Three Leading Voices In Urban Farming that All Coloradans Can Learn From
Cover image of “Farming While Black,” authored by Soul Fire Farm co-Director, Leah Penniman
Denver Community Food Access Coalition works to ensure that every family across the Denver area has nutritious food options for the long term. Urban farming is a great way to do just that.
Urban farming cultivates, and distributes food in a way that brings environmental, economic, and social benefits to the surrounding community.
In celebration of Black History Month, we want to introduce you to three leading Black voices and organizations building healthy and thriving communities:
Black Girls With Gardens (BGWG) collective provides answers, tips, and inspiration to women of color interested in gardening. They create a space for like minded women to support each other and connect with their ancestral environmental background.
“Whether gardening is a form of self care, coping, hobby, or a career for you – we promise to make gardening easy for you.”
Learn from them on Instagram: @blackgirlswithgardens
Soul Fire Farm is an Afro-Indigenous centered community farm committed to uprooting racism and seeding sovereignty in the food system.
“We raise and distribute life-giving food as a means to end food apartheid. With deep reverence for the land and wisdom of our ancestors, we work to reclaim our collective right to belong to the earth and to have agency in the food system. We bring diverse communities together on this healing land to share skills on sustainable agriculture, natural building, spiritual activism, health, and environmental justice. We are training the next generation of activist-farmers and strengthening the movements for food sovereignty and community self-determination.”
Soul Fire Farm co-Director, Leah Penniman, is also the author of Farming While Black, 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.
Follow them: @leahpenniman & @soulfirefarm
Sundance Harvest is a food justice centered, year-round, urban farm located in Toronto, Canada. They strive to provide resources, knowledge and guidance for youth who are marginalized within the food system to start their own food and land sovereignty movements, create their own urban farming practice and to eradicate institutionalized racism within the food system.
Follow them on Instagram: @sundanceharvest
Listening and learning from diverse leaders like these will help us to preserve green spaces across our cities, strengthen our communities, and hold us accountable to addressing inequities across our state’s food ecosystem.