Our mission is to bring Happiness to our community and celebrate our Burundian culture by providing fresh, organic family-grown produce.
Prosper and Rosata came to Portland from a refugee camp in Tanzania; they were originally from Burundi, the civil war forced them to flee to Tanzanian refugee camps.They lived there for 12 years without the hope of life for all their generations.There was a lot of poverty; there was limited access to clean water, food, or resources. It was a really hard environment for them to live in but they were fortunate enough to get asylum to come to the U.S. with their five kids. They ended up with two more children in the United States.
While they were living in the New Columbia neighborhood, they learned of the Village Garden and Food Works programs. Prosper and Rosata were already familiar with raising their food from their time spent in the refugee camp. They started growing vegetables on a small plot provided by Food Works, and in 2016 began Happiness Family Farm, providing produce to the local store at New Columbia as well as selling produce to farmers markets and restaurants in the area.
They grow foods familiar to fellow immigrants from Africa and provide a familiar and fresh alternative to foods found in the local groceries. They grow and sell specific African crops to connect with our African community here in the Northwest. They sell from Seattle to Salem to bring the flavor, vegetables, and culinary connection back to our African roots. Their work is essential to combat the oppressive systems of institutionalized racism and forced assimilation. They strive to unite and nourish our people with food that they are used to. They pride themselves on cultivating Oregon land with seeds and crops from Africa.
We sell our fantastic products at the following farmer’s markets: St. Johns, Kenton, PSU, and Come Thru Market.
In 2020 we partnered with Equitable Giving Circle to provide them with 20 CSA boxes to deliver to BIPOC communities.
