July ’23 Love Notes

Stumbling is not falling.

Malcolm X

Greetings Sunbeams,

The peak of summer has been blessed with the bountiful harvests of vegetables, berries and eggs we distribute to our community, and welcoming inspired youth groups to the land to learn with us. We’ve hosted alumni and new friends for tours and herbal medicine skill shares; stayed on top of weeding, tomato pruning, and goat and chicken rotation; and still found time to finish a hot day’s work with a cool dip in the pond!

Keep reading for some sparkling July highlights, and announcements about what to look forward to in August.

We hope your midsummer days and nights have been filled with nourishing connections and that we see you on the farm or virtually soon!

With love from the land,

Briana, Brooke, Cheryl, Clara, Crysta, Danielle, Hana’, Hillary, Ife, Jonah, Kai, Leah, Maya, Naima, O’den, Ria, Shay, and Susuyu

Strawberries, raspberries, cherries, currents, and so many of our vegetable friends have joined the farm party this month. Currently, one of our most flourishing plants is the Mohican corn. This corn is grown in partnership with members of the Mohican nation in our commitment to seed rematriation. 

The corn has been a steady anchor as the climate sends us signs that our work is becoming more important as the seasons cycle. In the last month or so, we have had a very late frost, wildfire smoke requiring us to wear N95’s while harvesting, hail falling from the sky two hours after planting corn, severe flooding, and the pests are riding their own boom and bust cycles. The climate is changing! And, we are learning to adapt. Our favorite adaptation this month is a lesson from Napa Cabbage. With intense pest damage, our Solidarity Share members swapped out heads of Nappa Cabbage, with a delicious Kim Chi. Just one example of creative and resilient ways to reduce our food waste, explore food preservation, and further nourish our bodies with probiotic goodness! Check out this video to learn more about preserving your harvest!

We will be re-homing our laying hens in November. Hens are “red sex link,” 1 years old, healthy, and laying well. They will continue to lay delicious brown eggs for the next few years! We have 45 hens available and they are “first come first serve.” Fill out this form to reserve them and choose a date in November to pick them up from Soul Fire Farm. Please bring your own crate to transport the animals. 

These past few months have had us reckoning with the burgeoning responsibilities of a growing team and campus. As the major construction projects of the Program Center and the Abode need our careful attention, and our newer institutional spaces such as the Sanctuary, Nest, Barn and Office are now in full effect, the Site Team has more work on its plate. To expand our capacity a bit, we made the decision to bring on an additional member!

Instead of indiscriminately cutting back the forest growth, we recognize this as an opportunity that brings a host of wonderful plants, some of which we selectively preserve. This task prompts us to slow down a little and get to know the edges of our woods. Soul Fire has been selectively managing these edge zones for serviceberries, red oaks, blueberries, and sugar maples. In addition, we’ve recently planted some lilacs that we hope will grow tall and greet our community with colorful spring splendor as y’all drive or walk up the road. When getting out there with a brushcutter or chainsaw, I find myself noticing a plethora of trees and other plants that I would have otherwise glazed over. When imagining the thought that’s gone into these zones in previous years, it’s like getting to hear a story whispered by the leaves.”

~ Kai, Site Manager

We welcomed 3 youth groups to the farm for customized, hands-on learning days in July, including Metropolitan Youth Summer Camp, Roots Rising, and ArtPartners. We made our Earth-loving food justice curriculum accessible to youth ranging from 6 to 18 years old through scavenger hunts, farm-to-table meal prep, forest labyrinth walks, getting to know plants with blindfolds on, and seed saving. Their enthusiasm and respect for the land refilled our cups of hope for the rising generation. 

On July 21, we gathered on the land for Becoming Friends with Plants 3D skill share. We practiced slowness and humility as we became acquainted with valerian, bee balm, echinacea, mint, St John’s Wort and more! We smelled, tasted, touched, and learned about the medicinal properties of our greater than human kin. We played games together, strengthening our knowledge and friendships, and we made herbal salves. This workshop, led by Antonia Estela Pérez of Herban Cura, was such a joy!

Upcoming Skill Shares:

Natural Dye Plants 3D with Keisha Cameron of High Hog Farm
In person at Soul Fire Farm
September 7, 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. ET

Pulling vivid, dimensional color from natural materials can be both fascinating and extremely rewarding. It can also serve as a conduit, connecting us to land, place, and people. For millennia, our material landscapes have been layered with colors derived from the environments we inhabit. Spend a day harvesting the rainbow from various sources using techniques that you can easily replicate at home. Guided by Keisha, together we will learn how to properly prepare fabrics and textiles for dyeing, become acquainted with the magic of indigo, and create 7 beautifully dyed mini-skeins of semi-variegated yarn and one cotton drawstring bag. 

Learn more and register here!

Crop Planning 3D with Amara Ullauri of Ayni Herb Farm & Larisa Jacobson of Northeast Farmers of Color Land Trust 
// Virtual – November 2, 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. ET
Details and registration coming soon!

