Welcome to Episode 13 of Grounded Conversations by Black Coffee Northwest, an intergenerational conversation about ourselves, our blackness, our world, and our favorite drinks.
Today we are seating down with guests from the Black Farmers Collective as we dive into the topic of environmental justice within the black community.
On this podcast episode we will be discussing:
• Ways to build food sovereignty and black liberation within the black community through farming and environmental wellness
• Economic development within food access, food production, and healthy eating
• The importance of community within farming and learning the food system
Follow the Black Farmers Collective @blackfarmerscollective on instagram and go to their website www.blackfarmerscollective.com for more info on your black farmers!
We would love to hear from you and if any of you have any stories to share feel free to contact us with the information below.
Don’t forget to check out our first visual recording of our podcast on Youtube!
Email - info@blackcoffeenw.com
• Instagram - Black Coffee NW
• Twitter - Coffee NW
• Facebook - Black Coffee NW
• LinkedIn - Black Coffee NorthWest
• Youtube - Black Coffee NorthWest
Listen and follow the podcast on all major platforms:
• Apple Podcasts
• Spotify
• Stitcher
• Youtube
• and more
Welcome to Episode 13 of Grounded Conversations by Black Coffee Northwest, an intergenerational conversation about ourselves, our blackness, our world, and our favorite drinks.
Today we are seating down with guests from the Black Farmers Collective as we dive into the topic of environmental justice within the black community.
On this podcast episode we will be discussing:
• Ways to build food sovereignty and black liberation within the black community through farming and environmental wellness
• Economic development within food access, food production, and healthy eating
• The importance of community within farming and learning the food system
Follow the Black Farmers Collective @blackfarmerscollective on instagram and go to their website www.blackfarmerscollective.com for more info on your black farmers!
We would love to hear from you and if any of you have any stories to share feel free to contact us with the information below.
Don’t forget to check out our first visual recording of our podcast on Youtube!
Email - info@blackcoffeenw.com
• Instagram - Black Coffee NW
• Twitter - Coffee NW
• Facebook - Black Coffee NW
• LinkedIn - Black Coffee NorthWest
• Youtube - Black Coffee NorthWest
Listen and follow the podcast on all major platforms:
• Apple Podcasts
• Spotify
• Stitcher
• Youtube
• and more
Welcome to Grounded Conversations by Black Coffee Northwest, an intergenerational conversation about ourselves, our blackness, our world, and our favorite drinks. Grounded Conversations is all about brewing up discussions and topics that matter to the community. With our differing perspectives, our hopes is to share our unique flavors opinion. And also life experiences to create a greater insight and also understanding. So join us every other Tuesday as we come together and talk all about things that are on and popping all over a nice hot cup of black coffee. Okay, well, welcome everybody to Grounded Conversations. This is McKayla. Um, I'm hosting along with Hoen today for this episode. This episode we brought in a really dope group of individuals. This is the Black Farmer's Collective. We've been following the work for a long time and just. we know about the importance, to bring awareness to environmental justice and liberation and healing in nature, especially being in Washington. I mean like, come on, y'all y'all gotta get outside. So, um, we just, we appreciate the work of the Black Farmers Collective and we just wanna have a discussion with them about, finding black liberation through this medium of farming, um, land steward. How to build relationships with yourself, um, land sovereignty, um, stuff like that, that is just important that we should be talking about. So without further ado, let's get started. We're gonna do some intros and then say what we're drinking. Mm-hmm. Yep. Okay. so who wants to go first? Who wants to introduce themselves off first? I'll go first. Um, my name is Hannah Wilson. Um, I'm the farm manager at Yes Farm with the Black Farmers Collective and I'm drinking a macchiato today. Okay. Nice to meet you. Hello everyone. Uh, my name is Masra Klain Goo. I am the farm manager at Small X Farm, our farm up in Woodenville, Washington. And what I am drinking today is water. If it were not past two o'clock, I'd be drinking at Cortado Sweet. Greetings everybody. My name is Effe. I'm a part of the farm crew onboarding herbalist, um, volunteer coordinator and partners management. Um, today I'm drinking on some good old H two O staying hydrated. Mm-hmm. Um, nice. Uh, my name is UA Asbi. Um, any pronouns is cool. And oh, black Farmers Collective. I'm a part of the farm crew, but also do like media, a little bit of communications. Um, and today I'm drinking on black coffee. Okay. Well thank you all for joining us today. Um, so let's just get straight into the episode. So tell us a little bit about Black Farmers Collective and what you guys do there all right, I'll, I'll jump in here. Um, so Black Farmers Collective is a group of farmers organizers, educators and leaders in the community, uh, focus on food systems work and trying to get more black farmers on the land. Um, talk about food access in the black community and just. In the community with black and brown folks in general as well. Um, we're also trying to make sure that we have youth in this work, thinking about, um, representation outdoors and also in farming and just in general seeing the ways that we as a community can, uh, connect with the land and, and find healing in that, and also build towards food sovereignty and black liberation. So at Yes Farm, which is our urban. In LER Terrace in the middle of Seattle, we do a lot of