Farming while Black : Soul Fire Farm's practical guide to liberation on the land / Leah Penniman ; foreword by Karen Washington.
Material type: TextPublisher: White River Junction, Vermont : Chelsea Green Publishing, 2018Copyright date: ©2018Description: x, 355 pages : illustrations (chiefly color) ; 26 cmContent type:- text
- unmediated
- volume
- 9781603587617
- 1603587616
- Soul Fire Farm's practical guide to liberation on the land
- Farms, Small -- United States
- African American farmers -- United States
- African Americans -- Agriculture
- African Americans -- Social life and customs
- African American cooking
- Food habits -- United States
- Farm life -- United States
- Land settlement -- United States
- Agricultural colonies -- United States
Item type | Home library | Collection | Call number | Materials specified | Status | Date due | Barcode | Item holds | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Adult Book | Main Library | NonFiction | 630.68 P414 | Available | 33111009674587 |
Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:
Recipient of the 28th Heinz Awards for the Economy: Leah Penniman
James Beard Foundation Leadership Award 2019: Leah Penniman
Choice Reviews, Outstanding Academic Title
"An extraordinary book...part agricultural guide, part revolutionary manifesto."--VOGUE
Named a "Best Book on Sustainable Living and Sustainability" by Book Riot
In 1920, 14 percent of all land-owning US farmers were black. Today less than 2 percent of farms are controlled by black people--a loss of over 14 million acres and the result of discrimination and dispossession. While farm management is among the whitest of professions, farm labor is predominantly brown and exploited, and people of color disproportionately live in "food apartheid" neighborhoods and suffer from diet-related illness. The system is built on stolen land and stolen labor and needs a redesign.
Farming While Black is the first comprehensive "how to" guide for aspiring African-heritage growers to reclaim their dignity as agriculturists and for all farmers to understand the distinct, technical contributions of African-heritage people to sustainable agriculture. At Soul Fire Farm, author Leah Penniman co-created the Black and Latinx Farmers Immersion (BLFI) program as a container for new farmers to share growing skills in a culturally relevant and supportive environment led by people of color. Farming While Black organizes and expands upon the curriculum of the BLFI to provide readers with a concise guide to all aspects of small-scale farming, from business planning to preserving the harvest. Throughout the chapters Penniman uplifts the wisdom of the African diasporic farmers and activists whose work informs the techniques described--from whole farm planning, soil fertility, seed selection, and agroecology, to using whole foods in culturally appropriate recipes, sharing stories of ancestors, and tools for healing from the trauma associated with slavery and economic exploitation on the land. Woven throughout the book is the story of Soul Fire Farm, a national leader in the food justice movement.
The technical information is designed for farmers and gardeners with beginning to intermediate experience. For those with more experience, the book provides a fresh lens on practices that may have been taken for granted as ahistorical or strictly European. Black ancestors and contemporaries have always been leaders--and continue to lead--in the sustainable agriculture and food justice movements. It is time for all of us to listen.
"A moving and powerful how-to book for Black farmers to reclaim the occupation and the contributions of the BIPOC community that introduced sustainable agriculture."--BookRiot.com
"Leah Penniman is . . . opening the door for the next generation of farmers."--CBS This Morning
Includes bibliographical references (pages [321]-337) and index.
Introduction: Black land matters -- Finding land and resources -- Planning your farm business -- Honoring the spirits of the land -- Restoring degraded land -- Feeding the soil -- Crop planning -- Tools and technology -- Seed keeping -- Raising animals -- Plant medicine -- Urban farming -- Cooking and preserving -- Youth on land -- Healing from trauma -- Movement building -- White people uprooting racism.
"In 1920, 14 percent of all land-owning US farmers were black. Today less than 2 percent of farms are controlled by black people--a loss of over 14 million acres and the result of discrimination and dispossession. While farm management is among the whitest of professions, farm labor is predominantly brown and exploited, and people of color disproportionately live in "food apartheid" neighborhoods and suffer from diet-related illness. The system is built on stolen land and stolen labor and needs a redesign. Farming While Black is the first comprehensive "how to" guide for aspiring African-heritage growers to reclaim their dignity as agriculturists and for all farmers to understand the distinct, technical contributions of African-heritage people to sustainable agriculture. At Soul Fire Farm, author Leah Penniman co-created the Black and Latinx Farmers Immersion (BLFI) program as a container for new farmers to share growing skills in a culturally relevant and supportive environment led by people of color. Farming While Black organizes and expands upon the curriculum of the BLFI to provide readers with a concise guide to all aspects of small-scale farming, from business planning to preserving the harvest. Throughout the chapters Penniman uplifts the wisdom of the African diasporic farmers and activists whose work informs the techniques described--from whole farm planning, soil fertility, seed selection, and agroecology, to using whole foods in culturally appropriate recipes, sharing stories of ancestors, and tools for healing from the trauma associated with slavery and economic exploitation on the land. Woven throughout the book is the story of Soul Fire Farm, a national leader in the food justice movement. The technical information is designed for farmers and gardeners with beginning to intermediate experience. For those with more experience, the book provides a fresh lens on practices that may have been taken for granted as ahistorical or strictly European. Black ancestors and contemporaries have always been leaders--and continue to lead--in the sustainable agriculture and food justice movements. It is time for all of us to listen"--Publisher's website.