Podcasts about farming while black soul fire farm

Out of the soil of rural Louisiana, a new model for food, farming, and restorative economics.A commentary by Laura Flanders related to the LFShow 2023 Special Report:  The Jubilee Justice Black Farmers' Rice Project spotlighting pioneering regenerative farming practices in the U.S. as a means to address systemic racism. Watch or listen to The Laura Flanders Show special report and, meet the Black farmers and community members at the heart of this story.Watch :: the Special Report:  The Jubilee Justice Black Farmers Rice Project, Tackling Racism with RiceListen :: audio podcast edition of the Special Report:  The Jubilee Justice Black Farmers Rice Project, Tackling Racism with Rice Read :: "The Jubilee Justice Black Farmers Rice Project" by Laura Flanders, The NationThe Laura Flanders Show is made possible by our listeners and viewers. Please become a sustaining member or make a one time donation at LauraFlanders.org/donateLaura Flanders and Friends airs weekly on public TV, YouTube, community radio, and available as an audio podcast.  In addition to the episode podcast, subscribers receive uncut conversations and other bonus content.  Is your favorite community radio station airing the program?  Search our radio listings for your local station, and see what day and time the show airs  If they are not, please let them know to add the show.  More details are  at LauraFlanders.org.Additional Resources:- “Courage to Hope: How I Stood Up to the Politics of Fear” by Shirley Sherrod with Catherine Whitney, * available on Bookshop.org- “Farming While Black: Soul Fire Farm's Practical Guide to Liberation on the Land” by Leah Penniman, * available on Bookshop.org(*Bookshop is an online bookstore with a mission to financially support local, independent bookstores. The LF Show is an affiliate of bookshop.org and will receive a small commission if you click through and make a purchase.) Additional links and resources are posted and available for free on Patreon  Laura Flanders and Friends Crew: Laura Flanders, along with Sabrina Artel, Jeremiah Cothren, Veronica Delgado, Janet Hernandez, Jeannie Hopper, Sarah Miller, Nat Needham, David Neuman, and Rory O'Conner. FOLLOW Laura Flanders and FriendsInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/lauraflandersandfriends/Blueky: https://bsky.app/profile/lfandfriends.bsky.socialFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/LauraFlandersAndFriends/Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lauraflandersandfriendsYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFLRxVeYcB1H7DbuYZQG-lgLinkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/lauraflandersandfriendsPatreon: https://www.patreon.com/lauraflandersandfriendsACCESSIBILITY - The broadcast edition of this episode is available with closed captioned by clicking here for our YouTube Channel

This week for the first episode of Everything You Didn't Know About Herbalism, we proudly bring you an impactful and galvanizing conversation with two individuals leading the way toward a future of harmony and equity within our food systems. Leah Penniman, the Co-Founder of Soul Fire Farm, and Lulu Moyo, the Co-Director of the Braiding Seeds Fellowship, join us for a thought-provoking conversation surrounding the injustices and deep-rooted racism we continue to face within our food systems today, and their combined missions to facilitate powerful food sovereignty programs and hands-on farming opportunities to train the next generation of activist-farmers and strengthen the movement for food sovereignty and community self-determination. As always, we thank you for joining us on this new type of botanical adventure and are honored to have you tag along with us on this ride. Remember, we want to hear from you! Your questions, ideas, and who you want to hear from will be invaluable to this new series. So please, email us at podcast@mountainroseherbs.com or give us a call at 800-879-3337 to let us know what solutions you'd like us to uncover next within the vast world of herbalism. About Leah & Lulu:

Producers/Hosts: Holli Cederholm and Clare Boland Editor: Clare Boland Common Ground Radio is an hour-long discussion of local food and organic agriculture with people here in the state of Maine and beyond. This month: In the April 2023 episode of MOFGA’s Common Ground Radio, host Holli Cederholm discusses “Black Earth Wisdom: Soulful Conversations with Black Environmentalists” with Leah Penniman, farm director/co-executive director of Soul Fire Farm and author of “Farming While Black,” and Rue Mapp, founder of Outdoor Afro and author of “Nature Swagger: Stories and Visions of Black Joy in the Outdoors.” “Black Earth Wisdom” is a newly released book of essays and interviews that explores Black people's spiritual and scientific connection to the land, waters, and climate.  Topics this episode include: – “Black Earth Wisdom: Soulful Conversations with Black Environmentalists” by Leah Penniman. – “Farming While Black: Soul Fire Farm's Practical Guide to Liberation on the Land” by Leah Penniman. – “Nature Swagger: Stories and Visions of Black Joy in the Outdoors” by Rue Mapp. – Contributions of Black people to environmental thought and agroecological practices. – The importance of representation to access and inclusion. – Why centering BIPOC voices is critical to environmentalism. Guest/s: Leah Penniman is a Black Kreyol farmer, mother, soil nerd, author, and food justice activist who co-founded Soul Fire Farm in Grafton, New York, in 2010, with the mission to end racism in the food system and reclaim our ancestral connection to land. Penniman is part of a team that facilitates powerful food sovereignty programs — including farmer training for Black and Brown people, a subsidized farm food distribution program for communities living under food apartheid, and domestic and international organizing toward equity in the food system. In addition to “Black Earth Wisdom,” she is the author of “Farming While Black.” Rue Mapp documents her personal experiences while pioneering and shifting a new visual representation of Black people in the outdoors. An outdoorswoman, she transformed her kitchen table blog into a national nature-inspired enterprise and movement, called Outdoor Afro: where Black people and nature meet. Mapp is the founder and CEO of Outdoor Afro, and she is also the author of “Nature Swagger: Stories and Visions of Black Joy in the Outdoors,” which was published in 2022. Her words about nature and Black joy can also be found in conversation with other Black environmentalists in the newly released “Black Earth Wisdom.” FMI Links: “Black Earth Wisdom: Soulful Conversations with Black Environmentalists” by Leah Penniman “Farming While Black: Soul Fire Farm's Practical Guide to Liberation on the Land” by Leah Penniman “Nature Swagger: Stories and Visions of Black Joy in the Outdoors” by Rue Mapp Outdoor Afro Soul Fire Farm About the hosts: Holli Cederholm has been involved in organic agriculture since 2005 when she first apprenticed on a small farm. She has worked on organic farms in Maine, Vermont, Connecticut, Scotland and Italy and, in 2010, founded a small farm focused on celebrating open-pollinated and heirloom vegetables. As the former manager of a national nonprofit dedicated to organic seed growers, she authored a peer-reviewed handbook on GMO avoidance strategies for seed growers. Holli has also been a steward at Forest Farm, the iconic homestead of “The Good Life” authors Helen and Scott Nearing; a host of “The Farm Report” on Heritage Radio Network; and a long-time contributor for The Maine Organic Farmer & Gardener, which she now edits in her role as content creator and editor at MOFGA. Caitlyn Barker has worked in education and organic agriculture on and off for the last 17 years. She has worked on an organic vegetable farm, served on the Maine Farm to School network, worked in early childhood education and taught elementary school. She currently serves as the community engagement coordinator for MOFGA. The post Common Ground Radio 3/13/23: Black Earth Wisdom first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Leah Penniman is a Black Kreyol farmer, author, mother, and food justice activist who has been tending the soil and organizing for an anti-racist food system for 25 years. She currently serves as founding co-ED and Farm Director of Soul Fire Farm in Grafton, New York, a Black & Brown led project that works toward food and land justice. Her books are Farming While Black: Soul Fire Farm's Practical Guide to Liberation on the Land (2018) and Black Earth Wisdom: Soulful Conversations with Black Environmentalists (2023). You can follow Leah on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram via @leahpenniman, @soulfirefarm, @farmingwhileblack and @black.earth.wisdom.   The songs picked by all our guests can be found via  our playlist #walktalklisten here.  Please let me/us know via our email innovationhub@cwsglobal.org what you think about this new series. We would love to hear from you.   Please like/follow our Walk Talk Listen podcast and follow mauricebloem on twitter and instagram.  Or check us out on our website 100mile.org.  We also encourage you to check out the special WTL series Enough for All about an organization called CWS.  Stay tuned for the 11th 100 mile walk that will take place from March 26 - April 1, 2023 in Seattle, WA area, find more info via de 100mile.org website. Or go straight to our fundraising page.