community building events, so we'll do like workshops and cookouts for the community. We'll also do a lot of educational programs with youth and schools to make sure that they understand about nutrition, farming, land stewardship, and environmental justice in general. And then we also do a lot of farm days. Anyone can come and engage and volunteer and get to know our spaces and the community that we're in. That sounds really nice. You said, um, you mentioned land, land stewardship. What is that? yeah. Land stewardship to me is just having a reciprocal relationship with the land in whatever way fits for you. So I think like a lot of what I think about is like our black and indigenous ancestors and the ways that they would take care of the land and also, Um, kind of be in right relationship with it, whether that means like having, you know, growing their own food, like their own cultural foods or building their homes and communities and like religions and spirituality around land and the environment that we live in. So, yeah. Yeah. Uh, I guess I can speak a little bit about what we do at Small X Farm. Um, Small ex farm is sort of, I guess, our more, uh, production, business based or business oriented farm, uh, that we run up in Woodenville, slightly larger than yes, farm in, in, in Seattle. And the past two years has just been sort of focused on getting the farm started and, uh, running as a, as a operating farm. Um, but I think some of the impetus behind us getting small acts was also to work on economic development for the, for the black. Specifically around food, food production, food sovereignty, and healthy eating. Um, so in order to, to pursue that aim, we're uh, looking at developing a program, an incubator farming program. So we're looking at hosting new and starting up black and brown farmers, um, and supporting them on their beginning of the farm business journey. So, we'll, we'll do that through providing access to land, being the, the main piece right now. Access to land, access to infrastructure, greenhouses, propagation, space equipment, tractor, tractor use, and a little bit of technical knowledge from, from our team and the resources that we have at our hands. Um, and yes, that's, that's what we do. We sell, sell, produce at some of the Seattle farmer's markets. Shout out to Africa Town. African Community Housing and Development, uh, and the South Delridge market, they put on a really great market, um, for the past two years. And, looking at economic development and the food and the food sovereignty space. Uh, that's amazing. Yeah. Okay. Period. sorry. I would also add that, um, although like we are, and this has come up a lot in conversation, but not, we are the farmers, but we're also, um, a lot of the times dis the distributors too. So like Mora was saying, uh, Mora runs a lot of the markets along with Taj, um, who isn't here today. And yeah, I think a lot of it is making sure the food gets to the community and handing it out and connecting in those ways, but, Yeah, definitely distribution's a huge, it takes up a lot of time as well, so, and that along as well. Okay. How long would you say like distribution? Like give like an estimate, like how long would you say that would take? I don't know. I think it starts with like washing too. So that can take, depending on how big the market is mm-hmm. anywhere between like a couple hours, depending on how many hands you have. Mm-hmm. um, and then driving it wherever it needs to go. And sometimes that's hitting multiple spots. Sometimes that's hitting multiple spots and then the cooler. Um, so a couple hours out of the day. One sec. Yeah. If, if I may jump in here real quick. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Um, like gay was saying, wash. specifically, like the washing and the handling and the post harvest handling of produce. That's actually like the, the bottleneck of a lot of farming operations. Mm-hmm. cuz it does, that's the piece that takes the most time. Um, seeding stuff and planting stuff is relatively quick when you're out in the fields. Uh, but it just, it takes a lot of, in intricacies, well pulling first you gotta pull it outta the ground, then you gotta like pack it nicely. Mm-hmm. as it's on the way to the wash pack station and then washing it, it. in our, in our sort of system, we, we dunk in three different bins of water for, depending on the type of produce or to spray it off, but that's, yeah, it just takes wash pack is the wash pack and distribution are the bottlenecks that a lot of farm businesses really have to face. Like cuz once you know the, know the basics of farming, growing it and growing it is really the easy part. And the hard part is washing it, just distributing it and then sort of selling it and sort of that all falls, underselling it cuz that's, the back end operations, which, uh, takes a lot of infrastructure, capital, and like sort of knowledge and relationships to have, um, Yeah, that's what I was gonna add too, is just like on the back end, like there's a lot of coordination work that we have to do. Mm-hmm. like to make sure that we know like how much produce people want, or like if we're outta market, like we have to basically predict like mm-hmm. you know, how much people are gonna buy and like if you're a new farm business like. People might not know who you are yet and might not know that you're out there. Um, and then like with the work that we do at Yes Farm, like we're trying to make sure that folks are distributing our food for free. So, um, you know, I find that I spend a lot of time like. Trying to build relationships with folks who are already doing that distribution work or already have those relationships in community. But all of that can be in flux all the time. And because people are not always like in, you know, in the know about like the seasons or like the seasonality of food and farming, it can be difficult to like maintain mm-hmm. sort of those relationships. So