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Reviews
Farming While Black: Soul Fire Farm's Practical Guide to Liberation on the Land by Leah Penniman
smzalokar's review against another edition
5.0
Mind blown. I am quite familiar with the tenants and practices of sustainable agriculture and social justice both in theory and in practice. That said, Ms. Penniman’s book is the first time I have thought about sustainable agriculture through the equity lens. I am ashamed to say it never crossed my mind that of all the wisdom I have gained in this regard, never have I acknowledged the shared knowledge and ancestral wisdom of generations of African Americans, Africans, the African diaspora, descendants of former share croppers or enslaved people as a part of the current day practice of farming. How is that possible?
This book is replete with knowledge of the land and the plants humans can cultivate there and how that in itself is an act of rebellion: being Black and working the land for yourself and your community to have access to healthy food and be self sufficient. If I could, I would give this book 10 stars. I plan to purchase a copy as a reference tool.
This book is replete with knowledge of the land and the plants humans can cultivate there and how that in itself is an act of rebellion: being Black and working the land for yourself and your community to have access to healthy food and be self sufficient. If I could, I would give this book 10 stars. I plan to purchase a copy as a reference tool.
mizu_'s review against another edition
hopeful
informative
inspiring
slow-paced
4.25
Very informative. A look into Black past, present and future through a reformist lense rather than through a revolutionary lens that values participatory majority politics over the liberation of our people. Good for what it is. When will we cherish the words and wisdom of W.E.B. DuBois and Our pan-african brothers over the restructuring of US settler-imperial policy?
jdubsmoore's review against another edition
5.0
This was such a compelling read. "Practical" is really they key word in the title. Leah Penniman literally presents step by step instructions for finding land, crop planning, building up degraded land, cooking, preserving, understanding the connections between farming and spiritually, learning the history of Black growers, healing from trauma of racism, and being a true white ally. Going to reread this one. It's basically #goalsforlife in this book. thank you, Leah, for making it easier for us all to learn!
ryandandrews's review against another edition
5.0
Helpful if you are looking to learn more about how to grow food in a sustainable/equitable way. Also helpful if you are looking to learn more about the history of exploitation in the food system.
Some of my favorite clips:
Revolution is based on land. Land is the basis of all independence. Land is the basis of freedom, justice, and equality. - Malcolm X
Organic farming was an African-indigenous system developed over millennia and first revived in the US by a black farmer, Dr. George Washington Carver.
Dr. Booker T. Whatley was one of the inventors of CSA.
While the government labels the South End of Albany of food desert, I prefer the term food apartheid, because it makes clear that we have a human-created system of segregation that relegates certain groups to food opulence and prevents others from accessing life-giving nourishment.
Racism is built into the DNA of the US food system. Beginning with the genocidal land theft from indigenous people, continuing with the kidnapping of our ancestors from the shores of West Africa for force agricultural labor, morphing into convict leasing expanding to the migrant guestworker program, and maturing into its current state where farm management is among the whitest professions, farm labor is predominately Brown and exploited, and people of color disproportionately live in food apartheid neighborhoods and suffer from diet related illness, this system is built on stolen land and stolen labor, and needs a redesign.
Arguably, the seminal civil rights issue of our time is the systemic racism permeating the criminal "justice" system.
In 1910, at the height of Black landownership, 16 million acres of farmland - 14% of the total - was owned and cultivated by Black families. Now less than 1% of farms are Black-owned.
Our Black ancestors were forced, tricked, and scared off land until 6.5 million of them migrated to the urban North in the largest migration in US history. This was no accident. Just as the US government sanctioned the slaughter of buffalo to drive Native Americans off their land, so did the USDA and the FHA deny access to farm credit and other resources to any Black person who joined the NAACP, registered to vote, or signed any petition pertaining to civil rights. When Carver's methods helped Black farmers be successful enough to pay off their debts, their white landlords responded by beating them almost to death, burning down their houses, and driving them off their land.
Forty acres and a mule would be at least $6.4 trillion in the hands of Black Americans today. The economic offenses committed by this nation against Black people are numerous. They include hundreds of years of unpaid wages under slavery, discriminatory fees and lending rates imposed upon African American business owners under the Black Codes, and the exclusion of Black people from the social safety net and government housing programs.
