About This Project

 We are Eighth Day Farm, and we are pioneering a 1.3 acre organic urban farm in the parking lot of an mostly empty strip mall in Holland, MI…
yes, a strip mall!

Every community has one; the mostly empty strip mall that was once vital. You know what we’re talking about. We have one also and we are going to help do something about it. The new management of this mall had a vision, and they came to us and proposed a partnership where they would provide the space in the parking lot and we would establish a farm in it. This isn't our first Urban Farm, but it is our first farming venture in a parking lot!

We have just started to prepare the soil in this monster parking lot and create an urban farm in the middle of it complete with a proposed market stand. This project will restore well over an acre of old unused blacktop not only to fertile soil but also grow a whole new business. As the farm develops and flourishes the long-range hope is that the increased traffic flow and exposure will also breathe new life into the strip mall with interest by new stores and businesses.

Our plan is to have the market stand open 2 days a week at the evening rush hour. Customers will also have the option to buy a CSA share for the season where they’ll receive a portion of the harvest each week. Yes, Holland has a wonderful farmers market downtown but at Eighth Day Farm you’ll see where the food is grown, learn how it’s grown and even pick and harvest some of the veggies yourself. Not to mention, if you have trouble getting downtown, we are right here in the mall parking lot.

How the funds will be used

We will use the funds raised here to finish our irrigation system and to buy compost to top off our soil making it nutrient rich. We also need a washing station for cleaning and prepping the produce and two commercial coolers to keep the produce fresh. Lastly we need the funds to build a market stand so that we can sell what we have grown. 

OUR MISSION
Eighth Day Farm wants to help readjust lives, economies, relationships between people and the relationship we have with the earth. God’s creation is not a resource for endless plundering, but fertile ground for sowing love and a hospitality that sustains.

OUR EARTH
Our philosophy at Eighth Day Farm is to avoid all herbicides, synthetic fertilizers and chemical insecticides. We see the farm as part of a delicate ecosystem which we honor with techniques that promote the biological diversity that brings balance and wholeness. Local agriculture reduces the distance food travels and the environmental toll that processing, packaging and storing demand.

OUR HEALTH
We are in the business of growing good, nutrient-dense produce, flavorful and fresh. We believe it should be grown well, without harmful chemicals and that it should be made available to all people. That is why in addition to our CSA, our farm stand will accept EBT cards and we donate produce to local partner organizations.

OUR COMMUNITY
Good food and good eating brings people together, building and binding a community. Eighth Day Farm works in the community in multiple ways. Our primary goals are to educate youth and adults about the many ways our food consumption affects our lives and the planet, improve access to good food for low income households, and to employ under or unemployed neighbors in the city of Holland.