Making Space for Ease and Resilience Through Structure and Consistency
Client: Unearthing Farm and Market
Raesun’s Role: Steward Coordination + Thought Partner + Remediation Transformation Support
The Opportunity: Aligning Vision, Messaging & Momentum
Unearthing Farm and Market was in search of a new coordinator that could create structure and consistency for their land stewardship program. Their impact in the local community had earned trust through deep relationships and transformative work with mission-driven staff, stewards and volunteers. Unearthing Farm & Market is a 501(c)3 focused on providing space to facilitate hyper-local food systems and foster an anti-oppressive community.
With the land stewardship program growing strong, support was needed to create structure and sustainable change towards deeper connections between Unearthing Farm and the neighbouring community.
“Unearthing Farm needed a partner who was not only capable but truly consistent, considerate, and timely in all things. Finding someone who could provide that level of reliability was essential to grounding our work and moving us forward” - Katie Kissle
My Approach: Turning overwhelm into ease through listening, reflecting and system building.
Katie Kissle is the current Director after serving on the board as President of Unearthing Farm. Our work together was rooted in deep collaboration—blending strategic thinking with design and structure still embedded in the reality of what was possible. Together, we focused on three key areas:
Strategic Organization of the Stewardship Program | To welcome a new and more aligned flow to the stewardship program, we:
Created a system for onboarding new stewards that included clear expectations for potential land stewards. This system also created clarity for staff & board members around who was volunteering on the farm in the current planting season.
Crafted language for a land stewardship agreement: creating clarity, boundaries and expectations that aligned with the values of Unearthing Farm.
Brainstormed strategies for closing out the season for land stewards, which included an annual conversation with each steward about what went well, what didn’t work well and if the steward desired to return for the next planting season.
Deepening Community Inclusion | To bring awareness to the farm’s presence in the community, we:
Wrote and structured a new social media engagement process, with the ideal being to deepen awareness of the farm and create more engagement with the monthly market, community fridge, and ongoing community events.
Defined a comprehensive social media schedule capturing Unearthing Farm’s style and voice.
Imagined and planned for increased community events, such as; workshops, fundraising events and events specific for board + steward relationship building.
Intensive Support for Unearthing’s Soil Remediation | To create a smooth process through the sudden change and grief of pausing all labor on the farm, we:
Organized educational events for Unearthing Farm’s land stewards, staff, board members and neighbouring community. We invited specialists to come and educate us about the impact of high lead levels on the body, soil and vegetation.
Crafted and organized a reimagining committee to aid in creating a new vision and direction for the farm post the remediation process.
Opened application for new and current stewards with clear expectation of the future support needed to recreate this sacred community space.
The Outcome: A Bold and Brand New Clear Path Forward
This partnership laid the foundation for more sound structure, and a deeper sense of presence in the community to exist. With the remediation underway and the flow of new stewards ready to begin rebuilding this sacred community space, Unearthing is prepared to undergo this major transformation. It has been a pleasure to be and to continue to be a supporting pillar.