Soils with low CEC are most susceptible to losing nutrients through leaching. Mos-Def is like low-CEC soil that has few binding sites for nutrients because there's just one vocalist in the project, while Wu-Tang Clan is like high-CEC soil that has more binding sites because there are more vocalists.
Biochar is the result of low-temp controlled burning of wood and plant material, in a process called pyrolysis.
Soil comprises 5 ingredients: minerals, water, organic matter, air, and microorganisms. While microbial life makes up only 1% of the volume of soil, it is essential to soil's capacity to support plants. 1 tsp of soil holds over 20,000 organisms. These organisms are decomposers of organic matter, consuming detritus, water, and air, and recycling it into nutrient-rich humus.
At SFF we use rye, oats, peas, bell beans, vetch, soybeans, sorghum sudangrass, sunn hemp, triticale, and clover as cover crops.
Crop rotation rules:
-Avoid planting crops from the same plant family in the same place in successive years
-Precede nitrogen lovers, such as brassicas, tomatoes, and corn, with nitrogen fixers (legumes)
-Crops with lower N requirements, such as root veggies and herbs, can follow heavy N feeders.
-Organize your crop rotation around the plant families that will take up the most space on your farm.
Muck brand waterproof boots are the best for farmers.
60 years ago, seeds were largely stewarded by small farmers and public plant breeders. Today the proprietary seed market accounts for 82% of the seed supply globally, with Monsanto and DuPont owning the largest shares. In our work with sibling farms in Haiti, we learned about Monsanto's insidious practice of making 'donations' of seed for a few seasons, until the native seed stock was depleted, and then charging farmers unreasonable prices for the company's proprietary seed in subsequent seasons.
Fearful that enslaved Africans could buy their freedom from profits made by selling animals, the Virginia General Assembly in 1692 made it illegal for slaves to won horses, cattle, ducks, geese, or pigs. Chickens, though, weren't considered worth mentioning. Black farmers - both free and enslaved - built their farm businesses on the raising of chickens.
Intensive, industrial livestock production is an environmental justice disaster, adversely impacting communities of color.
Using meat as a 'spice' and not a 'slab' may represent the correct ratio of animal to plant foods in the sustainable modern diet.
Meat is part of our cultural heritage and ancestral cuisine.
We participate in the cultural cuisine of our people with joy and also keep love of the planet and the sanctity of life at the center of our consciousness.
Harriet Tubman used wild plants to keep her Underground Railroad passengers healthy.
Like so many Black and Brown survivors, members of our family struggle with anxiety, depression, and insomnia. Lemon balm, vervain, codonopsis, skullcap, chamomile, and lavender are here to support us.
Wormwood, bee balm, yarrow, thyme, echinacea, and elderflower provide immune support.
Calendula oil and slave can be used to heal wounds, reduce inflammation, sooth burns, heal acne, kill fungal infection, and sooth diaper rash.
Thyme essential oil can be used for athlete's foot.
From Braiding Sweetgrass (Robin Wall):
“Know the ways of the ones who take care of you, so that you may take care of them.
Introduce yourself. Be accountable as the one who comes asking for life. Ask permission before taking. Abide by the answer.
Never take the first. Never take the last. Take only what you need.
Take only that which is given.
Never take more than half. Leave some for others. Harvest in a way that minimizes harm.
Use it respectfully. Never waste what you have taken. Share.
Give thanks for what you have been given.
Give a gift, in reciprocity for what you have taken.
Sustain the ones who sustain you and the earth will last forever.”
In addition to mass incarceration, one of the most insidious and pervasive forms of state violence against our people is the flooding of our communities with foods that kill us. In fact, Black people are 10 times more likely to die from poor diets than from all forms of physical violence combined.
Traditional African diets are inherently healthy and sustainable, based in leafy greens, vegetables, fruits, tubers, and legumes. Communities that maintain our traditional diets have much lower rates of CVD, HTN, CKD, CA, DM, CA, etc.
We need nature not just for the material sustenance she provides, but for our physiological, emotional, and spiritual well-being.
