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On a recent scorching afternoon, Mirabai Collins pauses by a section of Southeast Portland urban farmland that’s been neatly planted with rows of oats. “This is an experiment,” Collins says. “A soil test came back and phosphorus was high. Oats will pull it out through their roots.”
Collins has been experimenting a lot lately, to astonishing success. She and her partner, Malcolm Hoover, have taken a simple idea—bringing Black people together with a shared love of farming—and turned it into a flourishing organization: Black Futures Farm (6745 SE 60th Ave., blackfutures.farm), a 1.15-acre section of unused city of Portland land in the Darlington-Brentwood neighborhood converted into a farm, seasonal CSA and gathering place for Black community.
“There aren’t a lot of places to go to feel safe and held and curious and inspired—that’s why I farm,” she says.
Collins points out the newly built timber shelter that will soon house solar panels and a water catchment system, thanks to a city grant. She’s working toward formalizing the organization as its own nonprofit. “It’s a magical place,” Hoover says. “Every single person who spends a sustained amount of time with us, we’ve been able to watch each other grow.” We wander through the rows of okra, potatoes, buckwheat, blueberries, grapes, kale, beets, collard, chard and tomatoes. At harvest time or holidays she’ll pull out her email list and call for volunteers. They hold annual events on Martin Luther King Day, where hundreds of people show up. What isn’t eaten or sold is donated to the food bank and other local nonprofits.
“My favorite thing to eat is collards, but I need Malcolm to cook ‘em for me,” Collins says. “He just has a magical recipe—”
“The secret ingredient is love,” Hoover says.
See the rest of Willamette Week’s Best of Portland 2024 here!