Benu Amun-Ra

benu11@yahoo.com

720-988-4963

Aijalon Farms (future name) / Currently fundraising to develop the land

I am a Beginner Farmer learning how to create a non-profit farm and education center on my family's land. It is slightly less than an acre but we would like to develop it into a learning farm for people with disabilities and food justice for marginalized populations, especially the indigenous communities. We are interested in using permaculture and regenerative agriculture practices along with renewable energies or off grid options. We would like to create a food hub in a 'food desert' near Stout and Horsetooth Reservoir. I am currently a graduate student attending Naropa University and active in advocacy work with various government agencies and farming organizations like Colorado Department of Human Services Family Voice Council, Rocky Mountain Farmers Union, Mile High Farmers, Colorado Renewable Energy Society and Denver Producers group along with the Denver Permaculture Guild. I am active in my local community food systems initiatives during COVID-19 and collaborating with CSU and Colorado Food Systems Advisory Council. I am looking to make connections to build community in my farming networks.

 Our land is a little less than an acre in Larimer County. It is located near the southern most tip of Horsetooth Reservoir and near the town of Stout. Our crop will be greens and mushrooms later expanding to flowers and bees for honey along with indigenous plants for landscaping and medicinal purposes.

We bring a lot of indigenous practices into our growing, we believe in giving gratitude and respect to the land as it gives us sustenance and so much more. We acknowledge that the land we farm on is stolen land and that in some we want to pay reparations to the First Nations that inherited the land before us. We encourage healing and living in commune with nature and the earth. Some of our ways may different than the normal agricultural practices so we ask for open hearts and open minds when we practice living with the land.