In 2014 the Pew Research Center found that white households had 13 times the median wealth of Black households in 2013, up from 8 times the wealth in 2010. 80% of wealth is inherited, often traceable back to slavery.
Black people own approximately 1% of rural land in the country, with a combined value of $14 billion. White people own more than 98% of US rural land, over 856 million acres valued at more than $1 trillion.
I asked her, "Jun San, can you give me any tips for sitting meditation? I get antsy and can't focus?" She laughed and tossed back the cloth of her orange robe. "I no meditate! Too boring! I beat drum, chop wood, carry water," she responded. While sitting meditation is a unique and powerful tool, our indigenous African traditions often engage dynamic meditation, including drumming, long-distance running, chanting, singing, candle gazing, and stone balancing. What differentiates meditation from just doing activities is the focused attention on a singular point in the present moment.
Two African plants are especially powerful in relieving anxiety and depression connected to trauma: Solenostemon monostachyus and Dysphania ambrosioides.
I prominently display a list of healing practices categorized by how long they take. My list includes 10 people I can call at any time, affirmations to say out loud, quick actions I can take to shift my energy, and more involved healing practices.
"Never forget that food justice requires land justice." -Savi Horne, Land Loss Prevention Project
If African American people were paid $20 per week for our agricultural labor rather than enslaved, we would have $6.4 trillion in today's dollars in the band right now. This figure does not include reparations for denied credit and home-ownership opportunities, exclusion from the social safety net and education, or property theft and destruction.
True reparations:
1. Nothing about us, without us. Black people get to define what reparations look like.
2. No strings attached. Transfers of land and resources w/o oversight or conditionality.
3. The whole pie. Give the land, money, and jobs away, even and especially when it entails personal sacrifice.
Take stock of your resources, including your job, assets, property, and power. Ask yourself what you can give away in a loving act of reparations.
Taking intellectual property, traditional knowledge, cultural expressions, or artifacts from someone else's culture w/o permission is cultural appropriation.
Some of my favorite clips:
Revolution is based on land. Land is the basis of all independence. Land is the basis of freedom, justice, and equality. - Malcolm X
Organic farming was an African-indigenous system developed over millennia and first revived in the US by a black farmer, Dr. George Washington Carver.
Dr. Booker T. Whatley was one of the inventors of CSA.
While the government labels the South End of Albany of food desert, I prefer the term food apartheid, because it makes clear that we have a human-created system of segregation that relegates certain groups to food opulence and prevents others from accessing life-giving nourishment.
Racism is built into the DNA of the US food system. Beginning with the genocidal land theft from indigenous people, continuing with the kidnapping of our ancestors from the shores of West Africa for force agricultural labor, morphing into convict leasing expanding to the migrant guestworker program, and maturing into its current state where farm management is among the whitest professions, farm labor is predominately Brown and exploited, and people of color disproportionately live in food apartheid neighborhoods and suffer from diet related illness, this system is built on stolen land and stolen labor, and needs a redesign.
Arguably, the seminal civil rights issue of our time is the systemic racism permeating the criminal "justice" system.
In 1910, at the height of Black landownership, 16 million acres of farmland - 14% of the total - was owned and cultivated by Black families. Now less than 1% of farms are Black-owned.
Our Black ancestors were forced, tricked, and scared off land until 6.5 million of them migrated to the urban North in the largest migration in US history. This was no accident. Just as the US government sanctioned the slaughter of buffalo to drive Native Americans off their land, so did the USDA and the FHA deny access to farm credit and other resources to any Black person who joined the NAACP, registered to vote, or signed any petition pertaining to civil rights. When Carver's methods helped Black farmers be successful enough to pay off their debts, their white landlords responded by beating them almost to death, burning down their houses, and driving them off their land.
Forty acres and a mule would be at least $6.4 trillion in the hands of Black Americans today. The economic offenses committed by this nation against Black people are numerous. They include hundreds of years of unpaid wages under slavery, discriminatory fees and lending rates imposed upon African American business owners under the Black Codes, and the exclusion of Black people from the social safety net and government housing programs.
