Cly (they/she) is a farmer, caregiver, and creative grounded in land, family, and community. As the Farmer Care Coordinator at the Rainier Beach Action Coalition’s Food Hub, Cly provides farmer care and technical support to Black, Brown, immigrant, refugee, and Indigenous farmers across King County, Washington—making sure the people who feed us are cared for too. Their ancestral home is Angono, Rizal Philippines which is the art capital of the Philippines and location of the oldest record of art in the Philippines (Angono Petroglyphs). At a young age, Cly was always told that they were an artist, no matter what they do, because their ancestors were artists. Cly sees farming as their chosen form of art.

Something really beautiful is that Cly recently started their own farm, called Malaya Farm, which translates to “free” or “liberated” in Tagalog. On their farm, Cly follows the teachings of Ari de Leña of Kamayan Farm and Lorna Velasco of Sariwa Farm. Cly is a believer in that our collective liberations are intertwined and that the most transformative way to understand each other’s struggles is through language and food. Malaya Farm reconnects the Filipino diaspora and other Black, Brown, and Indigenous communities of the Greater Seattle area back to the land and with each other through language-learning and regenerative farming.

Stepping out of the farm-world, Cly is a full-time caregiver to their mom and the proudest Tita to their two nieces. They find joy in playing guitar, getting creative with earthly materials, and film photography!

@malaya.farm

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