#055: With a ticking clock and many obstacles facing the earth, activist farmer Leah Penniman continues to remind us that that the most-effective solutions always come from those closest to the problems. Here she shares her sense of hope for solving climate and justice issues before time runs out, inspired by the incredible energy and level of organization the younger BIPOC generation is bringing forth - and argues for the importance of installing them into leadership positions across our movements. Leah Penniman is a longtime food sovereignty organizer and the author of Farming While Black: Soul Fire Farm's Practical Guide to Decolonizing Land, Food, and Agriculture.  She is  the Co-Founder, Co-Director and Programs Manager at Soul Fire Farm in upstate New York and is the recipient of a James Beard Leadership Award, a Fulbright Distinguished Award in Teaching, and was a NY finalist for the Presidential Award of Excellence in Teaching.  Leah serves on the Real Organic Project Advisory Board.To watch a video version of this podcast with access to the full transcript and links relevant to our conversation, please visit:https://www.realorganicproject.org/leah-penniman-land-back-into-indigenous-hands-episode-fifty-fiveThe Real Organic Podcast is hosted by Dave Chapman and Linley Dixon, engineered by Brandon StCyr, and edited and produced by Jenny Prince.The Real Organic Project is a farmer-led movement working towards certifying 1,000 farms across the United States this year. Our add-on food label distinguishes soil-grown fruits and vegetables from hydroponically-raised produce, and pasture-raised meat, milk, and eggs from products harvested from animals in horrific confinement (CAFOs - confined animal feeding operations).To find a Real Organic farm near you, please visit:https://www.realorganicproject.org/farmsWe believe that the organic standards, with their focus on soil health, biodiversity, and animal welfare were written as they should be, but that the current lack of enforcement of those standards is jeopardizing the ability for small farms who adhere to the law to stay in business. The lack of enforcement is also jeopardizing the overall health of the customers who support the organic movement; customers who are not getting what they pay for at market but still paying a premium price. And the lack of enforcement is jeopardizing the very cycles (water, air, nutrients) that Earth relies upon to provide us all with a place to live, by pushing extractive, chemical agriculture to the forefront.If you like what you hear and are feeling inspired, we would love for you to join our movement by becoming one of our 1,000  Real Friends:https://www.realorganicproject.org/real-organic-friends/To read our weekly newsletter (which might just be the most forwarded newsletter on the internet!) and get firsthand news about what's happening with organic food, farming and policy, please subscribe here:https://www.realorganicproject.org/email/

For many Black Americans the land itself is the scene of the crime. That legacy of slavery has dramatically impacted the relationship that many Black Americans have with the land.  Food and land justice activist Leah Penniman is working to change that. A founder of Soul Fire Farm and the author of Farming While Black, Leah has made it her mission in life to reconnect Black and Brown people with the land.  In this conversation Leah and I talk about not only how the legacy of slavery is still seen in connection to the land and land ownership but how to heal some of these wounds. From spending time working with the land, to reparations, to political advocacy Leah and I talk about where we are, where we want to be, and how we get there.  About Leah: Leah Penniman is a Black Kreyol farmer, author, mother, and food justice activist who has been tending the soil and organizing for an anti-racist food system for25 years. She currently serves as founding co-executive director of Soul Fire Farm in Grafton, New York, a Black & Brown led project that works toward food and land justice. Her book is Farming While Black: Soul Fire Farm's Practical Guide to Liberation on the Land. Find out more about Leah's work at www.soulfirefarm.org and follow her @soulfirefarm on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. For a written transcript of this conversation go here. Action Items: Check out the Soul Fire Farm website where you'll find a ton of resources and action guides. Look at the reparations map created by the Northeast Farmers of Color Land Trust and Soul Fire Farm and find a project that connects with you and needs resources if you are able to make a financial contribution. Pay attention to legislation that is happening around farmers and our food and get in touch with your representatives. As few as 20 contacts from constituents make a difference. Resources: Farming While Black: Soul Fire Farm's Practical Guide to Liberation on the Land by Leah Penniman Connect with Leah: Soul Fire Farm Farming While Black, the book  Instagram Twitter Credits:  Thank you to the National Liberty Museum for their production support. Harmonica music courtesy of a friend.   