Soils with low CEC are most susceptible to losing nutrients through leaching. Mos-Def is like low-CEC soil that has few binding sites for nutrients because there's just one vocalist in the project, while Wu-Tang Clan is like high-CEC soil that has more binding sites because there are more vocalists.
Biochar is the result of low-temp controlled burning of wood and plant material, in a process called pyrolysis.
Soil comprises 5 ingredients: minerals, water, organic matter, air, and microorganisms. While microbial life makes up only 1% of the volume of soil, it is essential to soil's capacity to support plants. 1 tsp of soil holds over 20,000 organisms. These organisms are decomposers of organic matter, consuming detritus, water, and air, and recycling it into nutrient-rich humus.
At SFF we use rye, oats, peas, bell beans, vetch, soybeans, sorghum sudangrass, sunn hemp, triticale, and clover as cover crops.
Crop rotation rules:
-Avoid planting crops from the same plant family in the same place in successive years
-Precede nitrogen lovers, such as brassicas, tomatoes, and corn, with nitrogen fixers (legumes)
-Crops with lower N requirements, such as root veggies and herbs, can follow heavy N feeders.
-Organize your crop rotation around the plant families that will take up the most space on your farm.
Muck brand waterproof boots are the best for farmers.
60 years ago, seeds were largely stewarded by small farmers and public plant breeders. Today the proprietary seed market accounts for 82% of the seed supply globally, with Monsanto and DuPont owning the largest shares. In our work with sibling farms in Haiti, we learned about Monsanto's insidious practice of making 'donations' of seed for a few seasons, until the native seed stock was depleted, and then charging farmers unreasonable prices for the company's proprietary seed in subsequent seasons.
Fearful that enslaved Africans could buy their freedom from profits made by selling animals, the Virginia General Assembly in 1692 made it illegal for slaves to won horses, cattle, ducks, geese, or pigs. Chickens, though, weren't considered worth mentioning. Black farmers - both free and enslaved - built their farm businesses on the raising of chickens.
Intensive, industrial livestock production is an environmental justice disaster, adversely impacting communities of color.
Using meat as a 'spice' and not a 'slab' may represent the correct ratio of animal to plant foods in the sustainable modern diet.
Meat is part of our cultural heritage and ancestral cuisine.
We participate in the cultural cuisine of our people with joy and also keep love of the planet and the sanctity of life at the center of our consciousness.
Harriet Tubman used wild plants to keep her Underground Railroad passengers healthy.
Like so many Black and Brown survivors, members of our family struggle with anxiety, depression, and insomnia. Lemon balm, vervain, codonopsis, skullcap, chamomile, and lavender are here to support us.
Wormwood, bee balm, yarrow, thyme, echinacea, and elderflower provide immune support.
Calendula oil and slave can be used to heal wounds, reduce inflammation, sooth burns, heal acne, kill fungal infection, and sooth diaper rash.
Thyme essential oil can be used for athlete's foot.
From Braiding Sweetgrass (Robin Wall):
“Know the ways of the ones who take care of you, so that you may take care of them.
Introduce yourself. Be accountable as the one who comes asking for life. Ask permission before taking. Abide by the answer.
Never take the first. Never take the last. Take only what you need.
Take only that which is given.
Never take more than half. Leave some for others. Harvest in a way that minimizes harm.
Use it respectfully. Never waste what you have taken. Share.
Give thanks for what you have been given.
Give a gift, in reciprocity for what you have taken.
Sustain the ones who sustain you and the earth will last forever.”
In addition to mass incarceration, one of the most insidious and pervasive forms of state violence against our people is the flooding of our communities with foods that kill us. In fact, Black people are 10 times more likely to die from poor diets than from all forms of physical violence combined.
Traditional African diets are inherently healthy and sustainable, based in leafy greens, vegetables, fruits, tubers, and legumes. Communities that maintain our traditional diets have much lower rates of CVD, HTN, CKD, CA, DM, CA, etc.
We need nature not just for the material sustenance she provides, but for our physiological, emotional, and spiritual well-being.
In 2014 the Pew Research Center found that white households had 13 times the median wealth of Black households in 2013, up from 8 times the wealth in 2010. 80% of wealth is inherited, often traceable back to slavery.
