian Commons movement. Caroline Gardner, the previous owner of the land, shared the vision of ensuring that the Pacific Northwest benefit from a legacy of land and agriculture connected to people and place, and saw the potential to catalyze a community-centric model for farmland stewardship. Gardner gifted her ten-acre farm to Agrarian Trust in November of 2019. Black Seed Agroecology Farm Village is actively building relationships with partner organizations, landowners, and farmers who share a similar vision.

Cultivating Community

Establishing a farming co- op to cultivate success for community and to provide pathways for:

  • land access to BIPOC Communities

  • intergenerational project management & action base learning

  • economic development within the community

  • cultural relevant and halal appropriate food options

  • healthy and inclusive spaces to rebuild the community

    This rural equitable agroecology farming village will include on going support to farming families in education; producer training and certifications, and housing !

Black Seed Farms support generations of the Black Diaspora, Indigenous, Immigrant and Refugee communities reconnect to land, farming and healing spaces.

Mobile farmers Market

let's rebuild black seed after arson! Black Seed for the future!

let's rebuild black seed after arson! Black Seed for the future!

"They don't know beautiful plant grow from dark soils"

Help us rebuild the hydroponic lab burnt down due to arson July 19th, 2024 on

Black Seed Agroecology Farms, Whidbey Island

Modest Family Solutions, the distribution hub for Black Seed Farms to provide hunger relief for socially and economically disadvantaged communities. Black Seed Agroecology Farms teaches afro-centric education in Everett to Black Indigenous families and youth of color. During our nation's most vulnerable times Modest Family Solutions and Black Seed entities have raised and procured over 4 million pounds of halal meat, hydroponic greens and vegetables starts for local food insecurity distribution since 2020.

 July 14, 2024, The Maxine Mimms Academy made a donation to expand the hydroponic garden at Black Seed Farms. The team spent 4 days transporting this heavy equipment from Kent to Whidbey Island and finally finished Thursday night before dropping off trucks. This equipment was on Black Seed property for less than 12 hours! July 19 an arson fire caused a $250,000 loss of equipment that would cultivate hundreds of pounds of healthy nutrient dense food year-round in the Pacific Northwest. This climate friendlily method of food growing uses a water-based nutrient solution rather than soil and is very beneficial for the environment, using 99% less water per acre and reducing chemicals into the soil by 98%.

 This community agricultural initiative provides families and youth of color with access to technology that increases their future opportunities in the sustainable and organic agricultural space. Vertical farming reduces costs associated with transportation, packaging, spoilage, pollution, water usage, soil erosion and contamination and eliminates the use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, and preservatives. This direction in food and nutrition policy focuses on health, ecological integrity, education, training, job creation and the development of complete communities.

Historically, people of color have owned less than 1% of farmland in America. The technology used in this vertical farming program creates new pathways that transform almost any space to viable farmland. The program created a BIPOC food supply chain utilizing government contracts and local markets that can lead to stable community supported agriculture. They tried to rob great opportunities from our community. Our hearts are saddened but not harden, they did not know beautiful plants grow from blackened soil.

Call to Action: Help Modest Family Solutions umbrella to Ummah Sustained Agroecology Center (1/3-acre urban farm in Everett, WA) and Black Seed Agroecology Farms (a 10-acre rural site on Whidbey Island) open its Agroecology Initiatives identified in the United Nations 2030 Climate Change Goals.

Thank you, Chef Wayne, for believing in our vision. I am so happy you were able to witness us be on liberated land before your return. We are forever grateful for your continued contributions to us and the many underserved and disadvantaged within in the community that have benefited, even on this day! May your support weight heavy on your scales my friend.

Grow it

Black Seed Commons

The Black Seed Commons brings together farmers, landowners, land trusts, stakeholders, and communities to build awareness, understanding, and support for community-centered and land-based commons. Our work is tailored to meet the needs of individuals, families, and communities invested in the effort.

Our mission for developing a workers cooperative on liberated lands is to build and sustain community-driven economy that honors our Black and Indigenous heritage. Through collective ownership and equitable decision-making, we aim to empower our people with meaningful employment and promote social justice. By integrating sustainable practices and leveraging our ancestral knowledge, we strive to enhance local resilience and address systemic inequalities. Our cooperative is committed to fostering an inclusive environment that values diversity, equity, and the wisdom of our ancestors, contributing to the broader movement for economic self-determination and environmental stewardship.

on the land

Join us on the land!! The ideal choice if you want a personalized experience: farm tours, work parties, forest bathing, glamping - tailored to your goals and lifestyle.

membership

Black Seed Commons cooperative is an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social-cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratic enterprise.

Warriors at Rest

A healing space geared toward synergy work for food system warriors, farmers and family trying to stay rooted. Join us bimonthly for grounding on the land day retreats and seasonal events.

Agro.Up

Improving Sustainable Food Access

Halal Processing & Training Center

a worker co-operative, small minority owned business incubator, community workforce and entrepreneur development program for social and economic disadvantaged individuals.

AgroEcology Entrepreneurship & Retail Market

Entrepreneurs and local producers in Washington apply agroecology solutions for more resilient food systems and better livelihoods.

 FAQs

  • Agroecology helps to protect, restore and improve agriculture and food systems in the face of climate shocks and stressors. Diverse, well-integrated agroecological systems can promote greater carbon sequestration, increase resilience of livelihoods and provide climate change mitigation and adaptation solutions.

  • Cooperatives are people-centred enterprises owned, controlled and run by and for their members to realise their common economic, social, and cultural needs and aspirations. the economic and social benefits of their activity stay in the communities where they are established. Profits generated are either reinvested in the enterprise or returned to the members.

  • The Black Seed was used in ancient medicinal traditions that observed the health of an individual in a holistic way. A practice that is concerned with your mind, body, soul, and nature. For over 3,000 years Black Seed has been cultivated for a multitude of uses.

    Native to the Mediterranean and Asian regions, black seed has spread throughout the world because of its healing properties. Black Seed is well known in Africa, because of its prevalent use in Ancient Egypt for the treatment of digestive issues, inflammatory skin conditions, and the well-being of internal organs.

    The sustainability through the black seed’s healing properties and longevity throughout history is what we, Modest Family Solutions, want to reflect back into our communities. To thrive together in health and inclusivity to ultimately benefit and rebuild the community.

  • Black Seed Agroecology Farm & Village which is located on Whidbey Island or in one Salish language Tscha-kole-chy. The Puget Sound region is the ancestral lands of the Lower Skagit, Swinomish, Suquamish, Snohomish, and other Coast Salish nations, who have lived in relationship with these lands and waters since time immemorial. We recognize & honor Indigenous Peoples as traditional stewards of this land and the enduring relationship that exists between Indigenous Peoples and their traditional territories.

    Despite their participation in the Treaty of Point Elliott, the Duwamish tribe, on whose land Seattle is located, have been denied federal recognition. We recognize the rights and injustices of this treaty and the ongoing legacy here in the Puget Sound.