November ’24 Love Notes

When my mother told me to go and fetch firewood, she would warn me, “Don’t pick any wood out of the fig tree, or even around it.” “Why?” I would ask. “Because that’s a tree of God,” she’d reply. “We don’t use it. We don’t cut it. We don’t burn it.” In such ways, without conscious or deliberate effort, these cultural and spiritual practices contributed to the conservation of biodiversity.

WANGARI MAATHAI

Sweet Greetings Beloved Community

To those who call Soul Fire Farm home, sibling, and friend we often refer to these sprawling Mohican acres as “The Land” in our intimate spaces. As pink sunsets sink behind mountaintops and farmers wipe tired, dignified hands on dirty overalls, between goodbye hugs and last minute tasks, you’ll often hear “I’ll see you on the land tomorrow”. This simple act of reverence serves as an acknowledgement that, though we have given her many names, the body of the earth belongs wholly unto herself.

It’s an honor to witness the many ways that this beloved community expresses reverence to this land that holds us all. Some kneel to touch a hand to their heart, then the earth, upon arriving. Some bring offering pouches and leave sacred scatterings of maize, tobacco, and honey. Some lay on a warm stone near the pond with a grateful heart that radiates outwardly. Some send prayers and blessings through computer screens. We are extending deep gratitude for your beautiful expressions of veneration throughout this year.

Though the year is winding down into our slow season, there are still several upcoming opportunities for connection including two December webinars Fierce Vulnerability: Healing and Change in a Time of Collapse and FOOD FOR THE PEOPLE! – Solidarity Shares: Strategies for Farmers to De-commodify Food Distribution.

May your breath be your anchor.

With love and solidarity,

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

Beloved team!

I write this with my heart overflowing with excitement, nervousness, and gratitude. You have all been instrumental in supporting me to work towards this goal of taking some extended time away from work to seek the much needed deep rest and healing. I see all of us deeply caring for one another as we have co-created this beautiful workplace rooted in love, hard work and justice and connection. Were it not for you all, this would not feel possible.

While being a founder of Soul Fire and dedicating my life to this sacred work for the past 15 years has been greatly rewarding, it has also left me depleted and distant from my purpose and well-being. I have learned so much about myself over the years, but feel a need to step away in order to reconnect with my place and unique contribution to the deeper meaning of our work.

My hope is to return to Soul Fire Farm eager and energized, connected and joyful, excited for what my future holds, and bursting with creativity. I also will be reimagining my relationship with work so that it may be mutually supportive and generative. 

I cannot express enough gratitude to all of you for holding it down in my absence, and to SFFI for offering this opportunity so that I may seek wholeness again.

After a few years of deliberation and close to two years of postponement, I am pleased to say that I will be on Sabbatical from now until SOULstice 2025.  

With love!

Jonah

Our final land tasks of the season – gleaning, garlic planting, bed reforming, straw mulching, limestone spreading, goats and chickens moving to winter homes, high tunnel clearing, cover crop seeding – now completed, we turn our hearts and hands to the work of value-add products and winter each-one-teach-one programs. We are so grateful to this healing land and healing community for having our backs in this time of tumult. 

None of this late fall land care and harvest would be possible without our collaboration with the Soul Fire site team on heavy equipment operation and maintenance. We rarely use a tractor on the land, but the fall bed mowing and re-forming is an important exception. We also collaborate with the site team to shore up the high tunnels against winter snow load damage and drain the irrigation lines across the farm to prevent frost cracking. You can learn more about some of our putting-the-farm-to-rest practices in this reel. 

We honor the conclusion of the harvest with the traditional Haitian Manje Yam festival, a mystical journey connecting us to ancestors and earth. Our spirits travel on a raft of banana leaves toward the east, Ginen, to make offerings to our forebears and receive their fortification. We sing, reconcile, remember, and share food from our lineages.

We learned about how she and the Assawaga farm team center healthy soil practices on their one-acre, Certified Organic market garden in Connecticut.

To learn more about cover crops, compost, compost tea, and farming without tillage we invite you to watch the workshop recording here. 

We’d like to extend deep gratitude to everyone who participated in a Community Work and Learn this season. Your efforts helped us to fortify the land and provide record breaking shares to our CSA and Solidarity Share members.

We’re looking forward to the 2025 season and will be releasing dates in March. 

170 individuals and members of groups, organizations and collaboratives joined us for the final workshops of the year. Together we grappled with history, reflected on our feelings and started action planning to uproot racism in the food system.

You can join our waiting list if you’re interested in being notified when the 2025 training dates are released in March. 

Are you ready to get free?! This summer, July 6th-9th, a team of professional chefs, farmers, musicians, artists, activists and healers are welcoming a small cohort of youth to Soul Fire Farm to create art, play music, grow food, and learn cooking skills.

Liberation comes from self-love and self-acceptance, creative expression, knowing how to take care of ourselves, strengthening our communities, building collaborative relationships, organizing for justice, and living in balance with the earth and each other. 

This program is for BIPOC youth (Black, Indigenous, and other people of color) who are 14-16 years old.  Are you curious to learn more? Fill out the interest form and we will get back to you early next year!

