Perhaps I too might live free. Perhaps I too might wield the same old power that animated the ancestors that lived in Nat Turner, Harriet Tubman, Nanny, Cudjoe, Malcolm X, and speak—no, act—as though my body were my own.
Ta-Nehisi Coates
Blessings Survivors,
We hope the arrival of autumn has ushered in a crisp gust of fresh energy! Fall invites us to collect our harvest from seeds previously planted and prepare our gardens for rest. Over the last several weeks we’ve gathered with this beloved community for skill sharing events that taught us the wisdom of indigo, marigolds, and amaranth, harvested pounds of life-saving food, and celebrated the magic of the Equinox.
Read on to re-live some of our favorite September moments and learn about the October events that we’re anticipating.
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
The Heinz Family Foundation named Leah Penniman recipient of the prestigious 28th Heinz Awards for the Economy!
“Leah is honored for changing the face of farming and the future of agriculture in this country, while also calling into stark view the inequities in our food systems that have excluded Black, Indigenous and people of color from owning farmland and growing their own food for far too long,” says Teresa Heinz, Chairman of the Heinz Family Foundation. “The health of our bodies is inextricably rooted in the soil that produces our food and the way in which we grow and harvest. Leah’s tireless work is reviving practices rich in wisdom, breaking barriers to farm ownership and bringing a whole new generation back to the land. We recognize Leah for her advocacy efforts to reframe policies to enable equal access to land ownership and farm fresh food, for her work in modeling and teaching regenerative farming practices to thousands of people of color who can then become leaders in their own farming and food access initiatives, and for inspiring us to treasure the land that sustains us all.”
As part of the accolade, we will receive an unrestricted cash award of $250,000 to further our mission. Gratitude to The Heinz Family Foundation! May this be a resource to cultivate deeper healing to the land and our community, àṣẹ o!
Autumn reminds us that farming is truly a communal practice.
When 250 pounds of garlic need to be processed, 400 pounds of potatoes pulled from the Earth, and apples trees begin to bend with the weight of soon-to-be ready fruits, we feel honored to share labor, knowledge and deep belly laughs with our community work and learn days.
In addition to these community days, we have had some vibrant 3D workshops on the land that were shared with the community. This month was the Natural Dyes skill share, where indigo and marigold grown at Soul Fire led the conversation about how natural dyes work, how to prepare fiber, and highlighted topics of clothing sustainability for ourselves and for the Earth. Check out other opportunities here to share in the community practice of liberation on land!
This month has found us doing a fair amount of sanding as we prepare timbers for their home in the structure of the Program Center porch.
Running the belt sander for long hours can be tedious work, but in some ways it’s quite meditative. It’s a good opportunity to listen to an album or an audio book.
And there is something beautiful about the fact that our hands and eyes have passed with care over every inch of the surface of these large pieces of lumber that will hold up structures for generations.
Hands On Introduction to Carpentry
Thursday, October 12th
We’re excited to host a BIPOC Hands on Introduction to Carpentry Workshop on Thursday, October 12th. This daylong deep dive will be an opportunity to learn safe hand and power tool use, layout, measuring, fastening, and some of the basics of working with wood through a beginner building project.
We are committed to reserving the majority of the spots for women and/or trans*/non binary BIPOC people. BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) who are beginners or advanced beginners are encouraged to sign up.
Learn more & register here.
On September 7, we learned to work with plants to create vibrant colors in our Natural Dyes 3D skillshare with Keisha Cameron of High Hog Farm. We learned how to prepare fabric and yarn to receive dye pigments and we harvested the rainbow from indigo, marigolds, cochineal and madder root!
On September 20 we hosted a sacred amaranth harvest, led by delegates from Guatemala.
Together with the Seed Travels delegates and our friends at Garden’s Edge and the Hudson Valley Farm Hub Language Justice Program, we learned how to respectfully harvest amaranth, clean seed, and prepare amaranth snack bars!
