Oriana Bolden is a CCOF Foundation Organic Transition Grantee.
“Farming is in my blood,” says Oriana Bolden. At the tender age of 10, she won a family contest to grow the biggest and best-tasting zucchini. In high school, she studied horticulture and ran the campus greenhouse. She says, “I’ve always grown something whenever and wherever I could, even while living in tiny apartments.”
In 2017, Bolden moved from California’s Bay Area to North Carolina, where she established Freedom Dreams Farms. There, she cultivated produce, seedlings, culinary and medicinal herbs, microgreens, chicken and quail eggs, as well as products such as salves, seasoning blends, and sauces. Bolden was also involved with starting the Northside Food Coop to bring fresh vegetables to a historically African American neighborhood that had not had a grocery store in over 40 years.
In 2024, Bolden relocated back to California and opened Sierra Saffron and Herb Co. “The goal at Sierra Saffron is to get healing herbs in more hands and bodies,” she says. “We do this by offering low- to no-cost medical herbs to individuals through our Herbal Abundance CSA program, and by selling herb starter plants through local stores and at pop-up events, as well as on-farm sales. We also create and sell value-add products crafted from the farm’s culinary and medicinal herbs.”
Bolden places great importance on her farming methods.
“Everything is grown without toxic inputs of any kind and I steward the surrounding flora and fauna by tending the soil regeneratively,” she says. “This small-scale approach allows me to grow nutrient-dense herbs.”
Bolden is currently transitioning her acreage to organic. She uses regenerative organic production practices including compost, cover crops, herbaceous wind barriers and field borders, mulching, perennial planting, pollinator habitats, insectary strips, and preserving habitats for wildlife.
Bolden plans to use the grant funds to reach a greater diversity of market segments as she transitions to organic. She will upgrade her operation in many ways, including irrigation, organic inputs, on-farm signage, and a wash-pack facility to be able to participate in established market opportunities beyond on-farm and CSA sales.
Working For Justice
“I have worked toward climate justice, environmental justice, and energy equity all my life, and farming is no different,” she says. “I believe that small, organic, regenerative farming is the way to transition from large industrial farming that degrades the earth. We must stop using chemical inputs, repair soil health and microbiomes, and actively restore what we have destroyed. Climate change is real. Carbon in the atmosphere is causing climate extremes and volatility. Topsoil erosion has stripped our food of nutrient density. These are science-based facts. I want to be part of solving these, the most critical and pressing problems of our times, and farming organically is a model that can help immediately.”
The CCOF Foundation is proud to support producers like Oriana Bolden with the Organic Transition grant, which gives three-year grants of $10,000 a year to farmers transitioning their land to organic production. Grantees receive multi-year funding, peer-to-peer support, and technical assistance with agronomy, business, financial literacy, marketing, and market development.
If you would like to contribute to the success of Organic Transition grantees like Oriana Bolden, please reach out to the CCOF Foundation’s Donor Relations Manager Shawna Rodgers, srodgers@ccof.org to learn more.
