Our Farm

Reclaiming the Promise,
One Quarter Acre at a Time

About Our Farm

Quarter Acre and a Mule:
A Symbol of Resilience

The name “Quarter Acre and a Mule” is a powerful historical reference to the unfulfilled promise of “40 acres and a mule” offered to freed Black Americans during the Reconstruction era. Butler’s microfarm reclaims this history, using a small plot of land (just a quarter acre) and a wheelbarrow painted “Mule” to demonstrate what is possible with resilience, ingenuity, and community focus, directly challenging systemic food inequity.

Reclaiming the Promise One Quarter Acre at a Time

This Pueblo County, Colorado farm serves Pueblo City, Pueblo West and Beulah, Colorado. This farm is a modern-day response rooted in resilience. With just one quarter of an acre–and a wheelbarrow, painted “Mule”— Perdita Butler is building something powerful: a community-based farm that challenges food inequity and shows what’s possible, even on a small scale.

THE FARM’S CORE PHILOSOPHY CENTERS ON:

Reclaiming land: Utilizing available space for productive and community-oriented agriculture.
Reimagining food access: Developing innovative ways to distribute healthy food in areas that lack grocery stores.
Growing nourishment: Focusing on fresh local produce, nutritionally dense food for Southeast Colorado.

“What I love about farming is there’s always something new to learn”

Perdita Butler

Urban Agriculturalist & Founding Farmer

The Mission

Perdita Butler’s mission with her Pueblo, Colorado microfarm, Quarter Acre and a Mule, is to combat food insecurity and promote nutritional health in underserved communities by providing fresh, affordable produce and fostering community-based food justice and self-sufficiency. Her work is a modern-day response to historical inequities, rooted in extensive experience in urban agriculture and community farming.

The Mission in Pueblo

Perdita Butler established Quarter Acre and a Mule in Pueblo, a city where some neighborhoods, like the East Side, have been classified as “food deserts” since the closure of the last local grocery store seven years prior. Her mission directly addresses this critical need.

Key Initiatives & Impact

• Anchor Farm for Farmers Markets: Quarter Acre and a Mule serves as an anchor farm for the Pueblo Farmers Market, specifically at the new market on the East Side. This commitment ensures a consistent supply of fresh produce in a local community that previously had limited access.

• Affordable and Accessible Produce: Butler sells her produce at affordable prices, often working with federal, state, and local programs that provide incentives for low-income families, older adults, and WIC participants to buy fresh food at farmers’ markets. This approach makes healthy eating a reality for more residents.

• Community Education: Butler actively engages in education, teaching growing techniques (like a recent workshop on carrots) and promoting the “Backyard Growers” initiative, which encourages residents to grow their own food and sell or donate excess produce at the market.

• Advocacy for Systemic Change: Beyond her microfarm, Butler is a vocal advocate for systemic change. She is involved in a major community project to turn the former Spann Elementary School into a community center and grocery store, which received a $150,000 planning grant from the Healthy Food Financing Initiative.