Mission Statement
Percussion Farms works to undo racism and other oppressions that prevent access to nutrition and healthy spaces for People of Color.
As our political landscape continues to change, we have strengthened our commitment and urgency to create spaces to aid in the survival and healing of People of Color. We will now need to work even harder to create and depend on our own food sources and cut ties to institutionalized racism in every way possible. Our revolution will be fought with dirt on our hands, seeds in our pockets and you by our side.
Meet Our Team
Shanelle Donaldson West
Co-Founder and Board member
Shanelle Donaldson West is an urban farmer, food preservationist, and food justice advocate focused on healthy relationships to land, power and community. From working with toddlers growing gardens to connecting locally sourced food to people experiencing homelessness, Shanelle has supported more than one thousand King County residents over the last decade. She expanded her nutrition education to include food preservation classes as a method of self-care and extending the harvest. Most recently, she co-founded Percussion Farms to reconnect people of color to the land and their right to healthy lives. Shanelle is a proud alumna of the Black and Latinx Farm Immersion Class at Soul Fire Farm in Grafton, New York. When she’s not farming, Shanelle can be found reading, cooking with her husband, Mike, playing board games, or most likely staring at her sweet dog, Koda.
Molly Brashear
Co-Founder and Board member
Molly Brashear has spent the last sixteen years cultivating a career in risk management as a commercial insurance broker. She and Shanelle met in 2013 and a few years later Shanelle asked Molly if she’d be willing to change everything and start life as a farmer. Although a major shift in vocation, the vision of harvesting food as a means of creating an environment of healing, opportunity and connection was a seamless interpersonal transition. Molly is now honored to be a part of Percussion Farms and is dedicated to advancing the farm’s mission. In her spare time she volunteers to practice mindfulness and non-violent communication techniques with people who are incarcerated and advocates for the abolition of the prison industrial complex. Molly is also a self described crossword fanatic, a lover of the arts, and enjoys meditation.
History of Percussion Farms
We are Percussion Farms, an urban farm in Central Seattle and Auburn whose mission is to reconnect People of Color to the land and help them harvest their right to healthy lives. We do this by providing gardening and food preservation classes, employment and volunteer programs for people leaving the prison system, and growing and giving healthy food to the community.