October 3-7  |  Starting at $500

Farm Brigades: Rooting Down in Collective Work and

Water’s Edge Farmstead

Water’s Edge Farmstead is a small, intentionally managed farmstead located in Candler, NC. Founded in 2022, Water’s Edge Farmstead is the realization of nearly a decade of listening, planning, and dreaming. Shelby Mandonado has spent the last 10 years working on and managing farms of various scales, markets, and production methodologies. When finally offered the opportunity to root permanently to a piece of well-loved land in 2022, Shelby knew this was the opportunity to put her experience to best use in service of her community, with the founding of Water’s Edge Farmstead.

Since then, the farm has grown from a subsistence garden to a community farmstead, offering bartered or free shares for neighbors, and supplying fresh produce to a local food bank. As founding members of the Appalachian Growers Seed Collective, entering the 2026 growing season, the farm will be shifting production to focus entirely on seed production at scale.

In 2025, the 3 acres adjacent to their current farm and home became available. Shelby, a previous Persimmon Collective Fund infrastructure grantee, and a staff member of SAAFON, a values-aligned partner in the field, reached out to inquire about ways PCF could support the acquisition. For Shelby, this previous relationship was key to the ease and supportiveness she felt in approaching the often daunting work of acquiring land. After discussions with the PCF team and Equity Trust, Water’s Edge Farmstead moved forward with securing a bridge loan with the support of a philanthropic grant and capital raised by Shelby and her partner Olivia. For Shelby, the addition of the land means the possibility of having a truly scalable and viable farm business. It also means they can confidently invest in infrastructure on land they are stewarding as opposed to simply leasing. 

Shelby is not interested in approaching the land solely in terms of production or income. “It’s a lifetime of stewardship,” she says. She feels that this separation of the farm business and land stewardship is an aspect often overlooked in the land access conversation that often focuses on field productions and farm operations. They plan on breaking ground in 2027, taking this season to observe the land and allow the land to speak to what it needs and how it should be cared for.