Episode 7: Land Sovereignty is Food Sovereignty- Germaine Jenkins of Fresh Future Farm

In this episode, we speak with Germaine Jenkins of Fresh Future Farm.  We discuss her journey with land tenure and what it means for a farm to be on a month-to-month lease, the effects of gentrification on the community, the relationship between land sovereignty and food sovereignty, and Fresh Future Farm’s exciting next chapter.

About Germain Jenkins  (from www.freshfuturefarm.org): In 2014, Germaine co-founded Fresh Future Farm on a vacant city lot with limited resources. For the last six years she has led a team that created abundance in a disinvested neighborhood. Jenkins has been featured in Food & Wine, New York Times, Essence Magazine and is now the subject of a full-length documentary describing Fresh Future Farm’s work to build community wealth and creative placemaking.

Germaine’s movement allies include Urban Growers Collective (Chicago), CooperateWNC (Old Fort, NC), Black Minimalists, League of Creative Interventionists, Equity at the Table (EATT), and Black Lives Matter of Greater NY.

Fresh Future Farm Website: www.freshfuturefarm.org Facebook: www.facebook.com/freshfuturefarm Instagram: @freshfuturefarm  DONATE: https://donorbox.org/fff-expansion

The music you heard in this episode: “But I will play” and “Universal Harmony of Humanity” by SHUNGU  www.hotrecordsociete.bandcamp.com

Hosted by Natalie Ashker Seevers  Produced by Natalie Ashker Seevers and Benjamin Seevers Mastered by Sean Conrad 

Published on April 6, 2023

Episode 5: Sacred Reciprocity - Luis Marcos and Leah Vinton of Comunidad Maya Pixan Ixim

In this episode, we speak with Luis Marcos and Leah Vinton of Communidad Maya Pixan Ixim, a nonprofit dedicated to empowering the Mayan community in Nebraska. Luis talks about his experience as a member of the displaced Q’anjob’al Maya people and his relationship with his ancestral homeland, Leah and Luis discuss the importance of building relationships with existing Native groups in Nebraska, and their plans for an agriculture program.

About Luis Marcos (from https://www.pixanixim.org) Luis Marcos is Co-Executive Director and one of the original founders of Comunidad Maya Pixan Ixim. Luis is passionate about Maya and Indigenous agriculture sciences also known as regenerative agriculture. Luis Marcos is a proven leader who has established important relationships with people from all levels of society and around the globe. Through his work with the Omaha Nation and Indigenous nations across borders, he has been named as Ambassador of the Q'anjob'al, Akateko, Chuj, and Popti Nations with the Omaha Tribe. Additionally, as a Q'anjob'al Maya cultural and spiritual leader, Luis leads Maya ceremony and maintains direct relationships with Maya ancestral authorities in Maya Territories. Luis is a true visionary and seeks to engage with people from around the world to share Maya cosmovision and knowledge so that our earth and global family can live in harmony.  

About Leah Vinton (from https://www.pixanixim.org): Leah Vinton, MPA is a bilingual professional and motivated team player with over a decade of experience supporting for-impact organizations and causes with expertise in resource development for international and domestic organizations. Most recently, Leah has worked locally with the Ponca Tribe of Nebraska and Heritage Omaha, and has worked in Latin America with the Pan American Development Foundation and Mercado Global in fundraising and development roles. She lives in Omaha, NE.

