However long the night, the dawn will break.
West African Proverb
Dear beloveds,
We find ourselves leaning deeply into community this month. In this time of heartbreaking horror in Gaza, we recommit to nonviolence, to keeping each other’s humanity alive, and channeling our grief into right action.
Our hope is that this fire in our bellies will be the guiding light towards harmony and justice. And that this community continues to be a source of renewed hope, levity, and connection.
Read on for the sacred and special events from October and upcoming November offerings.
May your breath be your anchor.
With love and solidarity,
Briana, Brooke, Cheryl, Clara, Crysta, Danielle, Hana’, Hillary, Ife, Jonah, Kai, Leah, Maya, Naima, O’den, Ria, Shay, and Susuyu
Grafton Peace Pagoda donates ancestral lands back to Mohicans
About 240 acres of land held by Nippozan Myohoji-Grafton Peace Pagoda will be transferred to the Stockbridge-Munsee Community Band of the Mohican Indians, who were forced to head west more than 200 years ago, finally settling in Wisconsin. The land donation was recognized during the Grafton Peace Pagoda 30th Anniversary Ceremony.
Soul Fire Farm was honored to serve as project manager throughout this entire sacred process offering legal, fundraising, negotiation, strategy, and recordkeeping support.
Leah presented a speech during the ceremony stating “When Jun San came to the United States in 1978, she came to follow behind Native people. She believed that the only way to a peaceful and just America, and by extension, a peaceful and just world, was to work in solidarity with Indigenous people. From the American Indian Movement’s longest walk across the United States, to the Wounded Knee Pilgrimage, to living at Onondaga Nation with Dennis Banks, to Standing Rock, to annual Native-led World Peace and Prayer day, a central drumbeat in the work of Jun San and the Grafton Sangha is to pray behind Native friends. Hank Hazelton, in blessed memory, also understood this, and dedicated much of his life to Native sovereignty issues. When he donated 11 acres of land for the Peace Pagoda in 1983, and later on donated 250 acres of land to the Free School along with his house, he had a vision that the land would always be used to support Indigenous communities.”
This October, as the temperatures get cooler, and the leaves start to change colors around the farm, our plant relatives are cycling into seed production.
These seeds are magical bundles of genetic diversity that will transform into our favorite meals and medicines, nourishing our bodies and spirits while carrying a deep cultural history. To learn how to save and pass on the history of seeds, Soul Fire Farm partners with Truelove Seeds, who offer “culturally important vegetable, herb, and flower seeds grown by urban and rural farmers committed to community food sovereignty”.
This month, members of the SFF farm team were able to peek into the world of seed saving with a visit to the Truelove Seeds office, farm and partner organization at Sankofa Community Farm, who also grow many of these culturally relevant crops. During our visit, we deepened our understanding and commitment to seed keeping, while learning more about best harvest protocols, storage processes and exploring different ways of winnowing (the process of using wind to separate and clean seeds).
Our partners at Truelove Seeds remind us that “keeping seeds is an act of true love for our ancestors and our collective future.” This is exemplified on the farm, through seed keeping Bee Balm #6, a freely growing medicinal wildflower on the Stockbridge- Munsee Mohican reservation, and globally, as food blockades, destruction of family farms, and desecration of holy olive groves in Palestine remind us that growing food is a powerful anchor to land and identity, especially when pressure of erasure, genocide, and apartheid threaten indigenous communities around the world.
As stewards of this Earth, we have the responsibility to strengthen indigenous self-determination through seed-keeping and protection of sacred lands.
This month the site team hosted our day-long introduction to carpentry workshop, featuring guest facilitator Sean Desiree.
It was a true delight. These days, with all the responsibilities associated with the construction of Soul Fire’s expanded campus, the site team has very limited time for educational work. Despite this temporary limitation, “each one teach one” remains one of our core values, and we cherished the opportunity to dive into it.
This workshop featured detailed instruction and hands-on practice time as participants learned some core concepts of carpentry as well as safe tool use. By the end of the day, everyone was working away diligently on personal projects, wielding tape measures, power saws, drills, and orbital sanders. It’s a true honor to hold space for folks as they take the courageous leap of learning and practicing new skills. We look forward to doing a lot more of this in the coming years.
