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: 1)How can we grow food IN our neighborhood FOR the neighborhood, 2)What business model will allow us to keep growing for the long haul? And, 3) How can we cultivate neighborly community atop the farm? In other words, “How do we grow food in a
A month ago, I told stories from Florida Theater's stage : stories of family, stories of our backyard farm , stories of where we've been and where we're growing. In the month since then, even as we continue to support others to grow their groceries at home, team Overalls received 95 neighbors & community supports for our Farm (2) Raising , and, together, we built our 2nd " unlimited urban uPick " neighborhood farm. Farm Three is already in the works. It's an exciting moment to be wearing Overalls, so I want to share the backstory with you. Just below, you'll find the video , or if you'd prefer to read, look just scroll down. - - - - - - My name is Nathan Ballentine. Folks know me simply as Man In Overalls . Last Sunday, I spot Charlotte, our 3-year-old neighbor, outside our kitchen window. She’s headed through the gate to our backyard farm. She stops at the mint, looks back over her shoulder to make sure no one is watching, and snags a piece.