April ’25 Love Notes

The god who created the earth and the sea is with us, the spirits are with us. We are free and we shall remain free.
Dutty Boukman (before the Bois Caïman ceremony)

Blessings Beloved Community

Spiritual fortification has always been vital to our revolutionary spaces. One powerful example is the Bois Caïman ceremony—the Vodou ritual that ignited the Haitian Revolution. In the colony of Saint-Domingue (modern-day Haiti), enslaved Africans from diverse ethnic groups like the Fon, Kongo, Yoruba, and Igbo gathered in secret, united by the pursuit of freedom. Vodou became their shared language, a spiritual ground where they called upon the lwa—Ezili Dantor, Ogou—for strength and protection. Through drumming, chanting, and sacred oaths, the ceremony became a ritual of uprising and awakening, where spirit fueled resistance. Spiritual fortification grounds us in purpose and turns fear into focus.

Let us continue to draw strength from the whispers of our ancestors, their courage in our breath, their unfinished dreams rising in our steps. Each time we gather is a continuation of a prayer spanning generations.

May your breath be your anchor.

With love and solidarity,

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

Flip through the graphic storytelling of Soul Fire Farm’s year in our stunning 2024 Annual Report

We had the honor of being in kinship with 407,629 people on this sacred land and beyond. Each one, journeying from near and far, came with a personal intention held close to their heart. It has been an honor to witness the many reasons that this Beloved Community finds their way to this hallowed land. All the ways that we each bring our brilliance to illuminate this path toward liberation. With each unfolding of a new year and the abundance it brings, we never forget that it all begins with love.

This visual storytelling of our 2024 year is an extension of that love. From us to you.

We just raised our eighth timber frame at Soul Fire Farm!

The new Abode timber frame features unconventional diagonal rafters and our signature Black Cherry live edge beam at the entry. We love timberframe construction because of its beauty, sustainability, deep history, and the creative design opportunities it offers to adapt traditional techniques to contemporary aesthetic. Unlike conventional framing, timberframe uses large wood beams, with wood structural connections instead of nails, to create a whole building system that carries the weight of the structure. It is a more durable and fire-resistant form of construction, suited for builders with a multi-generational commitment to longevity. We use locally harvested wood that skips the kiln and thousands of miles of transportation, making it a lower embodied energy building material. Timber frame construction dates back 1000s of years to Japan, Italy, Russia, and other parts of Eurasia. We offer a bow of gratitude to Jonah for designing the frame, and the Minbiole brothers for cutting and raising it. To quote Neshima, “Something I love about our buildings here is that they are unshakable.” There is so much in this – to be safe and to be in integrity offering space to our community, it’s important for the buildings to communicate, “We got you! Whatever winds may blow, this structure is firm and strong.”

Community Work & Learn

We’re so grateful to everyone who visited in April and the collective efforts that truly made the first Work & Learn days such a success. We’re excited to offer a weekend engagement in June. Click on the links below to register for upcoming programs.

May 6
May 13
June 1

Group registration may be offered on select days to groups with participants 16 years and older. Complete this form if you’d like to request to register a group.

Upcoming Skill Shares

Foraging at Soul Fire Farm with Ria Ibrahim & Angelica Vargas
In person
May 23, 10am – 3pm ET

Learn to cultivate a personal relationship with our environment by foraging for food and medicine. Join Chef Ria and Herbalist Angelica Vargas for an experience of practicing rematriation on land using our senses and collectively developing our intuition through wild plants. We will explore the sacred bridge between food and healing.

Chef Ria will guide us in preparing a beautiful meal combining wild and cultivated plants that blends ancestral and modern culinary traditions. Angelica will share ways of developing personal relationships with plants as well as safety protocols for foraging in the wild. This immersive hands on experience invites you to learn from the plants that grow without human tending and offer us deep nourishment. We welcome all ages to join this workshop.

Learn more and register here!