#004: Activist, organizer, farmer and educator Leah Penniman shares the history of food apartheid and land grabbing in the United States and discusses how the same practices are in play across the globe today, endangering the very existence of all species.  Leah Penniman is a longtime food sovereignty organizer and the author of Farming While Black: Soul Fire Farm's Practical Guide to Decolonizing Land, Food, and Agriculture.  She is  the Co-Founder, Co-Director and Programs Manager at Soul Fire Farm in upstate New York and is the recipient of a James Beard Leadership Award, a Fulbright Distinguished Award in Teaching, and was a NY finalist for the Presidential Award of Excellence in Teaching.  Leah serves on the Real Organic Project Advisory Board.To watch a video version of this podcast with access to the full transcript and links relevant to our conversation, please visit:https://www.realorganicproject.org/leah-penniman-revolution-based-on-land-episode-fourThe Real Organic Podcast is hosted by Dave Chapman and Linley Dixon, engineered by Brandon StCyr, and edited and produced by Jenny Prince.The Real Organic Project is a farmer-led movement working towards certifying 1,000 farms across the United States this year. Our add-on food label distinguishes soil-grown fruits and vegetables from hydroponically-raised produce, and pasture-raised meat, milk, and eggs from products harvested from animals in horrific confinement (CAFOs - confined animal feeding operations). To find a Real Organic farm near you, please visit:https://www.realorganicproject.org/farmsWe believe that the organic standards, with their focus on soil health, biodiversity, and animal welfare were written as they should be, but that the current lack of enforcement of those standards is jeopardizing the ability for small farms who adhere to the law to stay in business. The lack of enforcement is also jeopardizing the overall health of the customers who support the organic movement; customers who are not getting what they pay for at market but still paying a premium price. And the lack of enforcement is jeopardizing the very cycles (water, air, nutrients) that Earth relies upon to provide us all with a place to live, by pushing extractive, chemical agriculture to the forefront.If you like what you hear and are feeling inspired, we would love for you to join our movement by becoming one of our 1,000  Real Fans! https://www.realorganicproject.org/1000-real-fans/To read our weekly newsletter (which might just be the most forwarded newsletter on the internet!) and get firsthand news about what's happening with organic food, farming and policy, please subscribe here:https://www.realorganicproject.org/email/

"For most of human history, the way that we got our information -- we read the stars, we read the weather, we read the directionality of the migration of the birds...there was a way we were very versed in the primary source of earth," said Leah Penniman, Co-director and Farm Manager of the beloved Soul Fire Farm. Penniman is also the author of Farming While Black: Soul Fire Farm's Practical Guide to Liberation on the Land. This week on the Emergent Strategy Podcast, Mia and Leah talk about spirituality as it pertains to the land, adaptation during the pandemic, how to not perform your solidarity, and singing to your seeds. Happy June, ya'll.

Agriculture was once a major source of wealth among the Black middle class in America. But over the course of a century, Black-owned farmland, and the corresponding wealth, has diminished almost to the point of near extinction; only 1.7 percent of farms were owned by Black farmers in 2017. The story of how that happened–from sharecropping, to anti-Black terrorism, to exclusionary USDA loans–is the focus of this episode on the Mother Jones Podcast. Tom Philpott, Mother Jones' food and agriculture correspondent, joins Jamilah King on the show to talk about the racist history of farming and a new movement to reclaim Black farmland.  You'll hear from Tahz Walker, who helps run Tierra Negra farm, which sits on land that was once part of a huge and notorious plantation in North Carolina called Stagville. Today, descendants of people who were enslaved at Stagville own shares in Tierra Negra and harvest food from that land. Leah Penniman is another farmer in the movement. She is the author of Farming While Black: Soul Fire Farm's Practical Guide to Liberation on the Land, and the co-founder and managing director of a Soul Fire Farm, a cooperative farm she established in upstate New York that doubles as a training ground for farmers of color.  The campaign to reclaim Black farmland has received some political backing. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) introduced the Justice for Black Farmers Act in 2020, a bill that would attempt to reverse the discriminatory practices of the USDA by buying up farmland on the open market and giving it to Black farmers. The bill has received backing from high-profile on the left, including Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Reverend Raphael Warnock (D-GA), though it is unlikely to get the votes it would need to override the filibuster and pass. On the episode, you'll also hear from Dania Francis, an economist at the University of Massachusetts Boston and a researcher with the Land Loss and Reparations Project. When asked how about economic tactics for redressing the lost land and the current wealth gap, Francis suggests: “A direct way to address a wealth gap is to provide Black families with wealth.”

Happy Earth Week! We need the Earth. Farmer and founder of Off Grid in Color, Chantel Johnson joins us today to talk about the ways Earth is communicating with us and ways we can more lovingly communicate with the Earth. Episode Questions What is the origin of the land you currently live on? Who were the original stewards of the land? What is/are your daily practice(s) for taking care of the Earth? How do you communicate with the Earth? How do you support Earth keepers? How are you disengaging from capitalism? Stay in touch with and support the work of OGIC! Website:www.offgridincolors.com Email:offgridincolor@gmail.com IG: www.instagram.com/offgridincolor/ FB: https://www.facebook.com/offgridincolor Farm Raiser: https://gofund.me/f2c8ccb1 Become a Sustaining Donor: https://pages.donately.com/offgridincolor/form/frm_ba7e87b92c77 Resources Learn more about the history of land left from Black farmers here Farming While Black: Soul Fire Farm’s Practical Guide to Liberation on the Land by Leah Penniman Working The Roots: Over 400 Years of Traditional African American Healing by Michele Elizabeth Lee Check out and support the work of other Black women farmers such as Tanya Fields of the Black Feminist Project, and organizations dedicated to Black farmers such as Acres of Ancestry

