For 10 years, Community Roots Farm in Oceanside was a place of fruitful gardens, where chickens grazed the land.
Bianca Bonilla, the executive director of the farm, said it was a place for the community, no matter the background, socioeconomic status, or gender identity.
"They know that they can come to this space and be nourished, not only physically with food, but also mentally, socially, and culturally," she said.
The acre that Community Roots Farm is on had multiple yielding gardens and often hosted different events.
"Everyone is always so surprised at how much you can do on an acre of land," Bonilla said. "It's not only the amount of food we grew, which was thousands of pounds, tens of thousands of pounds every single year that went out into our community, pesticide free local produce — but it was all of the people that were here."
But, Bonilla doesn’t own that one acre. It’s leased from Shepherd of the Valley Lutheran Church.
After a change in church leadership, the once productive farm is nothing but dead weeds and dirt.
Bonilla gave this explanation of the situation: "About two years ago, Shepherd of the Valley Lutheran Church ... with the Missouri Synod, installed a new pastor, Joel Luckemeyer. He made it very clear to our organization that he did not approve of several of our activities and our communications."
Concerns from the church came up when the Farm posted support for the LGBTQ+ community on their social media.
Those concerns grew.
"They did not approve of our Summer Solstice event that we had this year, stating that it is a pagan ritual that we were holding," Bonilla said. "And then our Dia De Los Muertos event (was) also deemed unacceptable — to be devil worshipping."
When it was time to renew their lease, the church told Bonilla they would be enforcing a condition on their lease. All events and signage would need 30 day approval by the church.
"They made it very clear that Dia De Los Muertos and many of our communications would not be approved," Bonilla said. "Thus, we decided that this was no longer a safe space for our community. We could not forgo our values and making sure that the people that we serve, our community ... that they feel safe."
Pastor Joel Luckemeyer and the Shepherd of the Valley Lutheran Church declined an interview, but sent over this statement:
"Community Roots Farm has rented space from Shepherd of the Valley Lutheran Church for 10 years. During that time, their activity has expanded beyond growing and providing produce to advancing causes which conflict with the biblical teachings of our congregation. Having honored our most recent lease, the church offered a new agreement (at similar, favorable terms) which clarified the approval process for events on the property (a requirement that has been in the lease for many years). This clarification for event approval in the new lease was to ensure hosting events on the property that expressly conflict with our mission and confession of faith did not occur. The Farm has chosen not to enter into a new lease. We pray God’s blessings for them and those they have served."
Bonilla said, "Their values are firm and so are ours. Their boundaries are firm and so are ours. The protection of our most vulnerable communities, of our BIPOC, LGBTQIA communities, our immigrant communities, that is the most important to us, that they feel safe."
The loss of the farm leaves a larger gap for the community that frequented the space, Bonilla said. It's the loss of access to an open green space, fresh vegetables , friendships, and acceptance.
"These kinds of issues we are seeing on the media on a grand scale, right? We're seeing these tensions. And here we are living it on this micro-scale," Bonilla said. "In conversations I would say, 'If we can do this, if we can work this out, anybody can, right. There's hope.' How are we going to carry this?"
Open green space is scarce. So Bonilla plans on carrying the mission of Community Roots Farm in a new direction in a warehouse she is calling “The Plant Lab.”
"We're going to have workshops there and community spaces and community building. But I think most importantly, it's going to be a collaborative safe space for our BIPOC, immigrant, and LGBTQIA community," Bonilla said.
The Plant Lab in Oceanside will be open to the public later this year and is currently raising funding for the move.
Community Roots Farm will close by the end of March.