3D workshops are designed to be culturally relevant and safe spaces that center Black, Indigenous and People of Color (read why here).

July’s Work & Learn Days were joyous! We harvested an abundance of berries, peas, garlic scapes and bundles of herbs. We also liberated our young low bush blueberries from competing plants and applied wood mulch to support their continued growth. We enjoyed delicious food around the pond and picnic tables and made new friends!

JOIN US!!! You’re invited to Soul Fire Farm to learn about some of our farming practices while supporting our food sovereignty work and getting your hands on the land.

• August 1 – Register
• August 15 – Register
• August 29 – Register
• September 12 – Registration begins on August 1

Learn more

Our first farm tours have been full of whole-hearted stories and meaningful connections.

Soul Fire Farm will host 3 more tours throughout the 2023 farming season so that our beloved community can experience some of the plants, animals and humans that grow here.

Next up September 1 Learn more and register here

We just released the Black Earth Wisdom virtual keynote! Leah Penniman and the Soul Fire Farm team weave together the lessons from today’s most respected Black environmentalists, those who have cultivated the skill of listening to the lessons that Earth has whispered to them. This beautifully curated cinematic experience takes viewers on a poetic journey through Black ecological thought. 

Watch the trailer, learn more and purchase here

Over 250 impressive budding land stewards applied for the Fellowship this year. Our Selection Committee has been working diligently since June, reading through beautiful and highly competitive applications and we were finally able to announce our cohort on July 14th.

 The following 10 applicants make up our 2023-2024 cohort:

• adinah barnett, Full Circle Willow
• Ayodele Ngozi, Brickyard Herbs, @ayo.herbalist
• Bailey Hutchison, TruCulture, @mecca_x 
• Barrow Shine, The Indigo Rising Collective, @free.the.medicine
• Candace Jones, East Wind Food Forest  
• Emily Johnson/IV Castellanos, Catalyst, @emilyjohnsoncatalyst @iv__castellanos 
• Kenya Miles, @blue.lightjunction 
• Marlow Logan White, Lady’s Island/Broome Field Farm, @soultosoul110
• Roberto Zapata, Kindred Creative Residence & Agro-Forest
• Yura Sapi, @LiberArte_inc & @ProtectoresdelaTierra

In addition to the 10 fellows we have selected 12 runner-up applicants to receive mini grant awards of $2,500 towards their projects. One of this year’s mini grants has been donated by a gracious sponsor, Bart Bailey, founder of Courage2Care. Those awardees are:

• Adison Soko, Savannah Farm Foods 
• Clayton Williams, The Sparrows Point Farmacy 
• Dawn Spears, @AshawaugFarm 
• Fallon Davis, A Healing Sanctuary | STEAM URBAN 
• Folawole Winfunke, Atlanta international Farms 
• Jasemyn Jelks, The Doshia Project 
• Joy Lindsay, @GroundedRootsFarms 
• KD Randle, Home Grown Farms, @farmerinthekells 
• Khadija Khansia, Zindagi Apothecary, @dija09
• Marilyn Lee, Sustainability via Organic Beekeeping and Native Pollinators
• Monti Lawson, @CatalystCollaborativeFarm 
• Nicolas Linares Sanchez, Mazorca Colectiva @lionsdengarden

We are so grateful to our incredible Selection Committee for helping us with another successful selection process. We look forward to sharing more information about our newest fellows shortly. Please be sure to check out our web page and Instagram @BraidingSeedsFellowship for more info in the coming weeks.

In honoring of our Cultural Use Easement and ever- deepening relationship with the people whose homeland we reside on, we were overjoyed to have a visit from a group of Mohican language learners. In their homelands for a language retreat, they stopped in at Soul Fire Farm to walk the farm and practice language. Collective reverence and shared pride rippled through the land to witness these homelands being tended with such care. 

“I am an urban farmer in New Haven, CT with more than 12 years of experience growing food and educating community members on growing food for themselves. I was born and raised in the city that my business serves. I strongly believe that all people should have sovereignty over their food systems because that leads to greater sovereignty over their lives! 

In 2018, I decided to start my own culturally relevant agriculture business that specifically targeted the Black & Brown communities in my city. I founded Root Life LLC which focuses on community upliftment & empowerment through urban farming, urban farm training, food justice education, agritourism, food aid efforts & community focused health events. 

I am growing out of 5 different spaces in New Haven County this year; those spaces include the Armory Community Garden, Big Starr Community Garden, 333 Valley St Farm, Faith Temple Church Garden & an indoor space at ConnCorp’s Lab Incubator Business Office.

I currently serve on the Black Farmer Fund Investment Committee, Southern New England Farmers Of Color Collaborative’s Steering Committee, National Young Farmers Coalition’s ‘Cultivemos’ Mental Health Farmer Advisory Board, & New Haven’s Food System Policy Division Community Advisory Board. I am also a core member of the newly established CT BIPOC Food Network.

There are several ways to support which include volunteering, donating finances to support projects, donating resources for infrastructure such as wood for raised beds & sponsoring BIPOC apprenticeships with Root Life LLC. I am also looking to acquire land to scale up operations.”

