Melissa Parks is a CCOF Foundation Organic Transition Grantee.
Melissa Parks attributes her love of growing food to her grandmother. “She was farming organically before it was cool,” she says. “Through this influence, I knew what seasonal produce should look and taste like.”
Raising her own children, Parks knew she wanted to continue the cycle. “I wanted them to have the same experience and knowledge I was lucky enough to have,” she says. Parks grew produce, flowers, and herbs, and raised chickens for her family and community. Soon, she was so successful she ran out of space and needed to find more land.
“That’s where my grandma stepped in,” Parks says. “She saw the passion and success I was having and decided to transfer a 10-acre property in Rio Linda over to me and my husband. This changed my life!” On the new land, Parks started Ladyhawke Farm.
Honoring the traditional practices her grandmother taught her, Parks grows crops without harmful synthetic pesticides or insecticides. She even avoids organic pesticides because she relies on the bees and beneficial insects on her farm.
In 2019, Parks started selling to local restaurants and in 2020 she began selling her produce, flowers and eggs at the Midtown Farmers Market. “As we grow, it leaves us less time to explain how we farm to everyone,” she says. “Getting certified would help us spread the word on how it’s possible to farm without chemicals.”
Parks currently farms five acres of tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, and other seasonal produce in addition to eggs, and flowers. She is transitioning an additional five acres of farmland to organic production with the help of this grant.
Ladyhawke Farm has a deep personal connection to Parks and her family. Together, they have persevered through drought, floods, heat waves, and 70 mph winds. Parks learns lessons from each challenge; the most important lesson through all of it, she says, has been building up healthy soil. “Being that this land will go to my kiddos,” she says, “I have no intention of ever giving up.”
Parks currently employs seven other women on Ladyhawke Farm to work and nurture the land. “I farm for my family and my community, which is a huge privilege that I don’t take lightly,” she says. “Organic practices are how I know I am giving back and strengthening my loved ones.”
“The farm has been in my family for 50 years. It’s not only a place I can leave my children,” Parks says, “but a place the whole community can thrive from.”
The CCOF Foundation is proud to support producers like Melissa Parks 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 Melissa Parks, please reach out to the CCOF Foundation’s Donor Relations Manager Shawna Rodgers, srodgers@ccof.org to learn more.