How Food, Farming, And Health Disparities Are Interconnected | This episode is brought to you by BetterHelpRacial and ethnic disparities are sadly alive and well when it comes to health outcomes, land ownership, and how food is grown in the US. White farmers are at an overwhelming advantage when it comes to owning land and they see the greatest benefit from the 97% of the income generated by it. Additionally, lack of access to land and fresh food is a form of oppression that sets communities up for generational illness and strife. These are serious racial and ethnic inequalities happening in our current day and age, but they stem from the long-standing structural discrimination that our agricultural system is rooted in. In this minisode, Dr. Hyman explores these topics with Karen Washington and Leah Penniman.Karen Washington is a farmer, activist, and food advocate. She is the Co-owner and Farmer at Rise & Root Farm in Chester, New York. In 2010, Karen Co-Founded Black Urban Growers (BUGS), an organization supporting growers in both urban and rural settings. In 2012, Ebony magazine voted her one of the 100 most influential African Americans in the country, and in 2014 Karen was the recipient of the James Beard Leadership Award. Karen serves on the boards of the New York Botanical Gardens, SoulFire Farm, the Mary Mitchell Center, Why Hunger, and Farm School NYC.Karen shares her inspiring story of how starting a garden in her backyard in The Bronx led her to understand the bigger issues of food insecurity in underserved communities. As a former physical therapist looking into her patients’ health, she noticed Black and Brown clients were suffering with poor diet and inaccessibility to healthy foods, while white communities were not. Leah Penniman is a Black Kreyol educator, farmer, author, and food justice activist from Soul Fire Farm in Grafton, NY. She co-founded Soul Fire Farm in 2010 with the mission to end racism in the food system and reclaim our ancestral connection to land. As Co-Executive Director, Leah is part of a team that facilitates powerful food sovereignty programs—including farmer training for Black and Brown people, a subsidized farm food distribution program for communities living under food apartheid, and domestic and international organizing toward equity in the food system. Her book, Farming While Black: Soul Fire Farm's Practical Guide to Liberation on the Land is a love song for the land and her people. From a young age, Leah had a deep reverence for nature and the land. This led her to learn about historical regenerative farming practices and share that knowledge with others. It also led her to a greater understanding of our food system and why it’s a major propellor in racial inequality. President Johnson’s 1865 overturn of General William Sherman’s “40 acres and a mule” Order had massive implications for the future of Black farmers that we are still feeling the consequences of today. This episode is brought to you by BetterHelp. BetterHelp lets you get affordable counseling anytime, from anywhere. As a Doctor’s Farmacy listener you can get 10% off right now by going to betterhelp.com/drhyman.Find Dr. Hyman’s full-length conversation with Karen Washington, “A Way Out Of Food Racism And Poverty” here: https://DrMarkHyman.lnk.to/KarenWashingtonFind Dr. Hyman’s full-length conversation with Leah Penniman, “Why Food Is A Social Justice Issue” here: https://DrMarkHyman.lnk.to/LeahPenniman See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Regenerative agriculture is sometimes branded as a new idea. But the tradition of maintaining soil carbon and honoring the earth, of leaving the land better than we found it, has been part of indigenous traditions for thousands of years. So, what can we do to re-center the stories of Black and Native American growers and give credit where credit is due? Leah Penniman is the Co-Director and Farm Manager at Soul Fire Farm, an Afro-Indigenous-centered community farm committed to uprooting racism and seeding sovereignty in the food system. Leah has 20-plus years of experience as a soil steward and food sovereignty activist, and she is the author of Farming While Black: Soul Fire Farm’s Practical Guide to Liberation of the Land. On this episode of Reversing Climate Change, Leah joins Ross and cohost Rebekah Carlson to explain George Washington Carver’s work pioneered modern regenerative agriculture—two decades prior to J.I. Rodale. Leah describes the work she has done to reclaim a connection with the land (beyond the oppression of slavery and sharecropping) and offers advice on reconnecting with your own indigenous roots. Listen in for Leah’s insight on the shift among Black Americans from rural to urban farming and learn how you can support Soul Fire Farm’s work to promote social and environmental justice. Connect with Ross & Rebekah Purchase Nori Carbon Removals Join Nori's book on club on Patreon Nori on Twitter Nori Newsletter Email podcast@nori.com Listen to our other podcast, Carbon Removal Newsroom Resources Soul Fire Farm Soul Fire on Facebook Soul Fire on Instagram Soul Fire on Twitter Soul Fire on YouTube Farming While Black: Soul Fire Farm’s Practical Guide to Liberation of the Land by Leah Penniman ‘Why Farming Is an Act of Defiance for People of Color’ in Healthyish Owen Taylor on The Table Underground Podcast EP030 The Cooking Gene: A Journey Through African American Culinary History in the Old South by Michael W. Twitty The land-healing work of George Washington Carver at Grist Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II by Douglas A. Blackmon The Justice for Black Farmers Act --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/reversingclimatechange/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/reversingclimatechange/support

