Just about 30 minutes east of Colorado Springs, sits a small farm north of Ellicott that is doing amazing things. Ahavah Farm was founded in 2014 by Yosef and Havah Camire.
Originally started as a homestead, this farm has grown in its impact over the last few years. According to Yosef Camire, “The goal at the beginning was to feed our own family the absolute purest food possible. That meant using absolutely no chemicals, no fertilizers, no pesticides, or anything that resembles synthetics of any kind, growing a diversity of heirloom varieties, utilizing renewable solar energy, being carbon negative, using water and input conservation to its fullest potential.”
That vision has spread into the local community and is now being shared with others, including with people struggling with food insecurity.
Spirit Behind the Farm
Ahavah is a unique farm, least of which because of its name, which is the Hebrew word for love. “’Love’ that requires giving of yourself…and for the good of others,” according to Administrator Beka Perkins. She said due to the owners’ Jewish beliefs, “they feel it is their obligation to take care of the earth, their communities, their bodies and health and do so for others as well. They created #AhavahMeansLove because that is the spirit behind the farm and how their obligation is met by loving and giving of themselves.”
Ahavah Farm promotes Community Shared Agriculture (CSA), which is when a consumer purchases shares of the farm’s harvest in advance, paying an agreed-upon amount before the growing season. During the season, consumers receive a portion of the harvest each week. Due to Ahavah’s setup as a four-season farm, CSA shares are sold at the end of one season in preparation for the next – for example, winter shares are available now, according to Perkins. Consumers can choose between three different share sizes, and items can range from “a bunch of carrots to several ounces of salad greens to a live herb plant and vary from week to week and season to season based on weather and growing cycles… Ahavah Farm CSA members can receive their share at one of four pickup locations (at specified times) in Colorado Springs, Peyton and Denver.”
In addition to offering fresh organic fruits, vegetables and herbs, Ahavah Farm also offers a “pay-as-you-can” project that is run separately from the Community Initiative. According to Perkins, the Camire family felt it was important from the beginning that everyone have access to the pure, healthy food they grow on the farm, and have created this program to help those who may be struggling so that they can access the crop shares as well.
Facing Major Challenges
The farm has faced several major challenges since its inception but has proven its resilience. In March 2019, the bomb cyclone caused extensive damage to “every bit of infrastructure on the farm with damages equating to $250,000. In addition to losing greenhouses and crops and the damage to every building on the property including [our]home, [we] had to literally dig their animals out of the snow… The animals and the family survived and with the help of the community rebuilt the farm.” Camire said, “So often blessing comes out of tragedy.”
However, even that tragedy seems minimized when one looks at the impact of COVID-19. The farm continued its operations but made many adjustments, they “could no longer offer market style shares, or benefit from Ahavah Community Initiative’s volunteer opportunities, classes, tours, or community events. The staff took the extra workload better than they took the lack of community and camaraderie they had built with CSA members they lovingly refer to as ‘FARMily.’” Thankfully, as the pandemic has eased the farm has worked to bring back the market-style CSA, is offering volunteer opportunities again, and is back to running the Community Initiative’s events, classes and tours again.
Serving the Community
The Ahavah Community Initiative (ACI) “is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization with a mission to connect people who are facing food insecurity due to financial struggles to locally-farmed, regeneratively-grown produce, and to provide education centered around healthy living and environmental consciousness.” This program offers donated memberships, as well as subsidized memberships to the CSA program; memberships include a weekly bag of fresh produce alongside discounted or free classes, tours, and events.
Originally founded by the Camire family, the ACI is considered separate from the farm itself and is run by a volunteer Board of Directors and one part-time employee. An administrator for ACI opens applications once shares come up for sale for an upcoming season. According to Perkins, The Board of Directors then meets to review each application, with approvals “based on the budget for the season and the need expressed in the applications,” generally selecting those with the highest need and lowest income. Additionally, they can offer subsidized shares to any applicants that missed the donated shares. Budgets are based entirely on donations received the prior season, typically from individual donors but also from fundraising efforts and some grants.
When it came to ACI, COVID-19 had the impact of increasing applications to the program “exponentially” per Camire, while simultaneously causing a major decrease in donations and volunteers. The volunteers that were able still out in a tremendous effort to keep things running, but the loss of donations “has had the most negative impact,” stated Perkins. “It has been a difficult couple of years for our Board of Directors as their dwindling budget cannot keep up with the needs of our community.”
The farm has been able to reinstate ACI’s classes and events this year and has even managed to hold more events than they ever have before; according to Perkins, their Summer and Fall Festivals attracted an average of 250 attendees, not counting vendors and entertainers.
Per Perkins and Camire, the Ahavah Community Initiative has provided over 220 CSA memberships to people and families in need, a total value of over $85,000, and over 3,000 bags of fresh produce. In addition, the initiative has donated over 400 plants to people seeking to plant their own gardens, or even community gardens.
ACI also holds classes (46 so far), “on regenerative and biological agriculture, vegetable fermentation, composting and other environmental classes, blacksmithing, gardening, seed starting, and a number of children’s classes and storytimes” according to Perkins.
Learn More and Get Involved
For anyone in need or facing food insecurity, they can apply for a free or subsidized CSA membership at https://www.ahavahcommunity.org/apply. More information about the farm itself, including how to sign up for shares, can be found at https://www.ahavahfarm.com/about-us.
There are several ways that people can support Ahavah Farm and ACI. One is by volunteering, and many opportunities are available. Volunteers are essential for the Community Initiative and assist with everything from bagging shares to teaching classes, helping during festivals, and working at CSA pickup locations. More information can be found at https://www.ahavahcommunity.org/volunteer.
Additionally, this year the ACI has partnered with the annual Give! Campaign, and is accepting donations until the end of the year via indygive.com/aci. As mentioned, donations are the main way that ACI is funded, and the amount of donations received can determine how many people are assisted during the next growing season.
Ahavah Farm has already made an impact on the community in just a few years and has gone to show the impact one family’s commitment to helping others can have.