We helped to move another $1 million in grant awards to 31 Black-led food justice and land justice organizations comprised of and supporting Black Farmers in the Southeast United States through the Food and Land Justice Fund. Deep gratitude to New Communities, Jubilee Justice and Decolonizing Wealth for securing the resources and coordinating the grant process. And big congratulations to the awardees, who can be seen at the bottom of the Liberated Capital: Decolonizing Wealth Fund webpage.

As members of HEAL Food Alliance, we were thrilled to join their week of action for a Better Forking Farm Bill! From June 26th – June 30th, we shared our alliance generated policy priorities for the 2023 Farm Bill, which are as follows:

• Secure dignity and fairness for food workers and their families
• Provide opportunities for all producers
• Invest in communities, not corporations
• Nourish our communities and families
• Ensure the survival of ecosystems and our planet

Using social media as a powerful tool for campaigning was a fortifying experience. We connected with our community far and wide and spread awareness of our priorities all week long. We’re immensely grateful to all those who shared and engaged with this meaningful initiative. It was a stone thrown into still waters.

Artists and community members Alisa Sikelianos-Carter and Sean Desiree recently bought land in the Hudson Valley.

They’ve started a Patreon that will document and share the knowledge they gain as they embark on several projects in the coming year. In their own words:

“We want to make the journey available to those that want to follow along. With only about 1% of land in the US being owned by Black people we want to share this significant act of resistance and nourishment. Our ultimate dream is to build a home, two art studios and a large garden for community. This dream feels really big to us. We are going to commit to the Patreon for a year and during that time we hope to accomplish the following projects:

• Build a shed
• Build a greenhouse
• Start a garden
• Plant fruit trees
• Build a deck
• Test the soil 
• Landscape design
• Creating dry creeks/rain gardens

We are not experts, just learning as we go and want to share the knowledge we gather.”

Learn More and Support
instagram @alisasikelianoscarter
instagram @seandesireestudio

Earlier this year, Soul Fire Farm was awarded a $25,000 grant by our partners, RAFI-USA, in an effort to move grant funding in equitable ways to Black, Indigenous, and People of Color led organizations engaging in climate political education + advocacy. Through a re-granting process, we are moving these funds to members of our Alumni engaged in policy efforts! 

So far, we have been able to move funds to alumni engaged in 2023 Farm Bill advocacy congressional meetings, listening sessions, and social media campaigns, as well as folks folding food + land histories and political education into their workshop offerings. If you are an alumni engaged in political education + advocacy (broad definition), you are encouraged to apply for funding to support your endeavors! Much like our plant kin + teacher mint –who is also green–, there is abundance here, so please harvest the fruits of this bounty to sustain you in your pertinent work and apply today! 

Community Work & Learn  August 1, 2023 10:00 am – 3:30 pm Soul Fire Farm, 1972 NY-2, Petersburgh, NY 12138, USA Volunteer at Soul Fire Farm to learn about some of our farming practices while supporting our work and getting your hands on the land. Registration is required. Link  Each One, Teach One. Many Hands Make Light Work.

Tabling at Full Out Fest  Full Out Fest is a community event that will leave you inspired, uplifted, and connected to the power of human expression. In addition to wonderful dancers, we will be joined by live musicians, delicious food and drink vendors, an amazing list of makers and organizations, and Dj Intell Hayesfield! August 13, 2023  4:00 pm – 6:00 pm Riverfront Park, 255 Front St, Troy, NY 12180, USA  Learn more and get tickets here

Community Work & Learn   August 15, 2023  10:00 am – 3:30 pm Soul Fire Farm, 1972 NY-2, Petersburgh, NY 12138, USA Volunteer at Soul Fire Farm to learn about some of our farming practices while supporting our work and getting your hands on the land. Registration is required. Link  Each One, Teach One. Many Hands Make Light Work.

Community Work & Learn    August 29, 2023  10:00 am – 3:30 pm Soul Fire Farm, 1972 NY-2, Petersburgh, NY 12138, USA Volunteer at Soul Fire Farm to learn about some of our farming practices while supporting our work and getting your hands on the land. Registration is required. Link  Each One, Teach One. Many Hands Make Light Work.

• “The Jewish Book of Flowers” with Leah Penniman 
• Black Organizing for Leadership and Dignity | How We Breathe Podcast with Ife Kilimanjaro, Ph.D
• Lessons learned while foraging: Take some, leave some for the next time around with Ria Ibrahim
• Ritually Podcast with Leah Penniman

The food system was built on the stolen land and stolen labor of Black, Indigenous, Latinx, Asian and people of color. Our ecosystem partners, Northeast Farmers of Color Network and National Black Food and Justice Alliance  are claiming our sovereignty and calling for reparations of land and resources so that we can grow nourishing food and distribute it in our communities. The specific projects and resource needs of BIPOC land-based projects are listed on Northeast Farmers of Color Network and National Black Food and Justice Alliance’s respective maps linked above. We are so excited about these powerful opportunities for people to people solidarity.