“Black Futures Month is about making space for Black people to vision and build the world of our dreams… When we allow ourselves the freedom and permission to follow our radical imagination, the world we need and want takes root.”
Movement for Black Lives
Happy Black Futures Month!!!
Beloved Community,
We made it to the second month of 2021 with patience, brilliant perseverance, and hope. This is a time for reflection and remembrance and bold dreaming. To celebrate Black History Month, we are highlighting Black ancestors across our platforms who are a guiding light in our work. We draw power, wisdom and resilience from their legacies as we pour our love and determination into charting pathways to liberated futures.
January was a big month for Soul Fire Farm in terms of media presentations and trainings. We hope that many of you were able to join us and that you heard something that has inspired you to continue your own personal work in food sovereignty. Whether that be planning a garden for your community, attending Uprooting Racism trainings with your organization, or simply preparing your windowsill for fresh herbs come spring; every small step we take contributes to healing the collective and changing the system.
Our North Star bold vision: By 2050 U.S. Black farmers will regeneratively steward 100,000 farms on 10 million acres of rural and urban land (400,000 BIPOC farmers on 200 million acres) providing food, habitat, medicine, ecosystem services, and healing to our communities and experiencing agency and societal support for our honorable work.
We stand in solidarity with the millions of small farmers in India protesting agricultural laws that threaten to push them into poverty for the benefit of big corporations. May we honor the people who do arguably the most important work in our society, which is to feed us. Join the Movement
2020 was an epic year of growing food and medicine for our community, helping our neighbors establish gardens, equipping BIPOC growers with training and resources, cross-pollinating promise through virtual speaking and facilitation, and strengthening the connective tissues of mutuality and care with our ecosystem partners. Flip through the graphic storytelling of Soul Fire Farm’s year in our stunning 2020 Annual Report!
Upcoming Events
February 17th, 2021 – 5:00 PM – 5:30 PM EST
Our Place Instagram Live – Black Farming
February 19th, 2021 – 4:00 PM – 5:00 PM EST
Bloomscape’s Planty Hour
Join Azure’ Keahi, Business Manager of Soul Fire Farm and Bloomscape on Instagram Live to talk about plant parenthood and plant care.
February 23rd, 2021 – 5:00 PM – 6:00 PM EST
Chavez Community Action Center IG Live
Join Brooke Bridges, Food Justice Coordinator of Soul Fire Farm and the Chavez Community Action Center on Instagram live on February 23rd. Join us to learn about the radical work Soul Fire Farm is doing to uproot racism in the food system through farming and more. Brooke will also be demoing Akara – a traditionally Nigerian black eyed pea fritter byway of Haiti.
February 24th, 2021 – 12:30 PM – 1:30 PM EST
2021 Annual Farmers and Friends Meeting
Ending Racism and Injustice in the Food System
Join Leah Penniman for a keynote and Q&A with Cultivate KC. The event is free but donations are welcome. Learn More
February 25th, 2021 – 4:00 PM EST
YES! Presents ‘An Ecological Civilization: The Path We’re On’
Join Vandana Shiva, Leah Penniman, Winona LaDuke, and Jeremy Lent for a discussion on moving the world to a community-oriented way of life. Register Here
March 3rd, 2021 – 9:00 AM – 10:00 AM EST
Landscapes in Transition – Building Resilience: Landscaped for Now and the Future
10:15-11:15am – Farming While Black: African Diasporic Wisdom for Farming and Food Justice
This presentation will explore strategies for increasing the carbon storage capacity of soil, including adding biochar, both for increasing carbon and infiltration capacities; restoring degraded and eroded lands through planting; and mulching. Purchase Tickets
The Farm
As if in answer to our prayers about vole control, a regal Barred Owl took up residence on the sunflower stalks in the west field, hunting several hours per day.
The soil continues to rest and recover under a thick blanket of snow, and the chickens are doing their work of cleaning the high tunnels of pests and adding fertility with their manure. The farmers are busy with crop planning, supply ordering, and pruning.
We are touched by the community demand for our herbal products and appreciate your patience as we try to keep up with the need. Earlier this month, we slow-infused olive oil with the last of our dried calendula, marigold, and comfrey to make healing salve to soothe that dry winter skin. This year we started shifting more of our annual crop area to perennials, including small fruits and medicinal herbs. This helps us capture more carbon in the soil, increase the number of native species, and also to respond to our community’s reminder that nourishment is more than just food. We hope that our medicinal mixtures of tea herbs and salve bring health and well being to those who receive them. It’s also really fun to make medicine, bringing back those childhood feelings of mixing concoctions in the yard. We are looking forward to resuming small-group, COVID-safe programming on the land this summer and medicine-making will be part of that offering.
Sign Up for Our Solidarity Shares
Application Deadline March 1, 2021
Soul Fire Farm provides no cost doorstep delivery of vegetables, fruits, medicine, eggs, and value-add products to people living under food apartheid in the Albany-Troy area.
SIGN UP TO RECEIVE A SHARE
We accept donations of non-perishable, natural food items to include in Solidarity Shares, such as soup mixes, preserves, honey, sauces, salad dressing, grains, dry beans, teas, dried fruit, and herbal products. Please contact us at love@soulfirefarm.org regarding your offering. All donations must be approved by the Farm Manager before being mailed or dropped off.
The 2021 Gardeners have been selected for the Soul Fire in the City Program! If you missed the deadline but are still in need please email kiani@soulfirefarm.org. Based on feedback from the 2020 gardeners, we have expanded the program to include trainings to provide even more support. So far we have completed two training sessions, one on crop planning and the other on harvesting produce.
If you are looking for a way to contribute to the program we are looking for volunteers to support this effort. We are most in-need of Garden Mentors: skilled gardeners who are willing to provide at least 2 check-ins throughout the 2021 season, or ongoing garden support via text, email, or phone. More details on the program, roles, and getting involved can be found in the application form.
Learn More
Infrastructure
The classroom was designed to blur the edge between inside and outside, and to honor the organic relationship between the stream, forest, farm and constructed human habitat. The recent application of interior natural plasters honored that vision, by literally bringing the earth indoors. World renowned master plasterer Liz Johndrow joined our site team to trowel a mixture of lime, casein, clay, and pigment onto the walls. Jonah met Liz over a decade ago, and as fellow plaster nerds, they became fast friends. She helped with the finish plasters in the hive back in 2010. We are grateful to Liz and her team for returning and for donating a substantial portion of their time to work on the classroom. The next step on the classroom is the exterior siding. We use locally sourced Eastern Hemlock boards, which have natural variation that requires more design planning than a uniform, manufactured material.