GRESHAM, Ore. \u2014 Participants pressed their shoes onto long, narrow sharpshooter shovels, rocking them back and forth to drive the blades six inches into the ground in a grass field.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe look at this land as an opportunity for us all to create a learning lab to learn about the soil, building out a food forest, and sharing information out to a community that has interest in growing food for themselves and their families, and farmers as well.”<\/p>\n
\u201cJump on it,\u201d Oregon State University Extension Service soil health specialist Shannon Cappellazzi called out as a circle of community members laughed and leaned their weight into the tools.<\/p>\n
Once the cuts were made, they crouched in the grass, prying loose chunks of earth with their hands, tearing them open to look for roots, fungal threads and clumps of soil called aggregates. Some lifted the soil to their noses.<\/p>\n
\u201cI see some people smelling it already,\u201d Cappellazzi said. \u201cI love that.\u201d<\/p>\n
The group was digging six inches deep \u2014 the standard depth for evaluating soil health \u2014 at the future home of Feed\u2019em Freedom Foundation\u2019s Black Community Food Hub and Food Forest, a 4.9-acre site in Gresham where community members, the foundation and OSU Extension are working together to build a long-term space for food production, education and community gathering.<\/p>\n
Supported by Multnomah County funding, the partnership pairs Feed\u2019em Freedom\u2019s vision for a Black-led community farm and food hub with OSU Extension\u2019s technical expertise in soil health, site planning, irrigation, postharvest handling and educational programming.<\/p>\n
For Shantae Johnson, executive director of Feed\u2019em Freedom Foundation and co-founder of Mudbone Grown, the project is designed as a learning space for everyone involved.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe look at this land as an opportunity for us all to create a learning lab to learn about the soil, building out a food forest, and sharing information out to a community that has interest in growing food for themselves and their families, and farmers as well,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cIt\u2019s been highly beneficial to Oregon State and to us, to bring people and community together in that way.\u201d<\/p>\n
Building the vision<\/p>\n
The partnership is part of a renewed investment in OSU Extension\u2019s work in Multnomah County. In June 2025, the Multnomah County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously to approve $40,000 in funding for OSU Extension as part of the county\u2019s fiscal year 2026 budget, restoring a cooperative funding partnership that ended in 2002.<\/p>\n
Through that investment, OSU Extension entered into an Intergovernmental Agreement with Multnomah County to provide technical assistance for Feed\u2019em Freedom Foundation\u2019s Community Farm and Food Hub.<\/p>\n
For 2025-26, the county asked OSU Extension to focus on increasing support for Multnomah County farmers, working with partners including Feed\u2019em Freedom Foundation, Black Oregon Land Trust, Black Futures Farm and Outgrowing Hunger.<\/p>\n
The county\u2019s investment supports whole-site assessment, technical planning, farmer training and community-engaged education, with a focus on strengthening local food systems and supporting Black, Latino, Indigenous and immigrant growers.<\/p>\n
Heidi Noordijk, OSU Extension Metro Small Farms coordinator, has been working with Johnson and Arthur Shavers of Feed\u2019em Freedom as they develop the site. Originally, the plan was to host a single \u201cReading the Farm\u201d workshop, but after early conversations, the team shifted to bringing in specialists for each stage of the planning process to better support the project\u2019s long-term goals.<\/p>\n
The first major step was developing a site profile. Noordijk compiled historic satellite images showing past buildings and plantings, helping the team identify possible locations for crop production and future infrastructure.<\/p>\n
Soil sampling followed, with Nate Stacey, assistant professor of practice who coordinates the Extension Small Farms Program, demonstrating how to collect samples from six areas across the property. Lab results showed no major nutrient deficiencies or heavy metal concerns, allowing the team to move forward with planning.<\/p>\n
Consultants and instructors in agroforestry and permaculture also developed written recommendations for food forest design, perennial planting systems, plant guilds and early site preparation.<\/p>\n
Feed\u2019em Freedom\u2019s first major installation will be a food forest \u2014 a space designed not only for growing fruit and food crops, but also for medicine, learning, creativity, healing and connection. Plans include agricultural housing, greenhouse space, workshops and community features such as ADA-accessible raised beds, gathering spaces, a cob oven, farmers market opportunities and places for youths and families to learn together.<\/p>\n