Communidad Maya Pixan Ixim Website: https://www.pixanixim.org/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/comunidadmaya Instagram: @pixanixim Youtube: pixanixim

DONATE HERE: https://pixanixim.networkforgood.com/

The music you heard in this episode: “But I will play” by SHUNGU www.shungujazz.bandcamp.com “Balance” by Ki Oni “The Gypsy and the Fleeting Breath of Love” by Midnight Poncho “The Bulk of the Iceberg Lies Unseen, Beneath the Waterline Represents the Unconscious” By Ryan Chavira

Hosted by Natalie Ashker Seevers Produced by Natalie Ashker Seevers and Benjamin Seevers Mastered by Sean Conrad

Published on March 30, 2023

Episode 6: Why Nature Deserves a Voice - Elizabeth M Dunne, Esq. of Earth Law Center 

In this episode, we speak with Elizabeth M Dunne, Director of Legal Advocacy at Earth Law Center, about her work advocating for nature within the legal system. We discuss the Rights of Nature Movement, reasons we should be challenging the idea of land ownership, and ways we can give nature a voice in our contracts and leases. 

About Elizabeth Dunne (from www.earthlawcenter.org):

Elizabeth brings 20 years of legal experience and a passion for designing legal frameworks that enable systemic change. She has advanced many of the groundbreaking Rights of Nature laws in the US and co-authored the US Chapter of the first Earth Law textbook - Zelle et al. (Eds.), Earth Law: Emerging Ecocentric Law—A Guide for Practitioners (Aspen Coursebook, Wolters Kluwer 2020). The story of her former client Grant Township’s fight against a frack waste injection well, based in part on the state constitutional right to a clean and healthy environment, is featured in the award winning documentary, Invisible Hand (www.invisiblehandfilm.com). She specializes in drafting laws for Tribal Nations, state and local governments, and ballot initiatives. Drawing on her experience as lead counsel in public interest class action lawsuits and as a law clerk to US federal District Court judges, Elizabeth is a leading practitioner in the development of litigation strategies that advance Earth Law. 

Earth Law Center Website: www.earthlawcenter.org/ Facebook: www.facebook.com/earthlawcenter Instagram: @earthlawcenter Youtube: @EarthLawCenter

The music you heard in this episode: “But I will play” by SHUNGU  “Ghosts” by Golden Brown

Hosted by Natalie Ashker Seevers  Produced by Natalie Ashker Seevers and Benjamin Seevers Mastered by Sean Conrad 

Published on March 23, 2023

In the episode, we speak with Dr. Shakara Tyler, Board President of the Detroit Black Community Food Security Network and co-founder of the Detroit Black Farmer Land Fund. We talk about ways the Detroit Black Farmer Land Fund is addressing historical and racial land ownership disparities, building food sovereignty, and revitalizing Detroit’s agricultural landscape. We discuss land justice as the foundation for social movements, the importance of building meaningful relationships, and the major transfer of wealth that has to happen to close the racial wealth gap and ensure everyone can thrive. 

Detroit Black Farmer Land Fund Website: https://www.detroitblackfarmer.com Instagram: @detroitblackfarmerlandfund  Facebook: facebook.com/detroitblackfarmerlandfund DONATE: https://detroitblackfarmer.causevox.com/

Detroit Black Community Food Security Network Website: https://www.dbcfsn.org Instagram: @detroitblackfoodsecurity  Facebook: facebook.com/DBCFSN DONATE: https://app.etapestry.com/onlineforms/DetroitBlackCommunityFoodSecu/donation.html

The music you heard in this episode: “But I will play” by SHUNGU, www.hotrecordsociete.bandcamp.com “Female Entities” by Ryan Chavira, www.ryanchavira.bandcamp.com “Infinite Iridescent Incidental” By Golden Brown, www.innerislands.bandcamp.com “Bardo” by Midnight Poncho, www.midnightponcho.bandcamp.com

Hosted by Natalie Ashker Seevers  Produced by Natalie Ashker Seevers and Benjamin Seevers Mastered by Sean Conrad 

Published on March 9, 2023

In this episode, we speak with Molly Anderson, professor of food studies at Middlebury College in Vermont. We talk about what it means to hold land in the commons, the false narrative that industrial agriculture is feeding the world, and why decommodification is necessary if we want to transform our food system.

