We, the stewards of the Hartnett Farm ATL  are calling on you our neighbors, community, friends, stakeholders and allies to stand with us. Without immediate action, we risk losing access to this sacred one-acre site by 2026 if a formal agreement is not reached with the landowners Atlanta Public Schools cutting short vital programs including educational programming, innovative immersive workshops and enriching training, engaging community events, access to a Sanctuary space that provides nutrient dense locally grown food, herbs and fiber, food distribution, hyper local economic development and the historic preservation of one of Atlanta’s oldest Black-led community spaces.

This one-acre farm is not just soil and crops it is living history. It is the ground where Black families, denied access to schools and resources, built their own systems of education, nourishment, and resilience. It is the legacy of Reverend William Franklin Hartnett and the generations who turned Bush Mountain into a thriving, self-sustaining community despite segregation, violence, and systemic erasure. Today, it remains a Sanctuary of food, culture, education, and resilience for a community still facing food insecurity and gentrification.

Stewardship & Legacy

Bush Mountain is not just land it is a Sacred living archive of resilience, community and abundance. Once the highest peak in Atlanta before development which sit upon Sacred Muscogee Creek land, its food forest and fields fed generations of children with muscadines, plums, peaches, apples, and berries where food desserts and food apartheid were non existent. It was here that Reverend William Franklin Hartnett, and community members championed and fought for the right of Black children to be educated, opening Hartnett Elementary as a safe haven for Bush Mountain residents in 1942 as a result of segregation, discrimination and violent opposition from the KKK which forcible shut down their only school Dimmock Elementary. 

In the 80’s Hartnett was home to the Atlanta Preschool Cooperative, a movable school which still remains on site as our shed. This school operated as a co-op model where teachers and parents volunteered their time to educate their children including The Freedom Fighter and Congressman John Lewis and his wife Lillian Lewis who led the board as their son attended the school. The Atlanta Preschool Cooperative then went on to make history to become a model as the first integrated preschool for Atlanta Public Schools. 

Decades later this historic site has continued to be cultivated and revitalized by land stewards such as the Historic Hartnett Community Garden and the Oakland City Community Garden, made of some of Atlanta’s expert growers, farmers and Legacy residents that have blessed the soil and nourished the Bush Mountain community to date. Today, we plan on continuing that legacy of resistance and abundance linking the past to present because we are not just tenants we are custodians acting as conduits of the land honoring the sacrifices of those who came before us.

 

Our Impact 

Every season, every seed we sow, every harvest, every gathering on this land is an act of resilience and renewal. At the farm we deliver transformative education by providing innovative sustainable agriculture training, agroecology workshops, horticultural therapy & wellness programming, and intergenerational learning opportunities rooted in community resilience, economic development, and Earth-based ancestral practices. Our programs empower youth, adults, and elders alike to cultivate skills that heal both land and people.

We believe it is our duty to preserve and uplift a living legacy by protecting one of Atlanta’s oldest Black-led community spaces. In a time of aggressive redevelopment and gentrification, we oppose cultural erasure ensuring that the history, wisdom, and stories rooted in Bush Mountain continue to thrive as seeds for future generations. 

We are passionate about strengthening community health and food sovereignty by growing nutrient-dense foods, herbs, and fibers. Throughout our time here we have distributed hundreds of pounds of fresh produce to food-insecure families, seniors and our phenomenal volunteers as well as apothecary herbs to prospective and seasoned herbalist, Earth workers, midwives, doulas and expecting mothers. Each harvest sourced from this land is a step toward restoring Atlanta's hyper local food system with solutions and pathways towards a more sustainable future. We intend to continue to build powerful collaborations with the City of Atlanta, schools, local nonprofits, cultural organizations, local businesses and sustainability networks that share our vision of equity, justice, and innovation. These partnerships allow us to expand our reach, leverage collective knowledge, and generate community-powered solutions that restore both people and place. What we do here is not symbolic—it is real, measurable, and essential. We are actively creating a regenerative model of land stewardship, education, and community care that can ripple far beyond Bush Mountain.

 Education & Innovation

The Historic Hartnett site is more than a farm is a living classroom. It is the living continuation of a school and safe haven that once protected Black children from segregation, discrimination and violence. We believe its future should be restored and revitalized as one of Atlanta Public Schools’ surplus properties, transformed once again into a beacon of education, nourishment, and opportunity for the community. By reclaiming this land for public good, we can preserve the legacy of Hartnett Elementary and the Atlanta Preschool Cooperative while providing intergenerational learning and mentorship rooted in cultural memory and future resilience. Through afro-agroecology, permaculture, and regenerative farming, we are currently teaching youth, young adults, training new farmers, herbalist and Earth workers, and reconnecting families with ancestral practices that are both nourishing and empowering. We envision this site as a hub for education, entrepreneurship, applied agricultural research, horticultural therapy and intergenerational mentorship an innovation lab rooted in the wisdom of the land.

Economic Viability & Revenue

We are not simply asking to stay we envision expanding into a legacy that uplifts the land, the people, and the history of this sacred space we are blessed to be stewarding. With your support, we can expand into a sustainable innovation lab which will become a center for educational programming and training, applied agricultural research, agro-tourism, the development of hyper local value-added goods, products, services as well as a hyperlocal processing center that revitalizes traditional industries and circulates wealth back into the neighborhood and the greater Atlanta economy. We believe in  building a sustainable, community-powered economy with the land as its foundation.

Why we care so much: Community & Cultural Benefit 

Although we can always find another place to cultivate and steward, here we risk losing more than just a farm. What is at risk is erasing a sacred space of nourishment, healing, empowerment and hope for one of Atlanta’s oldest Black-led communities. We risk a space that educates all who enter its gates, profound living history and memory, cutting off food access for community members, families, elders, and silencing a bright vision that bridges the struggles of the past with solutions for the future.

We are the fruit of the seeds sown by those who came before us. We believe our collaborative efforts and contributions to this one-acre legacy farm will catalyze the enhancement, restoration, and revitalization of the community we are so honored and blessed to steward. We are passionate about building and working together collectively to ensure we preserve the health, wellness, nourishment and overall well-being of the children, youth, families, and seniors in Atlanta’s local food system and beyond, as well as the environment we serve through agroecology, horticulture therapy, community and economic development, innovative sustainable agriculture education and training, and a regenerative afro-permaculture approach to farming.

 

Call to Action:

Please sign this petition to help us: 

•  Negotiate, Secure future planning meetings and a formal agreement in collaboration with Atlanta Public Schools Board of Education in order to remain on this land long-term.
• Preserve the rich history and legacy of the Sacred land we steward as we pay homage to those who came before us, uplift and embody the resilience of this tenacious neighborhood  and it’s residents while envisioning a bright future for the community we serve.
• Establish the site as a hub of innovation, education, sustainability, entrepreneurship, horticultural therapy, community engagement & development and cultural preservation. 
• Show your solidarity with Black land justice, stewardship and food sovereignty and the preservation of sacred history in Southwest Atlanta.
•  Protect sacred history while investing in a thriving, self-sustaining future.
• Share this petition to amplify to landowners, decision-makers, and the broader city that this space is vital, irreplaceable, and deeply supported by the community.

Together, we can ensure this land continues to be a source of nourishment, healing, and empowerment for generations to come.

Please sign today! Share widely! Stand with us in protecting Bush Mountain’s living legacy. 

Photo Credits: Jenna Shea Photojournalism