Black people own approximately 1% of rural land in the country, with a combined value of $14 billion. White people own more than 98% of US rural land, over 856 million acres valued at more than $1 trillion.
I asked her, "Jun San, can you give me any tips for sitting meditation? I get antsy and can't focus?" She laughed and tossed back the cloth of her orange robe. "I no meditate! Too boring! I beat drum, chop wood, carry water," she responded. While sitting meditation is a unique and powerful tool, our indigenous African traditions often engage dynamic meditation, including drumming, long-distance running, chanting, singing, candle gazing, and stone balancing. What differentiates meditation from just doing activities is the focused attention on a singular point in the present moment.
Two African plants are especially powerful in relieving anxiety and depression connected to trauma: Solenostemon monostachyus and Dysphania ambrosioides.
I prominently display a list of healing practices categorized by how long they take. My list includes 10 people I can call at any time, affirmations to say out loud, quick actions I can take to shift my energy, and more involved healing practices.
"Never forget that food justice requires land justice." -Savi Horne, Land Loss Prevention Project
If African American people were paid $20 per week for our agricultural labor rather than enslaved, we would have $6.4 trillion in today's dollars in the band right now. This figure does not include reparations for denied credit and home-ownership opportunities, exclusion from the social safety net and education, or property theft and destruction.
True reparations:
1. Nothing about us, without us. Black people get to define what reparations look like.
2. No strings attached. Transfers of land and resources w/o oversight or conditionality.
3. The whole pie. Give the land, money, and jobs away, even and especially when it entails personal sacrifice.
Take stock of your resources, including your job, assets, property, and power. Ask yourself what you can give away in a loving act of reparations.
Taking intellectual property, traditional knowledge, cultural expressions, or artifacts from someone else's culture w/o permission is cultural appropriation.
missnorth's review against another edition
4.0
This is a wide-ranging guide covering everything from how to save seeds, to how to support agricultural policies that address discrimination and land theft of Black and Indigenous farmers. Leah provides a model for how to turn a farm into a community hub for healing and action.
dwcleno's review against another edition
5.0
Beautifully written, inspiring, and yet real. Cooperative farming, which is vital for the future of saving productive land, is being revived by farmer-leaders of color and of marginalized communities who are setting their goals at the systemic level to build true food sovereignty even as they dig in the dirt to feed their families and neighbors nutritious, glorious food. This is a primer for organizers and growers at the same time, and marks a next step in the transfer of power happening in this hemisphere.
bethpeluse's review against another edition
5.0
This was required reading for one of my grad classes - but I would recommend it to anyone with an interest in sustainable agriculture and how it can be used in social justice. It's part text book on how to set up your own sustainable farm but also part history book and part social activist book. An interested read!
mvindc's review against another edition
4.0
I was not expecting the format of this book to be so much like a textbook, but I tried to rate it based on who their intended audience was (people who are serious about starting farming but haven't bought land or started planting yet). It contains a lot of information about buying land and overcoming barriers to beginning farming, such as acquiring capital and finding loans. It also has information about various crops (including medicinal herbs) and crop plans, although if you are farming I don't think the depth of this information will suffice for you, but at least it's a starting point.
What I really liked about this book were the insets throughout that referenced cultural practices from Africa, Haiti, and other parts of the world that we can learn from, as well as historical black farmers and leaders who are less well-known. There was a strong element of culture and connecting to your roots as an element of farming that I thought was beautiful and isn't usually captured in books written by white farmers for other (presumably white) farmers.
This is not really a book you read through from start to finish, though I did try to do that. But if you are seriously considering farming and want to learn more about how to do that through a decolonized lens, I think this is an excellent resource.
What I really liked about this book were the insets throughout that referenced cultural practices from Africa, Haiti, and other parts of the world that we can learn from, as well as historical black farmers and leaders who are less well-known. There was a strong element of culture and connecting to your roots as an element of farming that I thought was beautiful and isn't usually captured in books written by white farmers for other (presumably white) farmers.
This is not really a book you read through from start to finish, though I did try to do that. But if you are seriously considering farming and want to learn more about how to do that through a decolonized lens, I think this is an excellent resource.
shaun_dh's review against another edition
Soft DNF. Just not in the mood right now