The function of freedom is to free someone else.
Toni Morrison
Tender Greetings Beloved Community,
The days are beginning to soften at their edges, the light is changing, and the land is offering its final gifts of summer alongside the first signs of what comes next. There is something sacred about this in-between time—a reminder that growth is not always about beginning something new, but also about gathering what has come to fruition, honoring what has sustained us, and making space for the season ahead.
As we move into September, we’re excited to welcome our community back to the land, starting with our next Community Work & Learn Day on September 8—an opportunity to support the farm, connect with community, and get your hands in the dirt. Then, on Saturday, September 19, join us for Maíz Mi Raíz: Cocina de Maíz, a participatory workshop exploring the art of cooking with corn and the gifts of the Milpa.
There is still so much of the season to share.The season is changing, but the work continues tending the land, tending one another, and preparing for what comes next.
May your breath be your anchor.
With love and solidarity,
Briana, callie, Ceci, Cheryl, Christina, Crysta, Danielle, Hana’, Hillary, Jaz, Jonah, Leah, Maya, O’den, Ren, Ria, Shay, Taína, and Winter
 QUILOMBO: CULTIVATING RESISTANCE September 4, 2026 3:00 pm – September 6, 2026 3:30 pm | A farm-based collab between Quilombo do Acupe and Soul Fire Farm, abundant with workshops in capoeira, farming, music and movement & more! SOLD OUT |
 Community Work & LearnSeptember 8, 2026 10:00 am – 3:30 pm | September 22, 2026 10:00 am – 3:30 pm| Each One, Teach One. Many Hands Make Light Work. Register here |
 Virtual Symposium on Environmental Justice – Leah Penniman panelist | September 16, 2026 9:50 am – 10:40 am | 2026 Environmental Justice and Health Disparities Symposium, EJ 2076: Make America Just Again, A 50-Year Roadmap for Advancing Environmental Justice and Health Equity. Register here |
 Bangor Theological Seminary Convocation – Leah Penniman Keynote | September 18, 2026 9:30 am – 12:30 pm | Convocation 2026: Sacred Soil – A Day of Spiritual Restoration & Community | Use the code TENOFF to get $10 off when you register here: convocation2026.org |
 Cocina de MaízSeptember 19, 2026 10:00 am – 3:00 pm | ¡Mari y Yiyi Mendoza nos comparten su pasión y conocimiento sobre el maíz y la cocina de maíz en este taller instructivo e interactivo. Register here |
 Tour de la GranjaSeptember 19, 2026 3:30 pm – 5:00 pm | Acompáñanos en un recorrido guiado por la granja. Register here |
 Food Tank Climate Week – Leah Penniman and Danielle Nierenberg | September 23, 2026 11:00 am – 12:00 pm | Join Food Tank for an exciting series of events as part of Climate Week NYC hosted at WNYC-NPR Studios’ The Greene Space from Sunday, Sept 20th – Friday, September 25th, 2026. Register here |
 A Walk for Every Season – Documentary Screening and Fundraiser | September 25, 2026 6:00 pm – 7:30 pm | Co-directors Maya and Bhawin Suchak invite you to a special fundraiser sneak preview screening of A Walk For Every Season, a feature documentary currently in production about Jun San Yasuda, a Japanese Buddhist nun from the Grafton Peace Pagoda. Register here |
The beloved builders’ immersion made its first comeback since pre-pandemic days.
The Life on Land immersion wove together farming and carpentry skills in a culturally-celebratory, hands-on, six day program. Participants learned the layout, measurement, and power tool skills involved in building robust new seedling tables for the farm. During the program, we offered deep homage to our Black and Indigenous building ancestors who set an example for us to follow.
Mojuba, homage to:
- Haudenosaunee longhouse builders
- Abode mosque builders of Mali
- Buganda King tomb builders of Uganda
- Ben Ross’s (Harriet Tubman’s father) timber work
- African craftspeople who build the Stagville Great Barn in N.C.
- Mohawk “Skywalkers”
- Tuskegee Institute teachers and students who built the campus with clay bricks
- Freedom Farm Cooperative housing development by Fannie Lou Hamer
Gaining fluency in the practical skills of building and farming is part of our liberatory collective journey toward food and land sovereignty.
Community Work & Learns
The warmer weather is the perfect time to connect with the land. Join us for the upcoming Community Farm Days by clicking on the dates below to register.
Farm Tours
You’ll learn more about 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.
Consider joining us for a Farm Tour in Español on September 19th or the October 9th tour facilitated in English.
Ancestral Wilderness Skills 3D
Saturday – October 17th, 2026
Registration open! Get your tickets: here!
Usher in the wisdom of the ancestors during our full-day Ancestral Wilderness Skills weekend Skillshare! Want to learn to build a fire in the woods, how to forage for edible plants? How about diving into the magic of mushrooms? This 3D is an opportunity to equip yourself with tangible survival and preparedness skills alongside other BIPOC folks in your community! What could be better?
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Maíz Mi Raíz: Cocina de Maíz
Sábado – 19 de Septiembre, 2026
¡Inscripción abierta! Consigue tus entradas: aquí¡
Acompáñenos en la milpa y en la cocina para Cocina de Maíz, un taller participativo enfocado en la cocina del maíz y en los frutos de la milpa. MariChuy y Yiyi Mendoza nos guiarán en la preparación y cocción de platos ancestrales a base de masa, así como de otros platos y salsas, utilizando ingredientes listos para cosechar de la milpa que sembramos juntes en mayo. Este programa bilingüe (español-inglés) es el evento final de nuestra serie Maíz Mi Raíz, dedicada a celebrar el maíz.
Inscríbase aquí para un recorrido por la granja después del taller, a las 3:30 p. m. hasta las 5 p.m.