Farm to Table Immersion
Our inaugural Farm to Table Immersion was nourishing on every level! Black, Latinx, Asian and Indigenous food workers and culinary artists came together for this 5-day program to trade and gain skills in culturally-rooted, whole-foods cooking and preservation. We learned how to harvest seasonal ingredients, make kimchi and jam, process chickens, plan menus, develop recipes, cook with mushrooms, and create our own dishes inspired by our heritages. It was incredibly inspiring lifting up our ancestral food stories, tasting flavors that brought back memories, sharing ways that we use food as medicine, and making action plans toward futures where everyone has access to delicious, honorably harvested, life-giving food.
Growing Stories with the Land
Crop Planning for Gardens & Farms
November 2, 3 p.m. – 5 p.m. ET
with Amara Ullauri of Ayni Herb Farm
& Larisa Jacobson of Northeast Farmers of Color Land Trust
We are invoking the stillness and reflection time that the coming season offers to guide us in dreaming and planning for how next year’s growing season will flourish. This visionary practice is what we call crop planning, an iterative process of shared storytelling that involves input from all the beings that sustain our gardens – our communities, seeds, soil life, water, the sun, and our own experience.
Together we are creating a story about who, what, when, why, and how our growing season will unfold that helps us implement resilient strategies to ensure an abundant season. In this workshop, participants will learn how to define a crop plan, including different crop planning methods that can be adapted to best fit harvest goals and learning styles of farmers and gardeners.
Learn more and register here!
3D workshops are designed to be culturally relevant and safe spaces that center Black, Indigenous and People of Color (read why here).
Uprooting Racism in the Food System Workshop (URFS)
We all have a significant and intrinsic role to play in uprooting racism in the food system, and the good news is that there are many right answers to the questions, “What can I do to help?” We’ve been deep diving into this question and sharing solidarity strategies far and wide.
Our Uprooting Racism in the Food System workshops continue to be powerful! & WE HAVE TWO MORE SESSIONS COMING UP!
Register for one of our FINAL trainings until the Spring, on November 13 and November 15. If you’d like to register a group of 10 or more, please review the FAQs and complete the Group Interest Form.
During the peak of harvest at Soul Fire Farm, Naima welcomed her dreammates and beloved community into a universe of ritual, poetry and wonder.
An interactive installation – comprised of a spiral of a 100 foot braided willow spiral, ancestral plants, kaleidoscopes, chimes, fire, and beads made of clay, seeds and soil– guided us on an elemental journey that invited us to reflect on themes of love, forgiveness, gratitude, vision, and commitment. A homage to our ancestors, a love note to future generations, and an invitation into the now, DREAMSPACE was a sacred space for rest, play and dreaming. At sunset, Naima shared 7 news poems as a mystical sermon for a more just and livable world and we walked away feeling fortified, affirmed and inspired to offer our hands to building it.
Here’s a photo album. Stay tuned for the DREAMSPACE short film!
We were able to have a lovely site visit with our alum, Zel Hutchinson, current fellow, Tianna Neal, and some of our partners from SAAFON for a farmer brigade day in Georgia!
The land that Tianna farms on with her project, Starlit Roots, alongside elder farmers who she collaborates with, is part of the Boggs Rural Life Center. Tianna had about 7000 beautiful kale and collard plants she was getting ready to plant!
BEYOND HEROES
This society is obsessed with the “hero narrative,” imagining falsely that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr was solely responsible for the Civil Rights Movement or that Vandana Shiva is the whole of ecofeminism. While these leaders are beloved and irreplaceable, the truth is that movements are comprised of many organizations and individuals taking risks, demonstrating leadership, and contributing ideas and work. The media has a role in telling this truth. Acknowledging that Soul Fire Farm can be pedestalized in ways that are unhelpful to our movement ecosystem, we created the “Beyond Heroes” media guide to push for change. So far, we have been able to redirect around 75% of media and speaking requests to our comrades. We welcome your ideas to improve the guide, and encourage you to share and adapt it.