Up next:
We’ll end our season looking ahead with Crop Planning 3D! Take your lessons learned from this year’s farm or garden and begin dreaming and designing what’s to come in the next. Amara Ullauri of Ayni Herb Farm & Larisa Jacobson of Northeast Farmers of Color Land Trust will lead us in this virtual workshop.
Crop Planning 3D
Virtual – November 2, 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. ET
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).
John Bonaparte, an alumni from our inaugural cohort and founder of Bare Bones Farms, was recently celebrated for his positive impact in agriculture and community advancement in Bombay, New York by the GrowShare.
John has been awarded the GrowShare Growing Community Award which goes to outstanding individuals or organizations whose efforts strengthen the food system and/or increase food security in northern New York State. John has been supporting Cornell Cooperative Extension’s Master Gardener program, was a key agent in launching the Akwesasne Farmers Market, serves as the manager at Akwesasne Seeds Hub, and is part of the Leadership Council for the Native American Food Sovereignty Alliance. Through all aspects of John’s work he remains committed to his Mohawk community.
In addition to these profound achievements, John and his partner have just welcomed their second child to the world! John’s family is joined in the birth blessings by a current fellow who just welcomed a new child as well as an additional fellow with a baby that’s soon to be expected!
We are thrilled to learn that Monument Mountain has been returned to the Mohican Nation!
On August 30th Lieutenant Governor Kim Driscoll announced the return of Monument Mountain to Indigenous stewardship.
Through a $2.26m grant, the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohicans will reclaim 351 acres of their Indigenous homelands, “while implementing tribal conservation and forest management strategies to combat climate change.”
Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohicans President Shannon Holsey described the day as “very joyful and emotional” for her community. “We believe that it is our responsibility to be land stewards and to advocate for future generations,” she said.
She explained, “We are trying to reclaim our ways of being which were never based on money. It was the reclamation of our kinship systems, our governance systems, our ceremony and spirituality, our language, our culture, and our food and medicinal systems. Those are all based on our relationships to the land.”
(Source The Berkshire Edge)
Alumni Spotlight: Xochitl Bervera
Greetings Soul Fire Beloveds!
My name is Xochitl Bervera, and I am an oyster farmer, land-based food grower, and organizer based in Apalachicola, Florida. It’s an honor to be part of this network. I am a proud alum of the FIRE Immersion, summer, 2022.
As founder of Near Futures Projects which includes Near Futures Farms and Near Futures Feasts, my partner, Kung Li, and I are working on a set of experiments that are both political, practical, and deeply personal. We have a farm where we are growing oysters in the water column of Apalachicola Bay. Oysters are a keystone species; they are gender-bending, protein-filled, zinc-packed, water filters, and earth protectors. We are tending to them, discovering and building our relationship to them and to the water, and then making them deliciously available to the community. From this position and along with our community garden, we are working to build a network of BIPOC food procurers (farmers, hunters, fisher-people, foragers, etc) on the Gulf Coast and in the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint River basin that can grow into the backbone of an alternative, local, and sustainable food system.
As a queer, mixed-race Latina who spent almost 30 years in the movement as an organizer working to close prisons and detention centers and get people free from the criminal legal system, this work is a related and yet entirely new adventure! It is an honor – and not without its challenges – to make this pivot. I’m grateful to this whole community for lighting the path. To deepen real relationship to earth and water, to grow and nurture the food of our ancestors, and to invite our many communities into more relationship for the sake of building a vibrant, free, and delicious near future.
PARTNERSHIP UPDATES
On August 27, Ife joined Chris Bradshaw (Dreaming Out Loud), Baakir Tyehimba (Siyanda Land Collective) and Dr. Jas Ratcliff (National Black Food and Justice Alliance) for an Alliance organized panel discussion at Happily Natural Day in Richmond, VA.