Soil 3D Skill Share with Tiffany LaShae & Briana Alfaro
In person
May 30, 10am – 3pm ET

Healthy soils are the foundation of productive and sustainable agriculture and a healthy planet. Managing healthy soils begins by assessing their unique characteristics and understanding how these characteristics impact behavior. Join soil scientist Tiffany LaShae and Soul Fire Farm’s Briana Alfaro as we explore soil properties such as texture, structure, and color. Together we will learn how to assess soil pH, hardness, aggregate stability, and water infiltration, and learn how to create a soil auger profile to help us understand the story of our soils.

Learn more and register here

Climate Resilient Farming Strategies
with Angela & Timothy Brigmon of Brigmon Farms and Ceci Pineda
Virtual
May 27, 4pm – 5:30pm ET

Addressing the climate crisis is an act of survival, adaptation, and hope for the future. In our farming practices, it requires us to center ancestral knowledge to build a more resilient ecosystem and to prepare for changes and extreme events. Together we will explore strategies for adapting to climate impacts, hear first-hand experience moving through climate disasters, and share preparedness tools that can help us plan for extreme events. This workshop will provide space for participants to share their own experiences and emergent strategies related to farming in a changing climate.

Learn more and register here

Come experience some of the plants, animals and humans that grow at Soul Fire Farm.

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. Our first tour will be on June 20th.

Family Fun Day

Join us for an afternoon of fun activities to connect to land and nature, foundational for lifelong connection and commitment to the Earth.

Activities will include scavenger hunt, herb harvest, field games, fort building, and nature crafts, and will be geared toward children ages 4-12. Children of all ages are welcome along with their caregivers.

June 20, 2025 12:00 – 3:00 pm
You have the option to stay for Farm Tour until 5:00 pm
Learn more about Family Fun Day and register here.

Sovereign: Reclaiming Black Land

In this podcast, rich in storytelling, history, and ritual, we explore what it means to be sovereign. With Black land at the center, this series brings together prominent activists, artists, weavers and the rising generation of Black land stewards. Crafting inspiring conversations that honor the past and create blueprints for the future.

Monthly IG Live series @soulfirefarm with audio later shared on podcast streaming platforms. Hosted by Clara AgborTabi and Crysta Bloom

Listen to yesterday’s conversation with Joshua Kwaku Asiedu and Bailey Hutchison, and previous episodes, here or watch previous IG Live shows @soulfirefarm

We had the deep honor of visiting current Braiding Seeds Fellow, Lauren Peters @wampumconsulting, and other members of the Bear Clan in Mashpee, MA.

We learned critical lessons from Lauren’s Clan Mother, Anita Little—a powerful matriarch and visionary leader—and her brother Jim Peters, whose lifelong work continues to strengthen cultural roots and community bonds. As well as engage with the many self-taught skills of her brother-cousins who are also helping with leading the next generation of farmers. Together, we walked the land, listened, and learned about the ongoing challenges and powerful strides of Wampanoag land stewardship. They are fishing oysters, hunting, repairing the soil, housing community, cooking, crafting, teaching, building, adapting. This site visit was a living emblem reminding us that food sovereignty is not simply about growing food—it’s about reclaiming relationships, culture, and collective healing. Deep gratitude to members of the Rabbit Clan and other arms of community that welcomed us warmly to the sacred lands.

We believe that honest feedback and generative conflict are essential for growth, and have several systems in place to encourage transformative dialogue.

Our team just offered a webinar on “Courageous Conversations” – a trauma-informed and decolonial adaptation of nonviolent communication. Check out the recording here.

Courageous conversations include these important steps:

Affirmation of common ground and shared commitments
Naming the events that caused pain, without projecting or assuming
Sharing emotions and feelings that arose because of the event
Naming underlying basic needs unmet during the event
Expression of curiosity, openness to understand
Making clear requests without demanding
Engaging in active listening
Apologizing
Taking turns sharing and receiving
Exploring options and making new commitments

We are inspired and informed by the work of adrienne maree brown in we will not cancel us, Maurice Mitchell in Building Resilient Organizations, Kazu Haga in Healing Resistance, and Meenadchi in Decolonizing Nonviolent Communication.