yeah, shout out to our team for really putting into work with all of those steps. Okay. And then how would you like, um, you like mentioned how like some farmers like may not be like well known out there yet. So how would you like, put yourself out there? Like you mentioned also having like connection, like other people that have those resources as well. So what are some other ways that you can get like your organization, like well known or just like out there in the. So your question, yeah. I think, um, all of our work has been trying to, you know, meet other folks who are doing that distribution work, like you said, or other folks who are able to get our, you know, our business and our organization out there. So whether that be like social media and folks' websites, um, or like, you know, local newspapers or like journals, like letting folks know that we're gonna be out there is big. but I think, you know, at the end of the day, like. Really having deep relationships in the community is like the fastest way that we've been able to get the word out there. So like I think for us, it's been really cool to meet other farmers and see how they've gotten the word out or like the relationships that they have. And farmers, I think, really help each other out. So like they'll. will be like pulled in different directions because of that. Um, and then you get to learn sort of the food system as a whole through that. Like seeing the different like infrastructure and markets and, and organizations that are doing that type of work. But it's definitely difficult because you're also kind of like battling against the fact that like, people normally just go to Safeway, go to a grocery store. Like it's a lot more convenient in some ways to do that. A lot of what we're trying to think of is like, how do we like bring the food to people so that it actually is like, you know, reaching them. Um, and that may be Safeway and other big agricultural, um, corporations are like not getting in the way of that. So, yeah. Yeah, I was thinking of just like what you were saying about like access and I wanted y'all to like kind of speak about that. Access to these foods and not having, these kind of like grocery stores that are honestly kind of like fast food in a way, some access to fresher foods are strategically placed in some neighborhoods that are like traditionally non-black neighborhoods. And like those kind of differences that we see in trends. So like how, how does this work? But like a little background about that. and like food restorative justice and black liberation. How does that look like providing access to Yeah. To foods. I could speak a little I was just gonna say, I know Hannah does a lot of work with mutual aid groups that Yes. Farming, uh, getting food out to communities that way. Um, not to call them out, but, oh no. Maybe we could speak a little bit about that. Yeah, for sure. Um, wanted to leave. For brothers to go to? Um, yeah, I think one way that we've addressed getting food out to community and making sure that it's accessible. And for me, I think, you know, a lot of our conversations have been around like, food should just be a human right. Like it shouldn't be something that we're paying, you know, excessive amounts of money for at all. And so mutual aid work, especially in the pandemic, has cropped up a lot and that's been one way that we've been able. meet organizers on the ground who have relationships with families and community members who know what they need. And you know, one of the. cool relationships that we've had that's developed over the years. Like they sort of, a lot of black and brown folks, and I've asked them each year like, what would you like to see? What do your, you know, constituents or like community wanna see in the food pantry that they put on? And then next year I can grow what the community wants to see. Um, so that's been one way that we've gotten out, gotten food out to the community for. Um, and I think like some of the things that I think about when we're doing this work is also just how important it is for folks to have choice in their food. Because I think there are a lot of like food assistance programs or like food banks, but they don't necessarily have food that is really nourishing or culturally relevant. And so I think that's also been a big part of our work is growing food that. That black and brown people want to eat, you know? Mm-hmm. and that is important to our culture, right? Like, we have really good food and we should be able to eat that. Mm-hmm. And that's really important to just like our wellbeing. And that's something that's been, you know, actively taken away from us over time. And so that's a big way to have powers to be able to like have access to your own food and to be able to grow it and steward it. So, Yeah, I think those are just some of the things that we think about. It's just in terms of food access, but it's, it's a huge systemic issue, right? Like there's so many parts to it, like there's the farming part of it, but there's also like, how do you get like cold storage to store the food? Mm-hmm. and like, can we get a warehouse to like dry out all these beans that we grew and store them over the winter? Right. Or like, what does it mean to process our own food? Um, whether that's like jam or like pickling things and making sure that we have food year round. Mm-hmm. that's, those are all like huge parts of the food system that we don't necessarily always have access to, um, and are really important. So. I was gonna say on that tip too, I think, um, also knowing that, and once tools and resources are kind of there, but we can be better at it too, of going, um, into spaces and giving out food. But kind of like we were talking about with the markets, a lot of the processing and just farming in general can be very laborous and take a lot of time mm-hmm. So how can we be better at or just gain more resources so that we can show up in the community