The southeast gathering was of particular significance as it was framed around helping new fellow, Angela Brigmon, rebuild her family farm after the land in South Carolina was destroyed by flooding in the summer. Angela is still grieving the significant loss of animal life of her chickens and pigs but we were able to at least help support healing towards the physical space. Fellows and alumni were joined by a couple of our partners from Fresh Future Farm to help complete building structures of the hog pen and hen run; install livestock wire around henhouse and duck pond, and soft wire for flooring and nesting boxes; dig and line the duck pond; transplant greens & other seedlings; assist in landscaping and beautifying around the pond and the land in general. It was a very moving three days of community and connection.

Hate will not prevail in the end. There is time for grief, rage, and heartbreak. And with one another’s support we will carry on in the long struggle for liberation.

Remember that electoral politics only sits on one wing of the butterfly of transformative social change. We need to strengthen and fortify our other strategies – it’s up to us, BIPOC farmers, earth workers, queer folks, women and nonbinary people, working class folks, and all people of conscience to ORGANIZE, HEAL, and BUILD together. *We protect us.* Our ancestors have faced the world burning time and again, and they continued to carry seeds, sing songs, nurse children, and listen to our more-than-human kin point the way.

The world we are dreaming does not settle for having a slightly more benign power-holder on the throne – it dispenses with the throne all together. It’s a world free of colonialism, militarized violence, capitalist greed, hatred of the perceived other, supremacy, and plunder of Mother Earth. It’s a world of compassion, justice, and interdependence. This work is a marathon relay, not a solitary sprint. We are not to give up. We are to continue step by step, hand in hand, hearts leading the way. 

Read more of our reflections at: civileats.com/2024/11/13/food-and-agriculture-visionaries-look-forward/ 

The Praxis series reflects on how our community can best put our values into action, sharing resources, ideas, and practice toward collective liberation. These will be shared each month in Love Notes and also on social media. 

Despite tremendous hardship in being forced from here, today their community resides in Wisconsin and is known as the Stockbridge-Munsee Community. They have put together a comprehensive resource guide for people interested in learning more about the Mohican Nation and supporting their work.

Soul Fire Farm is located on unceded territory of the Mohican Nation. We remain committed to working in solidarity with the Mohican people and other Indigenous communities in our region. 

Hello there good people, my name is Jordan Bethea and since 2019 I have been farming with Backyard Basecamp Inc as its Production Manager. Our key work has always been based in repatriating Black and Brown people to the land that we have been so deeply disconnected from. Since our start, we have led countless educational programs from day-long tracking classes, sheep shearing demonstrations, and our yearly summer camp that allows us to instill a love for our natural world and the means to enrich it in the hearts of young children aged 4-13.

With our on-the-land work, we have been able to finish construction on our farmhouse that hosts our test kitchen, farm store, and administrative offices. We have also created a thriving market garden, established an apiary of 29 colonies of honeybees as of this summer, planted a fruit tree orchard with early harvest expected for 2026 (so long as the deer don’t get to them first), and curated ongoing collaborations with local herbalists, foresters, and land stewards in our Mid-Atlantic region.

As we move into a new year, we thank all of the people who have made our work possible and ask for your continued support in reinforcing a resilient system of urban agriculture in the city of Baltimore. For ways to donate your time, talent, or treasure please visit us at backyardbasecamp.org/volunteer or on Facebook or Instagram for day to day updates on our work. 

See you on the land!

Finally, indulge in our Relaxing Epsom Salt Bath, a luxurious blend of St. John’s wort, marigold, blue vervain, calendula, chamomile, rose, and epsom salt. This bath soak is perfect for relaxing muscles, calming the mind, and rejuvenating the skin. 

Explore these offerings and bring the farm’s care into your home this season! Visit the shop

***Online store orders must be placed by December 16th for a final pack and send date of December 17th, or they will not be fulfilled until late January.***

Soul Fire Farm is hiring an Administrative Program Manager. This is a full-time role focused on program coordination, communications, administration, logistics, on-farm hosting, and data analysis. Must be local to the farm or willing to relocate.

Full job description HERE and application HERE

In the Black Earth Wisdom virtual keynote, Leah Penniman and the Soul Fire Farm team weave together 9 lessons from today’s most respected Black environmentalists, those who have cultivated the skill of listening to what the Earth has whispered to them. This beautifully curated cinematic experience takes viewers on a poetic journey through Black ecological thought.

“Uprooting Racism, Seeding Sovereignty” features a riveting keynote address delivered by Soul Fire Farm’s Founding Co-Executive Director & Farm Director, Leah Penniman, and closes with a performance by world-renowned poet, Soul Fire Farm’s Director of Education, Naima Penniman. The 45 minute long HD video also highlights other members of the Soul Fire Farm team, and includes premier footage of the farm itself. 

Click here to view

Emails sent to love@soulfirefarm.org and programs@soulfirefarm.org between those dates will not be read nor responded to. Online store orders must be placed by December 16th for a final pack and send date of December 17th, or they will not be fulfilled until late January.