Alumni Spotlight: Pancho Caballero
Greetings, Soul Fire Farm family, alumni & readers. My name is Pancho Caballero (they/them) & I’m an earthworker dedicated to revitalizing Indigenous foodways, seedkeeping, youth mentoring, innovating sustainable urban agriculture, and sharing my love for food through storytelling and vice versa. I am of P’urhe’pecha, Chichimeca and Spanish descent.
This year I started a collective called Seeds of Resistance and we’re dedicated to seedkeeping (Indigenous, Non-GMO, Heirloom seeds to be specific), empowering youth through providing hands-on-experience with the farm-to-table process, uplifting elders (and their stories) to become mentors, and bartering with local & non-local farmers to keep healthy, vital seeds in circulation and the ground for generations to come.
To us, it’s pivotal that we begin laying the foundations for sharing of knowledge and resources with younger generations to take place as food insecurities threaten our autonomy and collective power as communities already facing the effects of climate change. We do this by incorporating the values of recognizing whose Ancestral lands we are on and expressing gratitude to their descendants for allowing us to live in community with them, Youth Leadership, Community Empowerment, and using exclusively Earth-based practices(natural non-industrial pesticides/fertilizers, non-gmo seeds) within our work. We also only accept grants & donations from other autonomous, community-centered organizations and funders.
Expanding on the economics side of this vision, we’ll also be operating a solar/electric powered food truck where we’ll be serving dishes with authentic Indigenous/contemporary recipes while empowering youth to learn and lead the way. Hospitality, authenticity, accessibility, and spreading awareness about the vitality of Indigenous foods will be the values we center the business around. We wanna thank everybody who’s supported us so far and invite you all to follow us @childrenofthecorn312 on Instagram where we’ll be posting our linktree very soon which’ll include ways to stay connected and help . . . because I can’t do this without you all.
With the fullest heart for sovereignty & true liberation,
Pancho C
PARTNERSHIP UPDATES
On September 14, Soul Fire Farm community members participated in a presentation about the recently finalized Scoping Plan issued by New York’s Climate Action Council.
The purpose of this presentation was to increase general awareness of the Scoping Plan and respond to questions members of our community had. If you were unable to join, you can check out the video here.
Two job openings to support a liberated zone for Black, Indigenous, and other people of the global majority to practice interdependence and sovereignty together.
WILDSEED Community Farm and Healing Village is looking for a dynamic leader with a passion for land-based work, community partnerships and facilitating healthy organizational culture to serve as Operations Director. Learn more and apply here.
WILDSEED & Northeast Farmers of Color Land Trust seek a Bridge Team Coordinator to support in researching, coordinating, and implementing a deed transfer for 181 acres in Millerton, NY. Learn more and apply here.
 Crop Planning 3D (Virtual) November 2, 2023 3:00 pm – 5:00 pm We are invoking the stillness and reflection time that the coming season offers to guide us in dreaming and planning for how next year’s growing season will flourish. Registration is required. Register here! |
 Community Work & Learn November 5, 2023 10:00 am – 4:00 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 November 11, 2023 10:00 am – 4:00 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. |
 Uprooting Racism in the Food System November 13, 2023 12:00 pm – 3:00 pm Eventbrite registration is required: Registration Link The Uprooting Racism training is a theory and action workshop for environmental and food justice leaders to uproot systemic racism in our organizations and society. We delve deep into the history and structural realities of racial injustice and develop an understanding of the movement strategies of frontlines communities struggling for food sovereignty. |
 Community Work & Learn November 14, 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. |
 Uprooting Racism in the Food System November 15, 2023 3:00 pm – 6:00 pm Eventbrite registration is required: Registration Link The Uprooting Racism training is a theory and action workshop for environmental and food justice leaders to uproot systemic racism in our organizations and society. We delve deep into the history and structural realities of racial injustice and develop an understanding of the movement strategies of frontlines communities struggling for food sovereignty. |
- Soul Fire Farm in Petersburgh wins $250K national prize Times Union
- Rensselaer County’s Soul Fire Farm wins prestigious award ABC News
- Growing Liberation Ep. 2: Farmers of Color go to Washington Midwest Farmers of Color Collective with Real Food Media
- Soul Fire Farm: Sustainable farming to empower communities Highmark Health Digital Magazine
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.