and be like, hey, like, like a pop-up tent. Um, I was recently speaking to, um, our back ran. Beach Action Coalition, and they have the capacity to pop up a tent and give fresh fruits and vegetables out to their community that they've grown, you know? Um, so I think for myself, learning from other organizations on how they continue to provide fresh food and access, but also being like, um, yeah, how can we get better, but also needing the support to do so, um, to make it happen as well. God is just so dope. Like, oh my gosh, like this is like, you know, it's something that's so like unforeseen, like how would you, like, how, how would we imagine not getting access to our own food? Like that's crazy to me just to like think about that and hear that and like, oh my gosh. Like props to the black farmers like y'all, who are just like putting it out there. Like I can't even find the whole foods and stuff like that. And even that's not the best, right? Honestly. Mm-hmm. but it's like, it's so hard to. the ingredients for your own stuff. Mm-hmm. that is just so crazy to me to think about. But um, yeah, so I know like for me personally, connecting with nature, going outside, definitely like, improves like my mental health. Like whenever, like I'm like feeling. just like down to like upset, like going outside, like being under the sun or just like sitting in some grass. Like always like lifts up my mood. So how, how can, connecting with nature, being outside and also just like farming, build a relationship with yourself and how can that, how can you correlate that with mental health? Yeah, I can speak on that. Um, I think being a part of the Black Farmers Collective and just being in the space has allowed me and a lotted me like a lot of freedom to like, explore and be curious about myself. Um, when it comes to my emotions as well, like I think really being out, uh, at Yes Farm and Small Act specifically because it is five acres of land. Um, and if you are having a bad day, um, you are able to kind of like go out. into the field and kind of like rest and figure out what you need. Um, but also I think being in the dirt and, um, when Hannah was talking about like land stewardship and that reciprocity you have with the land, for me the past year, um, as I've tended to the land, I felt really held within like my emotions, um, and, and felt support even, uh, in navigating that. Just being outside or just. um, the space to like scream or cry or just to be angry or just to talk to spirit, um, and work that out in that space, which is such a privilege for it to also be like my workspace, so, mm-hmm. Um, I think the connection between land and person, um, is like never ending. It's been since the beginning of time and I feel like it's. Uh, been a real gift to be able to actively explore that. Um, and I would encourage you to explore that in whatever that looks like. Um, because farming, it opened up that avenue to explore my emotions, but then I started doing it in other ways in my life and it was, uh, yeah, a really healthy way of navigating that. So, um, yeah, you're all set. Set. um, I think similarly to what UA has shared, Just being able to say that you work outside is very liberating and powerful because yeah, like you can be having a bad day mentally or just not be there present, but you still have to show up and like get the task done, but it doesn't really feel like getting the task done because you're allowed to like take your time in a sense and like really be there with the plants. tending to, whether it's harvesting or weeding, and like each task I feel like can be very symbolic for something that you're going through. Um, like a weed. Um, the root of the problem, like you can see how when you're harvesting, um, or even like uprooting, like a squash, like we were, uh, putting the farm to rest and we had to uproot a bunch of zucchini plants. But even if a zucchini plant was like at point A, the root would follow all the way to like, 72 Like it would just end up somewhere so far and you'd be like, okay, how did we get here? And then, you know, you just keep going. Um, you notice that each plant is like that. so yeah, just symbolic connections, parallels every day on the land with self. That's nice. I like that. I was like, you can have like turn. you're harvesting or weeding into some type of like symbolic to represent like whatever it is that you're going through in your life. So, mm-hmm. that's very reflective. Mm-hmm. Yeah, definitely echoing a lot of what Wan Effe said. Um, for me it's just, uh, being outside, working outside. Uh, something for me that initially drew me the work of farming was, that's the work of it. The labor, like the working with the body being in all those different types of movements. I guess I'm just reflecting. Before I went to farming, I worked in a kitchen, in a restaurant industry. So like one of the early reflections I had when I first came to farming was like, oh, at the end of a work day, I, when like catering kitchen, I'd feel super drained and like my legs would hurt and my back would hurt. Um, when I come off the farm, I'd be tired and stuff. Yeah. Cuz I didn't, it was a bunch of labor, but like, I wasn't. drained in all of those different type of ways. Like I was drained physically, but sort of still had some energy. Um, I guess maybe cuz of the physicality of it, just keeping constant movement throughout the day, endorphins and all that. Um, but also I was fed in a lot of different ways, spiritually, mentally, by the people around me and Yeah, spiritually from the plants, the ecosystem. Mm-hmm. being all that. And one thing. at small firm right now that I really enjoy. Just sort of, yeah. Being, cuz it's not really rural, but it's more rural than other firms I've worked on. Um, and so you, you get really in touch with the local wildlife, the local biology. Mm-hmm. the local ecosystem. We're right by the Sam Amish River, so we can always just go down, watch the