SOUL FIRE FARM 2022 – FREEDOM FIRE
Bobby M was on Texas death row for forty years, half of those in solitary confinement, before being released in 2020. We had the honor to host this wise and gentle elder during a farming immersion this summer. After decades behind concrete and steel, he was eager for open sky and nourishing soil. Reflecting on his week at Soul Fire, Bobby said, “I will cherish the real love that I felt, and will use this great experience to move forward in life and make positive change.”
Malcolm X taught us, “Land is the basis of freedom.” Tenure and belonging to land give us the freedom to heal, play, grow our food, build our homes, bury our departed, gather our families, pass on wealth, and sustain culture. This year, Soul Fire Farm worked with over 50,000 people like Bobby, folks committed to spreading the freedom fire of land and food sovereignty.
The core of this work took place on our 80-acres of mountainside land in Mohican territory. Here we grew food and medicine to feed 225 people through weekly Solidarity Shares deliveries, provided 3000 farm-to-table meals to program participants, and grew seven ancestral seed varieties for distribution. We established a COVID-19 memorial orchard, dedicating fruit trees to the memories of loved ones lost during the pandemic. Over 1200 learners visited the farm to immerse in Afro-Indigenous earth wisdom. Heralding from environs like Louisiana, London, and Los Angeles, as well as our local region, participants in FIRE (Farming in Relationship with Earth) Immersions, 3D Carpentry, Kimchi, Miso, Mycology, and “Escuchando la Tierra” workshops, Youth Programs, and Work & Learn Days gained tangible land-based skills in a culturally relevant context.
Our team strove for a balance of diligence and joyful abandon, which was perhaps most evident in our SOULstice and Equilibrium festivals. Attained with the sun’s cycles, we gathered in person after a long pandemic pause for live music, dancing, healing movement, and tender reunion.
Our web of accountability extends beyond this one place, and we were honored to work with coalitions like Black Farmers United, HEAL Food Alliance, Ujamaa Seed Cooperative, and National Black Food and Justice Alliance to advance our freedom dreams. Resource allocations to BIPOC farmers in the NY Farmer Opportunity Act and the Inflation Reduction Act were in part thanks to these collective efforts. We continued to incubate the Braiding Seeds Fellowship, which graduated its first cohort of farmers and brought on 10 new fellows for an 18-month program of wrap-around support. Additionally, our Uprooting Racism training, public speaking, Ask a Sista Farmer, and Liberation on Land how-to videos reached over 45,000 learners, and our storytelling was published in 8 new books.
We are investing deeply in our organizational and physical infrastructure so that we can continue to fill our movement niche for the long haul. Campus construction is in full swing, with the office renovation recently completed and program center construction under way. Soon, our community will have dignified, accessible, and ecologically sustainable spaces to learn, eat, sleep, and gather while kindling our land-based aspirations. We thank you for your support and could not exist without you!
Free the People! Free the Land!
Azuré, Briana, Brooke, Cheryl, Clara, Danielle, Hillary, Ife, Jonah, Kai, Leah, Naima, Ria, Shay, and Susuyu (SFF); Lulu and Sarah (Braiding Seeds)