Having these systems in place does not mean that transforming conflict is easy – it’s work that can test us to our core. How do your organizations and communities handle feedback and growth? Please share your ideas so we can grow together.

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.

We are so excited to announce two events this ‘25 season featuring our wonderful friends from the Stockbridge Munsee Band of the Mohican Nation.

On Friday, May 16, Shawn Stevens (Red Eagle) will present an evening of music, storytelling, and prophecy. Learn more and register here.

On Friday, July 11, Misty Cook will present a workshop on Mohican plant medicine, including a hands on medicine gathering, drying, and preserving. Learn more and register here.

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.

Alumni Spotlight: Lauren Renee Salinas-Garcia [2024 FIRE 1]

Hello! I am LaurenReneé, it’s such an honor to be interconnected in reverence for the earth with you all. I am currently rejoicing in the unconquerable beacon of Earth’s sentient wisdom! Through traditional foods, medicinal plants, ancient ceremonies – Creator guides me to land justice through restoring sovereign ways-of-thriving and honoring nature’s gifts.

Collective liberation and indigenous pedagogical practices are the pillars of my commitment to BIPOC youth and communities. I study with the Indigenous Cultures Institute as a Tānko-Xinachtli Educator, and I support cultural revitalization efforts as a youth mentor and liaison. Land stewardship with children at the PEAS Farm & Urban Orchard has been a precious gift. In my role as a PEAS Outdoor Education Specialist and co-author of the Easy PEASy Guidebook, all my efforts are poured into nurturing children’ s sense of wonder and compassion for the natural world.

Despite colonization, detribalization, and attempted erasure of our lifeways – we, guided by the natural world, illuminate our ancestors’ wisdom and prayers. Still here, in reciprocity with the Earth

Love, Farmer LaLa

If you’re interested in connecting or learning how to support Partners for Education, Agriculture, & Sustainability or Indigenous Cultures Institute, you can reach me at mamatierravida@gmail.com

FARMING WHILE BLACK is now available for educational licensing
on New Day Films

Happy Earth Day, We are excited to offer our award-winning film and accompanying curriculum guide for educational licensing. Thank you for considering FARMING WHILE BLACK for your students, schools, institutions, and organizations

More Details

PARTNERSHIP UPDATES

*Kenni Walker (NBFJA), Kenya Krumel (NBFJA + SFF FIRE Alumni), and Susuyu Lassa (SFF)*

Black Sanctuary: National Black Food & Justice Alliance 10th Anniversary Celebration and Member Gathering

SFF was heartened to fellowship with our Alliance fam during its annual member gathering! Held in Jackson, MS, it was a wonderful, connecting, and celebratory time spent in kinship with comrades in this work. It really felt like a big ol’ family reunion, during which we celebrated 10 years of the Alliance (Ayibobo!), conducted a conjunctural analysis session to inform regional organizing, advanced our Black, Land, and Power + Self Determining Food Economies work together, and deepened our relationships with self and each other. Learn more about the Alliance and how you can plug into and support our collective work by clicking this link.

Land & Liberation 2025 Federal Funding Resources: Plug into community, find resources + service providers, register for What The Funding ?!? (WTF) office hours + calls to stay abreast of changes and updates to the current federal financial landscape. This space online + virtual space is stewarded by Dania Davy of Land & Liberation LLC.

Black Farmers decry misinformation and manufactured scarcity plaguing our current political landscape! Read this statement, published and circulated by NY based food and land justice orgs that work together under the umbrella of the Black Farmer Ecosystem. You can learn about the Black Farmer Ecosystem NYS (so far) by clicking this link, and donate to sustain our work.

Additionally, please read this timely article on “How Funders Can and Must Be Strategically Bold In The Face of Federal Failures” published by Liberating Investment in Food & Farm Ecosystems working group (LIFE). LIFE builds power to democratically redistribute funds to invest in frontline food system solutions by organizing resources and transforming philanthropy.

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