with Leah Penniman & Larisa Jacobson
May 28, 2020, 5:00 pm – 6:30 p.m EST / 2:00 – 3:30 p.m PST
“If the yam does not grow well, do not blame the yam. It is because of the soil.” ~Ghanaian proverb
Our intimate relationship with soil stretches back millennia, encompassing Cleopatra’s reverence for the earthworm, the carbon-rich raised beds of the Ovambo people, and Dr. George Washington Carver’s nitrogen-capturing legume fields. We are people of the soil.
In this virtual workshop we will learn how to restore the health of the soil and the health of our relationship with the soil, by delving into specific soil-care skills:
- How to make and use compost
- How to make and use inoculants to increase biological activity in soil
- How to interpret a soil test from a lab
- How to conduct “do-it-yourself” soil tests to determine texture and carbon levels
- How to use purchased amendments, like rock phosphate, bone char, alfalfa meal, and dried manure
- How to select and use cover crops
- How to address lead contamination in soil
- How to select and use mulches, like leaves, straw, and woodchips
- How to collaborate with living beings that comprise the soil to steward soil health, sustain plants, maintain ecosystems, limit greenhouse gas emissions, and strengthen climate resilience
- How to apply learning on the nitrogen and carbon cycles to foster carbon sequestration and plant and soil microbiome vitality
- How to connect with the soil ancestrally and spiritually
Presenter Bios
Leah Penniman, Soul Fire Farm Co-Director and Farm Manager, (Li*/Ya/She/He) has over 20 years of experience as a soil steward and food sovereignty activist, having worked at the Food Project, Farm School, Many Hands Organic Farm, Youth Grow and with farmers internationally in Ghana, Haiti, and Mexico. Li co-founded Soul Fire Farm in 2010 with the mission to reclaim our inherent right to belong to the earth and have agency in the food system as Black and Brown people. Her areas of leadership at Soul Fire include farmer training, international solidarity, perennials, writing, speaking, “making it rain,” and anything that involves heavy lifting, sweat, and soil. Li’s book “Farming While Black” is a love song for the earth and her peoples.
Larisa Jacobson, Soul Fire Farm Co-Director and Partnerships Director, (all pronouns) is a land steward, herbalist, and story booster tending seeds of transformation in this Upside Down World. With over 20 years of experience in farming, community health, agroecology, and learning programs, Larisa’s current work seeks to reclaim Black and Brown people’s connection with land, ancestral practices for calling the life and carbon back into the soil during the age of climate crisis, and our sacred roles as mediators between soil and sky. Other past interwoven threads of experience include a project to amplify the stories shared by Black and Brown youth pushed out of high school and organizing for collective land reclamation and community self-determination by elders and youth living and growing food in public housing. Larisa has worked alongside farmers honoring the sacred importance of water and land stewardship in Mexico and Guatemala, worked/taught at the University of California Davis Student Experimental Farm, and managed a community farm outside Boston focused on offering land and culturally relevant food for migrant and refugee communities. Larisa brings fierce commitment to land rematriation and grappling with the often painful challenges of healing history. She acted as Farm Manager at Soul Fire for three years, 2017-2019.