Maíz Mi Raíz: Cocina de Maíz
Saturday – September 19, 2026
Registration open! Get your tickets: here!
Join us in the milpa and the kitchen for Cocina de Maíz, a participatory workshop on cooking with corn and the gifts of the Milpa. MariChuy and Yiyi Mendoza will guide participants through making and cooking ancestral dishes with masa and also making different dishes/salsas with what is ready to harvest in the milpa we planted together in May. This bilingual (ESP-ENG) program is the final in our Maíz Mi Raíz series centering corn.
Participants can also register here for a Spanish-first Farm Tour following the workshop 3:30 – 5 PM.
A Walk for Every Season: Fundraiser and Screening
Friday, September 25, 6 – 7:30 PM
Registration open! Get your free tickets here.
Co-directors Maya and Bhawin Suchak invite you to a special fundraiser sneak preview screening of A Walk For Every Season, a feature documentary currently in production about Jun San Yasuda, a Japanese Buddhist nun from the Grafton Peace Pagoda whose more than five decades of peace activism have connected struggles for nuclear abolition, Indigenous sovereignty, environmental justice, and nonviolence.
Through intimate observational footage, archival material, and journeys across the United States and beyond, A Walk For Every Season follows Jun San’s extraordinary life of walking, prayer, and activism while reflecting on what it means to remain committed to peace across a lifetime.
This special screening will offer audiences a short sneak preview of the film, followed by a conversation about the project with filmmakers Maya & Bhawin Suchak along with Leah Penniman from Soul Fire Farm who is featured in the film and has been in community and walked in solidarity with Jun San for nearly 20 years. There will be light snacks and refreshments available.
Proceeds from the event will directly support the completion and post-production of A Walk For Every Season, including editing, sound, music, archival materials, and finishing costs.
***Please note this fundraiser is not organized by Nipponzan Myohoji / Grafton Peace Pagoda***
Uprooting Racism in the Food System
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. Save the date for our upcoming workshops. We have both individual and group registration available.
November 12th, 2026 (6-9PM EST) ** evening option for PST and folks that want to join after work.
You can also check out our Actions Steps to uproot racism in the food system here.
We are looking forward to welcoming cohort 6 of the Braiding Seeds Fellowship this upcoming year!
Our application is open until September 25th at 11:59pm. Within this remote fellowship, fellows each receive a $50,000 stipend, 1:1 mentoring, professional development support, remote and in-person land support, and networking and community building opportunities— all in support of moving their beautiful farm projects forward!
If you are a Black, Indigenous, and/or other Person of Color beginning farmer and/or land steward focusing on regenerative agriculture in the following US states, we’d love to have you apply: AL, CT, DC, DE, FL, GA, LA, ME, MD, MA, MS, NH, NJ, NY, NC, PA, RI, SC, WV, VA, VT
Please help us spread the word! The application can be found here.
BLACK AUGUST
This Black August we remember and celebrate Black freedom fighters and political prisoners, and recommit to resisting racism, imperialism, and the systemic oppression of Black people. We stand with the Haitian and Somali immigrant community currently being violently maligned and shackled by the U.S. government post-TPS. [Support the Haitian Bridge Alliance.] We stand with today’s Black political prisoners, including Mumia Abu Jamal and Fred Muhammad Burton. We envision the abolition of this unjust system of mass incarceration.
We honor the Black Guerilla Family of San Quentin Prison 1979 who founded Black August and all of the ancestral changemakers who are remembered this month – assata shakur, George Jackson, Chokwe Lumumba, Nelson Mandela, Thomas Sankara, Emmet Till, and Fred Hampton, among others. We especially honor and remember our ancestors at Bwa Kayiman, the Haitian Vodou ceremony that commenced the Haitian revolution on August 14, 1791 and inspired freedom uprisings across the diaspora. This essay by Leah Penniman explores 10 proverbs and principles birthed at Bwa Kayiman that have instructive wisdom for our freedom movements today.
2nd Gathering of We the Land!
In person gatherings with our fellow farmers, movement partners, and Alumni help create the glue that keeps us in formation. We get to witness each other more fully, allowing us to bond in ways that make it safe and more joyous to work together the rest of the year. New friends are made, ideas exchanged, projects catalyzed–it’s truly magic when we get together.
This month a group of Soul Fire staff traveled to Northampton, MA to attend We the Land!, a conference for Indigenous, Black & Brown earth workers, land stewards, and farmers. We the Land! took place at Smith College, on the ancestral homelands of the Nonotuck people. The dancing, the hugs, and straight up nerding out about topics like Composting Toilets Science and Construction, Herbal First Aid, and Solidary Economies in Action contribute to our collective wellbeing and support our practice of building land and food sovereignty. Much gratitude to our kin at Northeast Farmers of Color Land Trust for continuing to build community with this conference and beyond.
Food sovereignty work requires stable, long-term support, not only crisis response.
We know that “To free us, we must feed us”. This is why we go deep and focus on sharing knowledge and resources to inspire, equip, and mobilize the community toward food and land sovereignty.
Our Soul Fire in the City program provides a raised bed garden, soil, compost, seeds, plants, technical assistance, and community networking to aspiring growers in our nearby urban communities.
Since 2011, we have built 146 Urban Gardens and trained, mentored and provided continued support to people surviving food apartheid, helping them overcome their fears and grow their own food.
Each garden costs $300 in materials to build. Will you support food sovereignty by joining the Soil Keepers Network as a sustaining donor? A $25 monthly recurring donation covers material costs for one garden bed.
Our Soil Keepers provide the steady nourishment that helps Soul Fire Farm remain rooted through changing seasons. These are the people helping ensure this work can continue not only today, but for generations to come.