Vernon interviews Gail Taylor, owner/operator of Three Part Harmony (3PH), and Blain Snipstal, founder, designer and lead builder for Earth-Bound Building. Vernon and his guests will discuss the urban ag movement, and the role of agroecological farms in a post pandemic world. Gail Taylor (she/ her/ hers) has lived in DC since 1999. She has worked as an organizer and social justice activist focusing on Latin America solidarity (internationally) and affordable housing issues (locally.) She has been farming organically since 2005. Three Part Harmony Farm is a project that was born out of a community-led visioning process that began in 2011. The desire to establish a production focused vegetable farm in DC to grow food for family, friends and the surrounding community combined with Taylor’s background in activism and policy advocacy led to a three-year campaign, I Want DC to Grow This resulted in the passage of the DC Food Security Act of 2014, also known as DCs Farm Bill which sets the stage for 3PH and others to grow commercially in the district. Taylor speaks regularly on food and farming issues and has been featured in The Washington Post in 2014 and 2015 for her role as a leader in the urban ag movement. In 2015, she was featured as one of Fifty+ under 50: Innovative leaders transforming metro DC’s food system. She is a member of the Black Dirt Farm Collective. Blain Snipstal- Blain Snipstal is the founder, designer and lead builder for Earth-Bound Building. Blain has a long history in farming and land-based organizing both domestic and internationally. Blain is a dedicated craftsman, and member of the Timber Framers Guild. Earth-Bound Building is a collective of skilled builders, crafts-people and farmers founded in 2014. Our Cooperative flowered out of the Black Dirt Farm Collective and the primary observation that functional, durable and ecological farm and land infrastructure lies at the heart of a just and thriving sustainable food system. Three Part Harmony Farm is a small-scale agroecological farm, located on a 2-acre parcel in northeast Washington, DC. We grow mostly vegetables as well as herbs and cut-flowers and are using sustainable practices, without chemical pesticides or herbicides. We mainly grow vegetables for our community supported agriculture program, a locally based economic model of agriculture and food distribution that facilitates a relationship between the community and the farmers.Three Part Harmony Farm exists to grow food for people, but it also exists in part to challenge our assumptions on how urban farms should look. It intentionally seeks to create a viable and just local food economy while at the same time dismantling racism and the ever present, entrenched forms of oppression in that same food system. Three Part Harmony Farm is currently raising funds to purchase solar panels, making it the first off grid farm in Washington DC.