river mm-hmm. um, the slow flowing water and all that. But there's like huge flocks of geese that always fly by and like, I guess now and in the early spring and early summer. I'm not sure if this is true, but they're, looks like they're in their migration season, so like there'll be like lots of thousands of pieces. Mm-hmm. flying across the sky. Gotta watch your head so they don't poop. Um, and then, yeah, just Red Hill Hawks. Always like hunting and stuff and yeah, that's just that, yeah. Being, being outside, connecting with. the larger, the wider world. Mm-hmm. that just sounds very healing. Just like being able to see like, all like the, the bugs, the an mm-hmm. like the wildlife and also like being able to like, just like listen to like the water. Yep. Yeah. Like how do, like how would you say like that's like healed you or like what type of like impact has that given you? Um, I don't know if, I don't know if I can say it's sort of just. indescribable. But let's, uh, yeah. Intangible something you can't really nail down, pin down into words, but I would say, what would I say? Um, I dunno. Connection, uh. Yeah. So sort of basking, basking, the basking and the glory of, of the world, uh, and the things that are in it, the, the beings that are in it. Um, yeah, grounded, I can answer that question is also, how it's impacted me personally seeing like all the wildlife and just like being. interconnected with nature. Um, it allows me to like notice new things and like new patterns and like, especially that the animals and wildlife like take on, like Mare was mentioning how the birds migrate. Um, going back to like the symbolic piece, how, and like, just like hibernation as a whole being something that almost everything except for humans get to do, um, is. just back to that reflective state. It just really makes me think about my role as a human, even if I can't, like hibernate physically. Um, finding ways to hibernate in my own way. I guess that's one way it's impacted me. And just like the significance of rest. Mm-hmm. um, more than just physical. Okay. Yeah. That's nice. What about you guys? Will you say anything? Yeah, I can jump in here. Yeah, I think, um, like the stronger, like my relationship to the land has been like, the more healing I've gotten from it. And I think like it comes from so many of the places that like, um, the crew has already mentioned, but I think. one, knowing that like, I'm taking care of these plants and like this ecosystem and like seeing, you know, a plant go from like seed to harvest and like, you know, to flowering and like to watch that process and know that I'm taking care of the plant through that process. Um, it's really beautiful and it's really inspiring and I think like every time I go outside, like I'm like, wow, Peck is so beautiful out here. it really does help like melt some of the other things going on in the background away and like the work itself is really meditative and I've never felt stronger like physically. Mm-hmm. in my life either and, and I think also with the community farm aspect of Yes Farm, the amount of people that I've been able to talk to and meet in Seattle and as a whole through this work has been really beautiful. Folks coming from all different backgrounds and connecting over, like weeding some, some plants, right? like we always joke that like some of the most vulnerable moments that we've had in this work have been like, you're not even making eye contact with someone, but you're like, you know, elbow to elbow like in the dirt, weeding a little bit. Um, and I think like that's a really beautiful part of farming too, is like not just like the relationship with the land and the ecosystem, which I think. being able to move with the seasons kind of the way that I feel like we're meant to be is really beautiful. But also like the ways that like it brings people together and it makes people vulnerable and like it makes people show up, I think as sort of full selves and just like, even if it's just like for a moment, I think that's like really healing. And also wanted to touch on something ye said too is just like, Like the land can really hold like all of us and like all of our feelings and like all of who we are and it's not gonna like, do anything back to you except like, hold you. Mm-hmm. Um, and I think just like building that sort of like sort of relationship and framework with land has been like one of the most healing parts of, of the work. So Yeah. Move with the seasons. I love that. Yes. And if I could jump in really quick to. Um, to something that MA was saying or like you had asked Monster to like try to describe like that feeling. Um, I remember I had did a research, um, I had carried out my thesis at Yes Farm and it was about, um, redefining wellness, um, and black liberation through an ancestral spiritual and horticultural lens. And I remember I was presenting to my class and when it comes to that like feeling or that emotional of connectivity, it isn't something. You can explain really. I think it's something that's truly meant to be felt. Um, and I just remember trying to put into words in front of like, my all white class and I was just like, this is something that you just have to find for yourself and, and, and hope it like, tries to find you too. Source connectivity. It's just unexplainable. That's all I got. It's too true. Okay. Yeah. Can I add one more thing too? Yeah. Like, I think also the way that we're doing this work too is, um, trying to address like a lot of like intergenerational trauma and. painful experiences that black people have had with the land, and also reconnect with like a legacy of farming and land stewardship that black people have had for, you know, since time in memorial, right? Mm-hmm. like reconnecting with that has also like increased, like the way that I think about like, My ancestral lineage and the knowledge that we have and, um, sort of thinking about this in a larger context than just