It wouldn’t be unreasonable to say that we are always in an age of crisis. Whether this entails more apocalyptic tendencies or more tempered framings, crisis seems to be a constant companion throughout human history.  At present, crises abound regarding climate change, exploitation of land, and soil degradation. We’re seeing major cracks in political economies, many of which stem from misguided cultural paradigms.  With an industrialized global economy based on fossil fuels and an ethos that disregards limits, we find ourselves in an unsustainable present, with what is becoming an increasingly likely catastrophic future. Most people agree that we can’t continue along the same trajectory we're currently on. Yet, many attempts to forestall the further collapse of prevailing systems appear insufficient for the tasks at hand. What will it take to shift toward more egalitarian and low-carbon societies? Is it possible for global supply chains to be ecologically sustainable and ethically justifiable? What negative impacts do global and industrialized political economies have regarding personal autonomy, spiritual fulfillment, community connectedness, and ecological conviviality? When should we practice skepticism toward centralized and tech-optimist solutions to our many crises? Jeffrey Howard speaks with Chris Smaje, a farmer and social scientist that has coworked a small farm in southwest England for more than 15 years. In his new book, A Small Farm Future (2020), he argues that societies built around local economies, self-provisioning, agricultural diversity, and commoning of certain ecological resources are our best shot for creating a sustainable future—in terms of the ecological, nutritional, and psychosocial.  In this small farm future, Smaje doesn’t imply that there will be no place for large farms or industrialization. Similarly, he doesn’t propose this vision as a panacea for all our problems nor as a utopia looking backward toward a romanticized past. There will be trade-offs. Difficult ones. He offers a melioristic way forward, believing that ecological and moral limits are going to force our hand, compelling us to consider more radical alternatives than the status quo allows. A Small Farm Future advances a surprising amount of optimism despite how much dominant systems are not only showing signs of significant breakdown—made more pronounced by the COVID pandemic—but suggesting their likely collapse. Whether or not the types of collapse Smaje discusses actually happen in the ways he anticipates, he believes that the earth’s population will be better off if we shift toward small-holding property ownership, oriented around place-based communities and local economies.  Several questions worth contemplating. In what ways does scaling up systems make us less able to deal with crises effectively? What advantages do permaculture and regenerative agriculture have over large-scale, monocultural approaches? What are some politically feasible ways to make land access more egalitarian? And what trade-offs might we have to make in moving toward a small farm future? Show Notes A Small Farm Future: Making the Case for a Society Built Around Local Economies, Self-Provisioning, Agricultural Diversity, and a Shared Earth by Chris Smaje (2021) Degrowth by Giorgos Kallis (2018) Limits: Why Malthus Was Wrong and Why Environmentalists Should Care by Giorgos Kallis (2019) Less Is More: How Degrowth Will Save the World by Jason Hickel (2021) Farming While Black: Soul Fire Farm's Practical Guide to Liberation on Land by Leah Penniman (2018) Smallholders, Householders: Farm Families and the Ecology of Intensive, Sustainable Agriculture by Robert McC. Netting (1993) Stuffed and Starved: Markets, Power, and the Hidden Battle for the World’s Food System by Raj Patel (2007) Peasants and the Art of Farming by Jan Douwe van der Ploeg (2013) Against the Grain: A Deep History of the Earliest States by James Scott (2017) Ramp Hollow: The Ordeal of Appalachia by Steven Stoll (2017) A Small Farm Future blog by Chris Smaje

Winona LaDuke—an Anishinaabekwe (Ojibwe) member of the White Earth Nation—is an environmentalist, economist, author, and prominent Native American activist working to restore and preserve indigenous cultures and lands.She graduated from Harvard University in 1982 with a B.A. in economics (rural economic development) and from Antioch University with an M.A. in community economic development. While at Harvard, she came to understand that the problems besetting native nations were the result of centuries of governmental exploitation. At age 18 she became the youngest person to speak to the United Nations about Native American issues.In 1989 LaDuke founded the White Earth Land Recovery Project in Minnesota, focusing on the recovery, preservation, and restoration of land on the White Earth Reservation. This includes branding traditional foods through the Native Harvest label.In 1993 LaDuke gave the Annual E. F. Schumacher Lecture entitled “Voices from White Earth.” That same year she co-founded and is executive director of Honor the Earth, whose goal is to support Native environmental issues and to ensure the survival of sustainable Native communities. As executive director she travels nationally and internationally to work with Indigenous communities on climate justice, renewable energy, sustainable development, food sovereignty, environmental justice, and human rights.Among the books she has authored are All Our Relations: Native Struggles for Land and Life (1999, 2016); The Winona LaDuke Reader: A Collection of Essential Writings (2002); Recovering the Sacred: The Power of Naming and Claiming (2005); The Militarization of Indian Country (2013).LaDuke's many honors include nomination in 1994 by Time magazine as one of America's 50 most promising leaders under 40; the Thomas Merton Award in 1996, the Ann Bancroft Award for Women's Leadership in 1997, and the Reebok Human Rights Award in 1998. In 1998 Ms. Magazine named her Woman of the Year for her work with Honor the Earth. She was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 2007, and in 2017 she received the Alice and Clifford Spendlove Prize in Social Justice, Diplomacy, and Tolerance.Winona LaDuke was an active leader as a Water Protector with the Dakota Access Pipeline protests in 2017 at Standing Rock, where the Sioux Nation and hundreds of their supporters fought to preserve the Nation's drinking water and sacred lands from the damage the pipeline would cause. Over the years her activism has not deviated from seeking justice and restoration for Indigenous peoples.Leah Penniman is an educator, farmer/peyizan, author, and food justice activist from Soul Fire Farm in Grafton, NY. She co-founded Soul Fire Farm in 2011 with the mission to end racism in the food system and reclaim our ancestral connection to land. Penniman is part of a team that facilitates powerful food sovereignty programs – including farmer trainings for Black & Brown people, a subsidized farm food distribution program for people living under food apartheid, and domestic and international organizing toward equity in the food system.Penniman holds an MA in Science Education and BA in Environmental Science and International Development from Clark University. She has been farming since 1996 and teaching since 2002. The work of Penniman and Soul Fire Farm has been recognized by the Soros Racial Justice Fellowship, Fulbright Program, Omega Sustainability Leadership Award, Presidential Award for Science Teaching, NYS Health Emerging Innovator Awards, and Andrew Goodman Foundation, among others. She is the author of Farming While Black: Soul Fire Farm's Practical Guide to Liberation on the Land (2018).