The project is now moving from planning into implementation, with irrigation installation and the first phase of the food forest planned for spring and summer once water access is confirmed.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of urban farmers don\u2019t know that Extension has a wealth of knowledge and opportunities for people to ask questions and be curious,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cWe\u2019ve had support with soil tests, plant tissues, water testing for our well \u2014 those are the kinds of things Extension can support within the city.\u201d<\/p>\n
Learning together<\/p>\n
Among those attending the April soil health workshop was Nikiea Pankey, who lives nearby in Gresham and has turned much of her quarter-acre property into a productive garden.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have grapes, kiwis, blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, artichokes, asparagus \u2014 a bunch of vegetables,\u201d Pankey said.<\/p>\n
She said attending workshops through Feed\u2019em Freedom and Black Futures Farm has helped her build practical knowledge as she works toward her long-term goal of owning a farm with a restaurant.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m a vegan chef,\u201d she said. \u201cOne day I do hope to have a farm too, just like them \u2014 but mine\u2019s going to have a restaurant on it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The workshop began with a review of the site\u2019s history. Once agricultural land, the property later became home to a school and then a church before sitting vacant for years. An environmental site assessment found no major contamination concerns, and previous remediation work addressed an underground oil tank removed in 2018.<\/p>\n
Participants also revisited ideas gathered during a March community design workshop, where community members helped shape the vision for the future food forest.<\/p>\n
That vision extends well beyond crops. Community members described the future site as a place for care, culture, healing, learning and connection between people and the land \u2014 with room for youths, elders, intergenerational families, Indigenous communities, immigrant growers and neighbors to gather.<\/p>\n
They imagined orchards, medicinal herbs, cooking classes, volunteer planting days, quiet walking spaces, cultural gatherings and opportunities to grow crops such as okra, indigo, berries, fruit trees and pollinator plants.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is more than growing food,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cIt\u2019s about growing community.\u201d<\/p>\n
Additional workshops are planned for May 23 on irrigation installation and June 27 on planting annuals, alley cropping and site maintenance.<\/p>\n
Soil as the foundation<\/p>\n
Cappellazzi, an assistant professor of practice in Oregon State\u2019s Organic Agriculture Program in the Center for Resilient Agriculture and Food Systems, told participants that healthy soil is the foundation for everything else on the site.<\/p>\n
\u201cSoil is sustaining life,\u201d Cappellazzi said. \u201cPlant health, animal health, human health, water quality \u2014 it all starts here.\u201d<\/p>\n
She explained how floods from ancient Lake Missoula helped shape the soils of the Willamette Valley and Columbia Gorge, leaving layers of sand, silt and clay that still influence how land holds water and nutrients today.<\/p>\n
Repeated tillage, she said, can create a hard, compacted layer called a plow pan that limits root growth and makes it harder for crops to access water, nutrients and oxygen.<\/p>\n
Understanding those conditions before planting helps growers make better long-term decisions.<\/p>\n
Getting their hands dirty<\/p>\n
Participants moved from listening to digging.<\/p>\n
Using sharpshooter shovels, they cut neat squares into the ground, then angled the blades underneath to pop out chunks of soil for inspection.<\/p>\n
Cappellazzi asked them to feel how hard the soil was to break apart, look for roots holding it together and notice the smell.<\/p>\n
Healthy soil, she explained, is darker, softer, rich-smelling and full of life. Poorer soil is often pale, compacted and harder to work.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we crack it open, we see what that soil structure looks like,\u201d she said. \u201cYou see those roots in there. You might see some fungal mycelium \u2014 tiny white thread-like things.\u201d<\/p>\n
She showed participants how to rub the soil between their fingers to estimate the balance of sand, silt and clay \u2014 a simple test that helps determine how well the land will hold water and support crops.<\/p>\n
For Johnson, that kind of hands-on learning is exactly the point.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are scientists and this land is our lab,\u201d she said. \u201cHopefully the inquisitive nature of things never leave us.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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