like myself and like what I wanna do in life, but also like sort of the ancestral work that this is. Yeah, I just, I, I heard there's just so many benefits in finding. yourself and like just connecting with walks of life through nature. Mm-hmm. And to me, I feel like there's a lot of internalized anti-blackness. I feel like in the black community with going out and exploring and being in nature. And it's kind of like, especially living in the Pacific Northwest is kind of like, I know growing up it was like, why are you like, why are you going outside? Like What are you gonna find out there? But I also understand there's an aspect of safety in that. Mm-hmm. black people weren't harmed in those spaces. And it's also like, you know, you don't wanna put yourself in danger or your community doesn't wanna put yourself in danger. And so like, how would y'all like, imagine, you know, decolonizing. farming and nature and finding yourself connected in those spaces. And how, like what are the steps? What are calls of actions that the black community can take to find liberation in these spaces? Because it's there right? Um, yeah, I think something that I've been just thinking about very recently is the importance of like knowing your history and. I wish I could quote them by name, but as someone said, no history, no self, no history, no self. So if you don't know where you come from, it's hard to know who you are and like what your impact could be in a space. And so I've been doing some I guess deep diving of knowledge and it led me back to like our enslaved, ancestors and how. They didn't really have a choice, um, to be in those situations that they were like on the field and like putting in hours of intensive labor. Um, and then only met with like breadcrumbs as a reward. Um, makes me think of like just the power, the power we have now to like, have the choice to be in those spaces and like carry out the mission that we wanna carry out. Um, in our own ways and in a way that like impacts our communities in a way that like helps everyone cuz like, you know, there's, there's enough for us all to eat. You know, I think, um, to add onto that about the question of nature, um, I think going back to allowing yourself, or we kind of talked about this before, but allowing yourself to just be curious. Um, be curious with yourself and explore cuz what might work for someone might not work for you because, I live in the p and w, but I am the number one hike caterer. Like, I don't enjoy hiking, like I enjoy walking long walks, but the incline is, it's not something I enjoy. Um, and it feels more like a, a race than like something you can enjoy to me at least. But, um, over the summer, and I can't really swim either, but I found like I really enjoy being in the water and like cold exposure and how that helps me in my nervous system in so many areas of my life. So I feel like just allowing yourself, um, to be curious with yourself and just get curious with the outside world. Cuz I feel like, you know, we're talking about anti black men. Yeah. anti-blackness. But um, yeah, I just think going back to allowing yourself tricks for, oh, not anti-blackness. Um, the colonized mentality I feel is definitely like shoebox, like tiny little, trying to put yourself into something so small. But I feel like when you allow yourself to be curious, you're, you're breaking outside of that mold. Definitely. So that's what I would say for exploring the outdoors. Try something new. Decolonize your mind. There we go. Thank you. Do you feel like all of that has, either taught you or. Encouraged you to be more patient and take your time, smell the flowers and just be one with nature? Yeah, definitely. I would say I'm a pretty open-minded person, but I have my flaws. Um, but I feel like it allowed me to be even more so open-minded and, um, yeah, continue to just see the different perspectives in all the gray area and all the both and that there is in life. Um, like Iffa was saying, it's definitely. there's so many parallels when you allow yourself to be curious and you open that up for yourself. Um, so yeah. Okay. Yeah. I think like one thing I think about a lot in this work is like how we can make, like being outside and like being on the land, like a really, like joyful mm-hmm. and like connected experience. And so like, you know, some of the things I thought about is like, how do we bring. art into the outdoors and like how do we bring culture into the outdoors and like how do we make it like resonate with people in a way that it maybe didn't resonate before? Cuz like I don't think we all identify with the white p and w hikers that we see out here, right? like, I think, you know, like they've been saying too, is like, how do we be outside in a way that we wanna be in, in a way that's joyful for us? And like, you know, I think like at the farm, like we'll bring DJs out or like, we'll bring artists out to paint murals like on our water tanks. And like that makes the space ours and, um, like ours to, to shape as well. And so I think like that's been one way. Like, I've wanted to like kind of incorporate like ourselves into that space and make it more for black people. Um, yeah, I think like encouraging folks to bring themselves into it and not try and be, you know, you don't have to be a p w hiker to it to be outside. Um, yeah. And I think also, like there's a lot of power in being outside and I think like one of the biggest, like I. lessons that I learned in like talking to other farmers and stuff was just like, you know, black people were like, brought over here because of our agricultural like brilliance. Like we weren't just brought over here because of our bodies. Mm-hmm. it was because we know, we knew how to steward the land and be in relationship with it. And so, and then like beyond that too, like. you know, we've been really powerful when it came to farming and building farm cooperatives and keeping our C communities safe and