Today we’ll hear from Leah Penniman, co-founder of Soul Fire Farm and author of ‘Farming While Black.’ Originally recorded at the 2020 MOSES Organic Farming Conference, her keynote address discusses uprooting racism and seeding sovereignty in our food system. Join her for a journey through history to understand how we arrived here, and learn about the work going on to heal, repair, and create justice. For more for Leah, visit her at: www.farmingwhileblack.org www.soulfirefarm.org @leahpenniman Leah Penniman is a Black Kreyol educator, farmer/peyizan, author, and food justice activist from Soul Fire Farm in Grafton, NY. She co-founded Soul Fire Farm in 2011 with the mission to end racism in the food system and reclaim our ancestral connection to land. As co-Executive Director, Leah is part of a team that facilitates powerful food sovereignty programs – including farmer trainings for Black & Brown people, a subsidized farm food distribution program for people living under food apartheid, and domestic and international organizing toward equity in the food system. Leah holds an MA in Science Education and BA in Environmental Science and International Development from Clark University, and is a Manye (Queen Mother) in Vodun. Leah has been farming since 1996 and teaching since 2002. The work of Leah and Soul Fire Farm has been recognized by the Soros Racial Justice Fellowship, Fulbright Program, Omega Sustainability Leadership Award, Presidential Award for Science Teaching, NYS Health Emerging Innovator Awards, and Andrew Goodman Foundation, among others. Her book, Farming While Black: Soul Fire Farm’s Practical Guide to Liberation on the Land is available here. Thanks for listening! HerbRally www.herbrally.com

Host Jenna Liut speaks with farmer, educator, author, and food sovereignty activist, Leah Penniman. She is the Co-Founder, Co-Director and Program Manager of Soul Fire Farm in Petersburg, New York, and she is the author of the book, "Farming While Black: Soul Fire Farm's Practical Guide to Liberation on the Land." For the past 20 years, Leah has worked to end racism and injustice in our food system by increasing farmland stewardship by people of color, promoting equity in food access, and training the next generation of activist farmers.Eating Matters is powered by Simplecast.

In today’s episode, we talk to Coordinator Stephanie Morningstar and John Deloatch (JD) Giraldo of the Northeast Farmers of Color Land Trust. Their vision is to advance land sovereignty in the northeast region through permanent and secure land tenure for Indigenous, Black, Latinx, and Asian farmers and land stewards who will use the land in a sacred manner that honors our ancestors dreams - for sustainable farming, human habitat, ceremony, native ecosystem restoration, and cultural preservation. Stephanie Morningstar, of the Oneida Nation, is an herbalist, soil and seed steward, scholar, student, and Earth Worker dedicated to decolonizing and liberating minds, hearts, and land- one plant, person, ecosystem, and non-human being at a time. Stephanie is the Coordinator of the Northeast Farmers of Color Land Trust, grows medicines and food for her community at Sky World Apothecary & Farm; and mobilizes knowledge for Indigenous-led climate change and food sovereignty research projects for Global Water Futures. John Deloatch Giraldo is an Earthworker that focuses on connection to the land, healing with the land and education of how natural systems work. He is guided by Freedom Loving Plants, also known as weeds, and the stories of ancestral plants. His dream is to have green spaces where people can pass on family and cultural traditions as well as create new experiences. He believes it’s critical to have spaces where people can pass on their stories and ways of being in respect to Mother Nature, especially for people who are migrating from different Mother Lands to those who are being raised here so they can maintain a sense of culture, tradition and sovereignty. Resources https://nefoclandtrust.org/ Farming While Black: Soul Fire Farm’s Practical Guide to Liberation on the Land by Leah Penniman Lilith's Brood: The Complete Xenogenesis Trilogy and Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler Oryx and Crake and The Year of the Flood  by Margaret Atwood The Organic Medicinal Herb Farmer: The Ultimate Guide to Producing High-Quality Herbs on a Market Scale by Jeff and Melanie Carpenter To learn more about the Grow and Glow package mentioned in today's episode, visit https://www.soulsoilpodcast.com/offerings/grow-and-glow-package To learn how to become a Patreon and support the show while getting extra resources and support, visit https://www.patreon.com/soulsoil  

This week on READ TO ME we go to the land! I read from the introduction to FARMING WHILE BLACK: Soul Fire Farm’s Practical Guide to Liberation on the Land by Leah Penniman.   We look at the craft of guidebook writing. We savor the craft the global frame, and Penniman's expert use of it. We chomp on nutrient-rich sentences, and we see that mission statements do, in fact, have craft too.   And we get to see food systems through the lens of apartheid, racism, freedom, community, and justice. We get to see Black traditions of organic farming and community agriculture.   You're going to feel so fed, in every way.

In Episode 86, Quinn & Brian ask: What can we do to support the black farmers who have the ancient answers to rebuilding our soil, farms, and food system? Our guest is: Leah Penniman, Co-Director and Farm Manager of Soul Fire Farm, a farm dedicated to ending racism and injustice in the food system. Leah is also the author of “Farming While Black: Soul Fire Farm’s Practical Guide to Liberation on the Land.” In many ways, Soul Fire Farm represents a new start for American agriculture — a new start built on some very old roots, carrying on the legacy and wisdom of sustainable African farming traditions. We all benefit from the incredible work that Li and the others at Soul Fire Farm are doing, and this is a piece of historical and ecological education that everyone in the US, in particular, should be aware of. Have feedback or questions? Tweet us, or send a message to funtalk@importantnotimportant.com Trump’s Book Club: “Braiding Sweetgrass” by Robin Wall Kimmerer https://www.amazon.com/registry/wishlist/3R5XF4WMZE0TV/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_ep_ws_2Gr8Ab6RS5WF3 Links: www.soulfirefarm.org www.farmingwhileblack.org Northeast Farmers of Color Land Trust: www.nefoclandtrust.org National Black Food and Justice Alliance: www.blackfoodjustice.org Instagram: www.instagram.com/leahpenniman Facebook: www.facebook.com/leah.penniman Connect with us: Subscribe to our newsletter at ImportantNotImportant.com! Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/ImportantNotImp Follow Quinn: twitter.com/quinnemmett Follow Brian: twitter.com/briancolbertken Like and share us on Facebook: facebook.com/ImportantNotImportant Intro/outro by Tim Blane: timblane.com Important, Not Important is produced by Crate Media Support this podcast

