Thank you!

The be.wild.er team is so incredibly grateful to everyone who contributed to the success of our first ever fundraiser. We had absolutely next-level raffle items donated from a wide array of Pittsburgh based artists, restaurants, and local businesses. These donors include some of our very best friends, long-time restaurant wholesale customers, and dedicated farmers market customers. So, so many people participated in the raffle both virtually and in-person, it was a truly humbling amount of folks supporting our farm. Through the raffle, silent auction, donations, and merch sales we were able to make over $5,000 which will go towards the early season costs including seeds, soil, and supplies.

Hosting this fundraiser was such an affirming practice of leaning into being supported by our community. I (Megan) have been hesitant to use crowd-funding and other forms of donation based fundraising because of a societally imparted belief in “paving my own way”. In short, I find it hard and uncomfortable to ask for help. These notions of individualism are tied to white supremacy culture and are not values that either the farm, collectively, or I, individually, want to be upholding. So, as a team, we decided to host a fundraiser event as a way to intentionally lean into the support of our community, to actively dismantle the notion that we are alone in creating this farm. Being met with such support in this fundraiser, and with the farm transition in general, has been such a gift and the farm team and I are deeply grateful to everyone who has supported us thus far.

The beginning of March amps up our spring preparations. The days are longer, the sun peeks out slightly more (we hope), and life is stirring all around us. While we are undertaking the usual spring preparations of crop planning and seed starting, this season holds a new-to-us set of tasks as we prepare for the launch of our online farm store. We are learning the digital sales platform, making decisions about delivery routes and schedules, and balancing these decisions with our core values as a farm team. We’re in the midst of finalizing details and will let you all know once we’re ready to launch. In the meantime, check out our events page and mark your calendars for our spring pop-ups and seedling sales.