mm-hmm. um, building self-determination and like, that's where people saw that we were really powerful and like have done everything possible to take that away from us. And so I think like it can be really painful to acknowledge that, but I think it's also really powerful to know that history of like,, wasn't that we were never out here. It was that we were so powerful out here and so awesome out here that like they had to do something about it, you know? So. Okay. That was good. Yeah. I don't even know what to say. like, okay. Should we go to the call to action or Hold on one more question. Okay. What advice would you give to anyone that's thinking about joining farming or that's just curious and doesn't really know where to start. What type of advice would you want to give out I would say go to your local store, get you a nice little plant start. You don't even have to start it from seedling, but if you want to, that could be a cool experiment as well. But select your favorite. Plant or seed and just try to grow something yourself. Whether it be something that you can eat right off the plant, like a mint or a basil or something that takes a little bit more time like tomato. Or you can eat everything off the plant, but if it takes a little time to fruit. Yeah. Um, yeah, just see what you can do and trial and error, you know? Mm-hmm. it's never gonna be perfect cuz nature's not perfect unless nature is perfect cuz everything is supposed to be exactly how it's supposed to be. Yeah. If you want to get started farming, I'd say reach out to your local, local black farmer. Mm-hmm. um, head us up on our website and news media. We'll be hosting some volunteer days next year and can learn, learn how we do it. Ask, ask, ask, ask your farmer the questions, and mm-hmm. get down and dirty. Yes. And what was it that you just said? Was it uh, like the name or was it a website or? Oh, yeah. You can follow us on Instagram, black Farmers Collective. Uh, our website is also black farmers collective.com. I think we got a Facebook page as well. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Donate there. If you have the means and you have the will. Um, yeah. Catches at Farmer's Markets in Seattle, Africa Town Community Housing. South Delridge market. But anyway, I'll stop plugging space for other folks too. so speak. There you go guys. I think this may sound interesting, but I think for me, um, the advice, uh, for me, like I struggle navigating just like big emotions and I think something that definitely helped me and continues to help me is literally, um, and if you wanna get started, Weeding or, um, like hitting up your local farmer to like help weed or someone in the neighborhood, you know, or just around a tree that you may have. Um, but also just putting your hands in the dirt and, um, yeah, just seeing how it feels and allowing it to, allowing spirit to speak to you or allow yourself to speak to you and go from there. Mm-hmm. Can I, can I, can I end with a little fund? Fact? I think like within like a teaspoon of soil, there's like billions or millions of microorganisms. So like, yeah. When you're literally put your hands in the dirts, you're literally, for the science, I guess for the material minded people. uh, literally like engaging, engaging with millions and billions of beings of the ecosystem. So then like, then there's all these studies that show the benefits of actually touching soil with your bare hand. Um, microbiomes and all that. Good, good stuff. Yeah. We love to hear it. Finding everything new, learning new things today. Okay, so call to action. Do you have anything? Uh, yeah. So we like to wrap up each segment basically with a call to action for our listeners. When we bring in groups of people, We're gonna ask y'all what would be y'all's call to action, and next steps for our listeners and, how to support y'all and black farmers and stuff like that. Just like what they can do to also just like educate themselves as well. Hmm. Yeah, I mean, I think sort of jumping off of what folks have said already, I would encourage folks to get to know their local black and brown farmers and get to know the local food system on many levels and learn about what it means to build towards food sovereignty and black liberation, and what food justice is and how that is so interconnected with many parts of our lives. And I think another thing. I always want to touch on is that like we all have a role in the food system. Like I don't think any of us just like separate from it. I know that we're all consumers, but I think we also have other roles to play too, whether it's being a farmer or being an educator, being an organizer, being an artist. Like I think we all play a really huge role in the food system and so I encourage folks to like figure out what that role is for them and, and like, Yeah, just keep going towards that. Good advice. I would also add, if you do wanna find your local black or brown, farm. I literally Googled yes, farm, or I literally googled black and brown farm in Seattle and that yielded several different results. So hopefully there's some in folks' areas. I'm inspired by, um, by I think one of our murals at Yes Farm. I say re researched the black, the black farming ancestors. Um, I think we just finished a George Washington Carver one and that he was a really, a really big inspiration. in my first interests in farming. Mm-hmm. would recommend a book called, I think it's the Man Who Talks With Flowers. It's a really short little perspective on George Washington Carver from one of his friends back in the day. Um, it's more than just peanut butter. Mm-hmm. That's true. Way more. You did a lot. Yeah. And yeah, Booker t Watley, uh, and yeah. Tuskegee, anyway. Mm-hmm. Yes. research. Yeah, I would say, follow our social media posted with what we're doing in the community. Make it down to some volunteer days if you can, and if you're unable to do that, Have other means of wanting to support. We also