Did you know that racism is deeply embedded in our food system? Join Food Sleuth Radio host and Registered Dietitian, Melinda Hemmelgarn, for her interview with Leah Penniman, Founding Co-Director of Soul Fire Farm in Grafton, New York, and author of Farming While Black: Soul Fire Farm’s Practical Guide to Liberation on the Land. Penniman discusses the tragedy of racism in our food system, defines “food apartheid,” and provides examples of how USDA discriminated against black farmers. She is the recipient of the James Beard Foundation Leadership Award, and was interviewed in the July 2019 Sun Magazine Related website: https://www.soulfirefarm.org/media/farming-while-black/

In our public conversation with farmer and activist Leah Penniman, we listen to her tell the powerful story of Soul Fire Farm, as told in her book, Farming While Black: Soul Fire Farm’s Practical Guide to Liberation on the Land. She shares with us on uncovering truth with language, how Afro-indigenous communities have influenced sustainable … Continue reading Leah Penniman: A Food Justice Movement for All →

Author of "Farming While Black: Soul Fire Farm’s Practical Guide to Liberation on the Land"

Leah Penniman fell in love with farming when she was a teenager, became a farmer and food justice advocate, and with her husband founded Soul Fire Farm in Grafton, New York. The farm provides food in for those with limited access to fresh produce, and it's a center for teaching and learning about farming and African/indigenous heritage for people of color. Leah's new book, Farming While Black: Soul Fire Farm’s Practical Guide to Liberation on the Land, is a profound and wide-ranging exploration of everything from the practical details of how to start a farm to the rich history of African-heritage farming and healing traditions.  

I’m super excited because my guest is as passionate about social justice as I am and she’s used her life and skills to really connect social justice and food justice together. I think you will love this interview with Leah Penniman from (http://www.soulfirefarm.org/) in New York!   (http://www.soulfirefarm.org/) is committed to ending racism and injustice in our food system. 20 years of experience as a soil steward and food sovereignty activist. Tell us a little about yourself. Farming While Black: Soul Fire Farm’s Practical Guide to Liberation on the Land (https://amzn.to/2uEWpNq) Definitely, I’d be happy to! I’ve been farming 22 years and I am the founding co-director of (http://www.soulfirefarm.org/) IT’s a little community farm run by Black-Indigenous Latin and located up in the mountains of Grafton NY in love with farming my whole life, NY and really see it as a foundation for social justice and environmental stewardship. Here at (http://www.soulfirefarm.org/) (http://www.soulfirefarm.org/) We are committed to ending racism in the food system.Part of that is what we grow in our food. (http://www.soulfirefarm.org/) We grow on 5 acres and all of that gets boxed up to those who need it most in the communityrefugeesimmigrantspeople who have an incarcerated loved onelatin indigenous folks who want to farm We have cultivated 500 new farmers over the years through our program. How are you supporting your farm if you are donating all of this food? Where are you getting your money from do you sell some food too? Do you get donations? Where do you get your income from? That’s a really valid question, we started out as a family farm and we started out to be a viable business. it would be a little strange to be training the next generation of farmers if it was a farm that relies on donations or a slush fund.  So we use a sliding scale model people who earn more money and have more wealth pay more less balance The farmer get’s market value for the produce non-profit branch to our work we get some funds for that that helps with our education  youth programs we do public education We travel all around the regions sharing information about food justice. I love all this, this weekend was the indigenous march in Washington DC and the kids at a large interaction with the and the government shut down over immigration and here you are helping train immigrants and doing all this wonderful work. I feel like it’s such a timely topic. Tell me about your first gardening experience?So, I did not grow up gardening I did grow up in a rural area and was friends with the trees for sure. Our family was often one of the only brown skin families in town. We got bullied taunted So we spent quite a bit of time outside and the forest was really our first friend. When it was time to get a summer job as a team got a job in Boston at the food project From the very first time I felt the satisfaction of using a strip hoe  to clean up a row of cilantro I was just completely hooked. Not only did we grow food on 40 acres urban market garden in the city on vacant lots soup kitchens social justice and working with the earth directly! Fascinating! I love the way you talk about getting hooked cleaning up a row of cilatnro? So what were the next steps how did you start a farm? yeah! So Soul Fire farm started with just our partner Jonah and our 2 children newborn and  south end of Albany my high poverty area food deserts food apartheid results in certain folks being hungry others having join a farm csa that was super expensive and walk over 2 miles to pick up the vegetables Our neighbors, didn’t have that luxury and when they found out we knew how to... Support this podcast

Tune in to hear about: - What cover cropping and vermicomposting have in common. - How Europeans essentially kidnapped skilled Black agriculturalists. - How Leah’s upbringing and experiences brought her to a connection with the earth and farming. - Why changing diets in marginalized communities really is an access issue NOT an education, motivation, or anything-else issue. - The incredible programs Soul Fire Farm is running, how they came about, and where they’d like to go from here.   Leah is a Black Kreyol farmer who has been tending the soil for twenty years and organizing for an anti-racist food system for fifteen years. She’s an educator, food justice activist, executive director of Soul Fire Farm and author of Farming While Black: Soul Fire Farm’s Practical Guide to Liberation on the Land.   Listen at the link below, on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play or wherever you get your podcasts.

