Aloha Redland
Aloha Redland at a Glance
Farmers: Martina Gonzalez and Alicia del Aguila
Where they’re located: Homestead
Website: aloharedland.com Instagram: @aloharedland
What they grow: Salad greens, lettuce heads, turmeric, squash, tomatoes, kale, collards, broccoli, Asian cabbages, beets, radishes, turnips, eggplants, peppers, edible flowers, herbs, and ashwagandha root.
Where they sell: Palmetto Bay Farmers Market, wholesale via The Garden Network
CSA: Yes
Relative newcomers to the South Florida farming scene, Martina Gonzalez and Alicia del Aguila are part of Aloha Redland, a “woman-led healing farm project focused on providing a safe space for people to tune into themselves and the natural world through holistic and sustainable lifestyle practices.” Now in their second year, they sell their produce at the Palmetto Bay Farmers Market and via CSA, with drop-off points in South Beach, Palmetto Bay and at their farm. They’ve also organized events, including a farm-to-table dinner, a concert, volunteer days, a school field trip and a theatrical performance. During the growing season they grow kale, collards, Asian and other greens; tomatoes, eggplants, carrots, onions, turnips, beets, radishes, fennel, bush beans, edible flowers, celery, turmeric and herbs. Their growing season is over, but they plan to return to the Palmetto Bay Farmers Market once a month during the summer to sell fruits from the farm, perennial plants and other items. They’re planning to open up CSA registration in June for the 2019-2020 season.
Their philosophy: We believe that the current paradigm of society exhausts people from experiencing life in a simple, yet more profound way. And now with Aloha Shakti Redland LLC., we cater to events that gather the community and provide experiences for people to disconnect from their normal patterns and tune into themselves in a creative way; expressed with nature, or a fun interactive workshop. In our hopes that the experiences felt at the farm will stay with people for a long time, we aim to host wholesome gatherings that harvest a “Mother Energy.”
The five acres of farm space is becoming more biodiverse. The fruit grove has established and mature avocado trees, lychee, mamey, coconut palms, starfruit and bananas. We have added new trees like neem, moringa, custard apple, loquat, kumquat, kaffir lime, barbados cherry, elderberry and papayas. We have also added more bananas, yuca, sugarcane, pigeon peas, and geared our landscape towards a permaculture-inspired design, and of course an edible landscape mixed with natives and beneficial plants that bring pollinators to the garden. Next year we plan to double our size in order to provide more variety and increase our CSA members. We will plant several varieties of squashes, potatoes, yuca, and enough cucumbers for everyone.
What their experience has taught them: Martina – One is that farming is a service that I am very much honored to be a part of. Serving people nutritious and consciously farmed vegetables and fruits, being a part of that foundational level of health in people’s lives, is really an honor for me, and we do it with a lot of love! Two is soil health. If your soil is not healthy, your plants are not healthy, which means that the total nutritional potential is missing from what we eat. We are committed to growing food in healthy soil, which for me is yet another honor! I love the way we farm!
Alicia – Every place is different, and at Aloha Redland our events planning and organizing is the most engaging for me. I also found that I feel a connection to teaching. It makes me feel great to be able to teach others about plants. When South Miami K-8 came to the farm for their field trip, what a joyous occasion! Shout out to the students eager to get their hands dirty, too.
