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A review by ryandandrews
Farming While Black: Soul Fire Farm's Practical Guide to Liberation on the Land by Leah Penniman
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.