According to the article, Reform or Transformation? The Pivotal Role of Food Justice in the U.S. Food Movement, the global food price crisis of 2008 ushered in record levels of hunger for the world's poor at a time of record global harvests as well as record profits for the world's major agrifoods corporations (Lean 2008). According to the United Nations World Food Program, more than 90 percent of the world's hungry are simply too poor to buy enough food (2011). Some of the planet's most hungry people live in the Global North, though hunger is measured as “food insecurity”. Food insecurity in the United States is characterized by a nationwide epidemic of diet-related diseases that result in an estimated $240 billion a year in health costs that fall disproportionately on low-income communities of color (Schlosser 2001; Baker et al. 2006). Researchers have shown that what is called the food-justice movement emerged from several sources, including movements for environmental justice (Bullard 1994), working-class communities of color dealing with diet-related diseases (Herrera, Khanna, and Davis 2009), critiques of racism in the food system (Self 2003; Allen 2008) as well as critiques of racism in the food movement itself (Slocum 2007; Guthman 2008). Moreover, the very notion of ‘food justice' developed within the “context of institutional racism, racial formation, and racialized geographies” (Alkon and Norgaard 2009). The deep-rooted influences, practice, and knowledge that filters throughout discourses on and around food, land, and resistance, are undoubtedly rooted in the humanity of Africana peoples. In fact, nowhere is this captured better than how rice made its way to Americas, first to Brazil and then to the Carolinas. Here is a story recounted by a Brazilian woman: “An enslaved African woman, unable to prevent her children's sale into slavery, placed some rice seeds in their hair so they would be able to eat when the ship reached its destination. As their hair was very thick, she thought the grains would go undetected. However, as they disembarked the slave ship, the planter who eventually bought them discovered the grains. In running his hands through one child's hair, he found the seeds and demanded to know what they were. The child replied, ‘this is food from Africa.' This is the way rice came to Brazil, through the Africans, who smuggled the seeds in their hair” (Judith Carney, With Grains in Her Hair: Rice in Colonial Brazil, Slavery and Abolition, 25(1), 2004: 1–27). Today we will hear the second keynote address from this past Oct BUGs conference, held in Durham North Carolina by Leah Penniman. Leah Penniman, is Co-Director and Program Manager at Soul Fire Farm. Leah 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. She co-founded Soul Fire Farm in 2011 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, food justice organizing, writing, speaking, “making it rain,” and anything that involves heavy lifting, sweat, and soil. She is author of Farming While Black: Soul Fire Farm's Practical Guide to Liberation on the Land, 2018. Our show was produced today in solidarity with the Native/Indigenous, African, and Afro Descendant communities at Standing Rock; Venezuela; Cooperation Jackson in Jackson, Mississippi; Brazil; the Avalon Village in Detroit; Colombia; Kenya; Palestine; South Africa; and Ghana and other places who are fighting for the protection of our land for the benefit of all peoples! Enjoy the program!

Where do we begin to think about food? Is it about how we grow it, how we eat it, or who has access to it? Isn't it all of it? However you put it, food is as political as it gets. Today, we'll hear from farmers, organizers, workers, and seed-keepers who all attended the NESAWG conference on food justice in late October. Among them, Leah Penniman whose beautiful new book, Farming While Black: Soul Fire Farm's Practical Guide to Liberation on the Land, is out now. Thanks to Cheyenna Weber, consulting producer for the NESAWG segment. Support theLFShow, 10 Years of Making Power Through Media!

Keystone XL Blocked Again / Beyond The Headlines / Emerging Science Note: Coral Reefs Wrecked By Rising Seas / Fighting Climate Change, Naturally / Let The Leaves Be And Feed The Birds / BirdNote®: How Much Do Birds Eat? / Farming While Black: Soul Fire Farm's Practical Guide to Liberation on the Land In a major setback for the controversial Keystone XL pipeline, a federal judge has halted the project, citing poor environmental reviews. Also, it turns out that a lazy fall yard-work ethic can help feed hungry native birds, which feed on the insects that thrive in leaf litter. And meet the farmers who are working to cultivate justice and root out racism, by reconnecting people of color to the earth. Liberation on the land and more, in this installment of Living on Earth from PRI.

Keystone XL Blocked Again / Beyond The Headlines / Emerging Science Note: Coral Reefs Wrecked By Rising Seas / Fighting Climate Change, Naturally / Let The Leaves Be And Feed The Birds / BirdNote®: How Much Do Birds Eat? / Farming While Black: Soul Fire Farm's Practical Guide to Liberation on the Land In a major setback for the controversial Keystone XL pipeline, a federal judge has halted the project, citing poor environmental reviews. Also, it turns out that a lazy fall yard-work ethic can help feed hungry native birds, which feed on the insects that thrive in leaf litter. And meet the farmers who are working to cultivate justice and root out racism, by reconnecting people of color to the earth. Liberation on the land and more, in this installment of Living on Earth from PRI.

Keystone XL Blocked Again / Beyond The Headlines / Emerging Science Note: Coral Reefs Wrecked By Rising Seas / Fighting Climate Change, Naturally / Let The Leaves Be And Feed The Birds / BirdNote®: How Much Do Birds Eat? / Farming While Black: Soul Fire Farm's Practical Guide to Liberation on the Land In a major setback for the controversial Keystone XL pipeline, a federal judge has halted the project, citing poor environmental reviews. Also, it turns out that a lazy fall yard-work ethic can help feed hungry native birds, which feed on the insects that thrive in leaf litter. And meet the farmers who are working to cultivate justice and root out racism, by reconnecting people of color to the earth. Liberation on the land and more, in this installment of Living on Earth from PRI.

This week, NYFC's Michelle Hughes interviews Leah Penniman, co-founder of Soul Fire Farm, food justice activist, and author of the new book "Farming While Black: Soul Fire Farm’s Practical Guide to Liberation on the Land." Leah talks about her history, her spirituality, and her work training the next generation of black and brown farmers to build a more sustainable and equitable food system. “Black people have a history in regenerative agriculture that is not circumscribed by slavery, share cropping, and tenant farming. We have tens of thousands of years of history innovating and coming up with dignified solutions to solving hunger in our communities without destroying the planet.” NYFC members get 35% off of Leah's book at Chelsea Green Publishing, join today! www.youngfarmers.org/join Soul Fire Farm: http://www.soulfirefarm.org/ Farming While Black at Chelsea Green: https://media.chelseagreen.com/product/farming-while-black/

Good day to you, dear sustainable food enthusiasts! I am your host, Jason Velázquez, and I thank you for tuning in to Episode #14 of Plenty. On this week’s show, we hear from Leah Penniman, author of Farming While Black: Soul Fire Farm’s Practical Guide to Liberation on the Land. Before we get into the episode. I have to pause to say that I was so excited…and so grateful, to get the notification yesterday that this podcast network just gained a new member at the $1 per month level.… The post Plenty #14: Farming While Black appeared first on The Greylock Glass.