As far as we know, there remains little to no movement from Congress towards passing a new Farm Bill. The stopgap funding bill released in September 2024 did not include an extension for the 2018 Farm Bill. The 2018 Farm Bill, which was extended last year after expiring, expired again on September 30th, 2024. 

Ag programs that operate under permanent law, such as crop insurance and disaster programs will continue to operate, along with programs partially funded by supplemental funds which include: the Conservation Stewardship Program, the Environmental Quality Incentives Program and the Agricultural Conservation Easement Program.

It remains unclear when we will next see movement in Congress towards a new, just, and transformational Farm Bill, given the shift to a Republican-held Executive, House, and Senate as a result of the November elections.

May our strength be strengthened.

Black Farmer Commons Survey: Since Fall 2023, Corbin Hill Food Project -in partnership with Food for the Spirit, Black Farmer Ecosystem organizations Farm School NYC and Soul Fire Farm, and with the support of Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program (SARE)- has been working on a research project to identify what a commons for Black farmers across New York State could look like, guided by our research question:

Can an ecosystem of organizations led by Black, Indigenous and peoples of the global majority providing educational, financial, social and operational support create new ownership and economic pathways for Black farmers’ collective success?

We encourage our community of New York State farmers, Food for the Spirit & the Black Farmer Ecosystem comrades, and sibling organizations serving NYS Black farmers to join and build a Black Farmer Commons with us by completing this survey with your input.

Fierce Vulnerability: Healing and Change in a Time of Collapse w/ Kazu Haga December 3, 2024  6:00 pm – 7:30 pm | Deepening our commitment to nonviolent social change in a world filled with violence, turmoil, and uncertainty. REGISTER HERE

EFAO Conference Keynote (Leah Penniman) | December 5, 2024  9:00 am – 10:00 am Ramada by Wyndham Belleville Harbourview Conference Centre, 11 Bay Bridge Rd, Belleville, ON K8P 3P6, Canada EFAO’s annual conference draws farmers, growers, and food producers from across the food system for two days of intensive learning, idea-sharing, networking and celebration with good food and friends. Register Here

Kingston Land Trust – End of Year Celebration (Keynote Leah Penniman) | December 7, 2024  4:00 pm – 7:00 pm Please join us for a celebration and silent auction to benefit the KLT! Enjoy cocktails, hors d’oeuvres & music by Otto Hauser, learn about exciting 2025 opportunities at the KLT, and bid on fabulous auction items like local art, or a two night stay on a 150 acre horse farm. Register Here

FOOD FOR THE PEOPLE! – Solidarity Shares: Strategies for Farmers to De-commodify Food Distribution (WEBINAR) December 10, 2024  5:30 pm – 7:00 pm | Join experienced farmers at Soul Fire Farm, Sweet Freedom, Rock Steady Farm, and Schenectady Green Market for an informative webinar on strategies for farmers to de-commodify food distribution and get food to those who need it most. This interactive webinar is open to food growers, current and aspiring. Register Here

• A Future Where We Might ‘Get Climate Right’: A Conversation with Ayana Elizabeth Johnson Mongabay Newscast Podcast | Good Men Project
• Leah Penniman Nourishes Land and Community at Soul Fire Farm Cuisine Noir
• Days of Attunement: immerse in liberatory devotion From The Deep
• Albany Global Climate Strike Urges Hochul To Speed Up Climate Action The Sanctuary for Independent Media
• Opinion: How farming can turn carbon from a climate threat into an asset LA Times

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.

Excellent article on what will be useless or useful in the times to come

Please look up the post by @wagingnv on a great article by Daniel Hunter. It goes into individual level spiritual work needed at this time and also what will be effective (or useless) in terms of collective actions. Please find a community to work with. Don’t be alone.

A dear Ecodharma friend Lama Willa sent this quote by Albert Camus today on the spiritual work needed:  “The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your existence is an act of rebellion”. But this inner work in isolation, especially by financially, racially or otherwise privileged communities, will not mean much. We must combine inner work with really actually nourishing communities that will be targeted by the white supremacist government.

Who to follow on social media (Instagram links)

You can websites by the same groups as well. Some of them will be holding trainings in the times to come.

Please follow @undocuprofessionals to support immigrant communities who the new admin is actively threatening right now. They are posting about how to support undocumented friends. 

Please also directly follow Indigenous and Black-led organizations and leaders, as always, for listening to how you can support them. We have to listen closely to what they need. @nativeorganizersalliance @indigenousrising @lylajune @ibramxk 
@adriennemareebrown @justice4blackgirls @zhaabowekwe

Of course, keep following voices speaking up for Palestine. Offer love, pray, donate and let our beloveds not feel alone. Please notice news coming from Northern Gaza. @wizard_bisan1 @motaz_azaiza @mosab_abutoha

Try new news sources. Are you following Democracy Now or AJ Plus? @ajplus 
@democracynow

If you are in the Colorado Denver/Boulder area, please reach out to me or our community if you need community support for grieving and processing, meditating. You can also connect with @wildseedsociety @rmpjc.boulder @climatiquenow

Credit to Kritee at Boundless in Motion for compiling this list