Each shared reflections to questions on the impact of climate change on farming and what resilience looks like in practice, the role that Afro-Indigenous agricultural practices play in addressing the climate crisis, and how folks can take action in their own homes and communities. Happily Natural Day is an annual festival founded by Alliance member Duron Chavis, dedicated to holistic health, cultural awareness and social change.
Farm Bill Update:
As many of us know, the current 2018 Farm Bill is set to expire September 30. Given the way things are moving in both the Senate and the House, it is unlikely that we will receive a new farm bill before that deadline. In fact, we are now looking at a timeline that puts the 2023 Farm bill further out—likely to be ready in Dec 2023 or January 2024. At this time, the legislative priority is to come to agreement on the federal spending bill to avoid a government shutdown.
What does this mean for the programs fiscally funded by the Farm Bill?
Programs such as conservation, dairy, crop insurance, etc will be alright through the end of the year. Congress will come to consensus around a continuing resolution -which will keep all Farm Bill programs moving forward based on the stipulations/guidelines and remaining funding from the 2018 Farm Bill.
We will share opportunities to engage, given this shift in timeline, as we receive them.
We are so proud and overjoyed to invite you to the world premier of the film Farming While Black !
In 1910, Black farmers owned 14 percent of all American farmland. Over the intervening decades, that number fell to two percent, the result of racism, discrimination, and dispossession. Mark Decena’s visually eloquent documentary chronicles Leah Penniman and two other Black farmers’ efforts to reclaim their agricultural heritage. Collectively, their work has a major impact, as each is a leader in sustainable agriculture and food justice movements. Decena outlines their contributions to regenerative agricultural practices, his watchful camera following the trio as they grow food, build community, advocate for themselves, repair the wounds of the past, and create a prosperous future. A rich guide to a world of activists, storytellers, healers, and change-makers, Farming While Black manifests alternate visions of humanity’s relationship to the land.
Saturday, October 7, 2023
3:00 PM
Rafael 1
(The Rafael Film Center)
1118 4th Street
San Rafael, CA
Sunday, October 15, 2023
7:00 PM
BAMPFA
(UC Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive)
2155 Center Street
Berkely, CA
Learn More and Purchase Tickets:
To Get Involved:
For Black Farmer priorities, visit the Federation of Southern Cooperatives:
www.federation.coop/advocacy
Fund Black land sovereignty at Blackfarmerfund.org
 Community Work & Learn October 10, 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. |
 Hands On Introduction to Carpentry October 12, 2023 10:00 am – 5:00 pm Soul Fire Farm, 1972 NY-2, Petersburg, NY 12138, USA Join us for a hands on training for BIPOC and LQBTQIA community to level up our carpentry and building skills. Please only register if you are able to stay for the entire day as spots are limited. Plan to arrive on time. Registration is required through Eventbrite Link Questions can be directed to programs@soulfirefarm.org |
 Firewood Bucking & Splitting October 25, 2023 8:30 am – 12:30 pm Soul Fire Farm, 1972 NY-2, Petersburgh, NY 12138, USA Join the Soul Fire Farm site team to buck and split the season’s firewood. You will work closely with Kai and Jonah to turn our downed trees into a fuel source. Registration is Required: Registration Link |
 Farm Tour October 27, 2023 3:30 pm – 5:00 pm Soul Fire Farm, 1972 NY-2, Petersburgh, NY 12138, USA Visit Soul Fire Farm for our monthly seasonal farm tour! You’ll get to experience some of the plants, animals and humans that grow here. We will guide you through the growing fields and agroforestry gardens, take you up close to the building projects, share whole-hearted stories, and answer your questions. Registration is required. Registration Link |
- These Collectives Are Using Food To Effect Social Change Something Curated
- Healing the Wounds of Trauma with Princess Manuel The Good Dirt: Sustainability Explained
- A More Equitable Revolution RoadTrip Nation & Empowered State
- Soil Testing with Soul Fire Farm Sustainable Agriculture Research & Education Projects
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.