accept donations. You can find that link through the website, black farmers collective.com. Is you sure it's not org? It's do com. It's com Do you guys have specific days for volunteer days or is it just like whenever It may shift, but it's usually Saturdays. Typically Saturdays, um, 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM every Saturday from about. if you're listening and it's March, we may be back. So yeah, I would also plug that, um, coming to the volunteers days, it's just, if you're new to Seattle or whatever the case is, it's a great place to like just meet new people and to hang out and, um, yeah, I've seen a lot of like beautiful relationships be birthed out of that space and people just connecting and, um, that inner networking of community. Another thing too, um, for call to action is that we did, uh, go from. Team of three to a team of six. So donations are definitely, um, appreciated and helpful because that is a part of our mission, right? To be able to fund, um, other black farmers and to be able to pay them and to continue that so that, you know, black folks have other options just to work or do whatever and explore. Okay. And add on. We love that in Yes. yay I, I, I knew you were gonna do it. Like I was waiting when the sound pad, I dunno what you was saying too. If you do work for a larger organization, maybe a tech organization, if you're up here mm-hmm. uh, inquire onto, I don't know, whoever, HR or your. To see if y'all do like matching donations or like any, any black groups in in your organization want to come out and volunteer and get to know us. That would be really helpful and we're always looking forward to building these relationships. Yeah, you could reach us at our new email. Hey, connect at Black Farmers Collective dot. There you go, Nice. There you go. And we'll also make sure to include all your guys' information. Um, the address for where you guys can go for volunteers, um, socials, any flyers that you guys have or any like upcoming events you guys have. You're gonna also add to our, our social medias and our newsletter just to also help spread awareness and anything else for the call to action. head on over to our closing segments. We like to have a little in shamble segments. Is there anything that anyone is in shambles about child like in my real life? It could be real life, it could be in general. What's happening in the world, what's happening in the media? Shambles. My legs are in shambles cause it was leg day. I went for a run yesterday. Hey. Strong boy. I don't know, maybe. Yeah, My feet are in shambles. It's too cold outside. Step outside. My feet just go numb. I'm kind of in shambles, I think. Yeah, being 24 is just a really interesting spot to be in. Um, just thinking about like next life decisions and. Yeah, it's an interesting time. Did you recently? June 24. Uh, June 23rd. So no is gem. Thank you. What? I'm not about to put this on the air. Wait, wait. I was gonna say Gemini writes cycle all day. Yeah. I think during our rights it's Awe. Y'all are cool. Yeah, we couldn't, that's my rising, that's Bear Rising Twins. that much to be in shambles about, for me, for real. Um, truthfully, I was in shambles a little bit before this podcast just because I get really anxious. Um, me too. Yeah. But right now I'm feeling really good now that we made it through, I'm feeling good. No shambles. Sweating. I'm sweating. I'm still sweating. Feeling good. Yeah, I was really like anxious today and I topped it off with coffee and I don't know, that was definitely, that was not, it's not giving at all and does not The coffee was good though. Shout out Black Coffee Northwest. Yes. Shout out. Coffee. Coffee. That oatmeal latte got me the beans. Should we end it? Oh my God. I really, who's gonna jump to Freestyle? me and got, uh, beat. We got a beat on the side. Oh yeah. If someone can beatbox lightly, lightly, lightly, lightly come. If we can freestyle, someone can beatbox acapella, we can be okay. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, oh no. I've never really beatbox before. neither. All right. Here we go. We're closing out there. Oh, what did you just do? No, that's right. You said I got a pencil. A pencil. Well, all the school, my family's music musics music musician, musicians. Mm-hmm. musical, I guess, but I'm not, I don't know. You are today. No, you're back today. We'll be back to the lunch table. Period. I don't know. It's gonna echo, but it's gonna be like, Cool. Oh shit that, that sounds cool. Why does that go hard? Yay. We're closing out our session and we're feeling real good Black farmers Collective. Yo, we in the hood? Yeah, we're at Blackie Coffee Northwest. Yeah, these people are vest. I'm gonna pass it to my bro to the right of me. They got blue on and they're recite to see 1, 2, 3, 4 I'm gonna open the door. Jumping through the door. I'm finna spit something that's real legit. We're farmers. We're black too. We got coffee if you need that. Ooh, awesome. Hey, hey, hey. Get a black coffee Northwest. Collective serious. You got the horn. Master on the Beat produced by Black Coffee Northwest. Okay. That was amazing. That was amazing. There you go. Album Coming Soon. Coffee. That was a black coffee band. I've been try to set up and for like 10 years, so my dreams have been. Well, thank you everyone for listening. I hope you enjoyed and we will see you next time. Bye bye. Thank you. Thank you for tuning in to Grounded Conversations by Black Coffee Northwest. We hope you enjoyed and connected with the conversation. Now we wanna keep this going, so if you're in the area, join us in person at Black Coffee Northwest in Shoreline, Washington, just a few minutes outside of Seattle. Otherwise, connect with us on Instagram, Twitter, and on your favorite social media. Form we're at Black Coffee NW on everything. You can also shop our beans and March on our website@www.black coffee nw.com. Until next time, stay connected and stay grounded.