About Molly Anderson (from https://www.middlebury.edu/college/people/molly-anderson):

Molly Anderson directs the Academic Program in Food Studies at Middlebury College in Vermont and teaches on hunger and food security, fixing food systems, and sustainability.  She is involved in food system reform and planning at the local, state and regional scales; participates in the regional Food Solutions New England network and the national Inter-Institutional Network for Food, Agriculture & Sustainability. She is a member of the International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems (IPES-Food) and was a Coordinating Lead Author on the International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science & Technology for Development. She has worked as a private consultant for domestic and international organizations, with Oxfam America, and at Tufts University, where she was the founding Director of the Agriculture, Food and Environment Graduate Program.  Molly earned an interdisciplinary Ph.D. in Systems Ecology from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a B.S. and M.S. in natural resource management and a certificate in Latin American Studies from Colorado State University.

The music you heard in this episode: “But I will play” by SHUNGU  “Spring” by Midnight Poncho

Hosted by Natalie Ashker Seevers  Produced by Natalie Ashker Seevers and Benjamin Seevers Mastered by Sean Conrad 

Published on March 2, 2023

In this conversation, Leah Penniman shares about her new book, Black Earth Wisdom: Soulful Conversations with Black Environmentalists, the inspiration for writing it, and wisdom she learned in the process. We talk about the cultural and spiritual shift that is needed to address the ecological crisis of this moment, and the joy and liberation that come when engaging directly with nature in a culturally meaningful way.

About Leah Penniman (bio from www.soulfirefarm.org): Leah Penniman (all pronouns) is a Black Kreyol farmer, mother, soil nerd, author, and food justice activist from Soul Fire Farm in Grafton, NY. She co-founded Soul Fire Farm in 2010 with the mission to end racism in the food system and reclaim our ancestral connection to land. As Co-ED and Farm Director, Leah is part of a team that facilitates powerful food sovereignty programs – including farmer training for Black & Brown people, a subsidized farm food distribution program for communities living under food apartheid, and domestic and international organizing toward equity in the food system. Leah has been farming since 1996, holds an MA in Science Education and a BA in Environmental Science and International Development from Clark University, and is a member of clergy in West African Indigenous Orisa tradition. Leah trained at Many Hands Organic Farm, Farm School MA, and internationally with farmers in Ghana, Haiti, and Mexico. She also served as a high school biology and environmental science teacher for 17 years. The work of Leah and Soul Fire Farm has been recognized by the Soros Racial Justice Fellowship, Fulbright Program, Pritzker Environmental Genius Award, Grist 50, and James Beard Leadership Award, among others. Her books, Farming While Black: Soul Fire Farm’s Practical Guide to Liberation on the Land (2018) and Black Earth Wisdom: Soulful Conversations with Black Environmentalists (2023) are love songs for the land and her people. (CV)

Purchase Black Earth Wisdom: Soulful Conversations with Black Environmentalists: https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780063160897 Black Earth Wisdom: Soulful Conversations with Black Environmentalists official website: https://blackearthwisdom.org/

Purchase Farming While Black: Soul Fire Farm’s Practical Guide to Liberation on the Land: https://soul-fire-farm.myshopify.com/products/farming-while-black Learn more about Soul Fire Farm: Website: www.soulfirefarm.org IG: @SoulFireFarm Youtube: @SoulFireFarm Twitter: @SoulFireFarm Facebook: Soul Fire Farm View all publications by Soul Fire Farm team members: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Nr9YtporpnUxxfX0tpYRBpciKn3JLy2xkLIWm4G0JNA/edit

The music you heard in this episode: “But I will play” by SHUNGU www.hotrecordsociete.bandcamp.com “Safe and Somewhat Sound” by Golden Brown www.innerislands.bandcamp.com And “All In Line” by H.R. Lexy www.hrlexy.bandcamp.com

Hosted by Natalie Ashker Seevers Produced by Natalie Ashker Seevers and Benjamin Seevers Mastered by Sean Conrad

Published on February 23, 2023