Agroecology From the People

AGRO E CO LO G Y

FROM T H E

P E O P L E

V O L U

M

E

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Thank you for joining us These practices are not new to our communities.

For more than 150 years, from the rural South to northern cities, Black people have used farming to build self determined communities and resist oppressive structures that that tear them down This manual is Soil Generation’s first published work in capturing some of these practices in order to share with our communities.

WELCOME

This is a Living Guide Knowledge and wisdom are ever evolving.

This manual is a living document that will change and grow over time. We look forward to publishing future editions with improvements and expansion in narrative and representation.

Garden Drum Circle

SG Farmers at One Art Community Center gather just before the sunset on a rich green lawn to share stories.

CONTENTS 1

INTRODUCTION LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

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OUR THREADS WHY THIS MANUAL/COMPANION? ABOUT US WHERE WE GROW WHAT IS AGROECOLOGY?

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TECHNICAL ASPECTS MORE ON AGROECOLOGY ►

The Top “TEN”ets of agroecology

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The Soul of the Soil: Soil Health Practices from SG Farmers

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The Secret Life of Plants: Plant Health from SG Farmers

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The Environment and it Importance

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Agroecology Tips From George Washington Carver

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Agroecology Tips From One Art

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The Importance of Seeds Stories and Heirloom Varieties

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HOW TO... AGROECOLOGY TECHNIQUES

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Agroecological “Farm Hacks” in Philadelphia

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How to Cut Cover Crops

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How to Mulch

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How to Companion Plant

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How to make a water barrel system

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How to Build a Trellis

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How to Compost

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How to Make Natural Fertilizers

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How to Save Seeds From Grow Real Food

THE POLITICAL

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STAYING TRUE: MAINTAINING A RADICAL VOICE FARMER-TO-FARMER METHODOLOGY SHARED LEADERSHIP CAMPAIGNS AND POLICY AGENDAS PARTNERSHIPS

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

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“One of the things that has to be faced is the process of waiting to change the system, how much we have got to do to find out who we are, where we have come from and where we are going.”

Ella Baker

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1 INTRODUCTION

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Soil Generation is...

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Soil Generation is a coalition of Black and Brown activists, growers, environmentalists, organizers, organizations, and advocates who work through relationships with each other, to serve our community and fight for our right to real food. Through this relationship to food we realized healing our generational trauma on this continent can be nurtured by our relationship to the land, our environment, and each other. Because we began as a volunteer coalition that values relationships primarily, the formation of SG has flowed and shifted to accommodate the member’s political growth in relationship to their communities and the ways that members interact with each other and our built environment.

The more we collectively learned through advocacy and our own popular education, the more we challenged the dominant narrative. And the more we challenged that, the better able we were to create a shared understanding, language, and strategy to inform our struggles for food and health in our communities. This made us collectively stronger. As we wove a web of support amongst growers from around the city, we became better able to push back against power brokers in the City who were making it difficult for people to grow food to feed our communities. We also realized this fight was bigger than us, and others would also stand to benefit from our call to “Free the Land.” More allies began showing up from different organizations, foundations, and city agencies, contributing to this collectively built power aimed at challenging the injustices our community of growers faced.

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LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Homage to original stewards of the land “The land upon which we gather is part of the traditional territory of the Lenni-Lenape, called “Lenapehoking.”

The Lenape People lived in harmony with one another upon this territory for thousands of years. During the colonial era and early federal period, many were removed west and north, but some also remain among the continuing historical tribal communities of the region: The Nanticoke Lenni-Lenape Tribal Nation; the Ramapough Lenape Nation; and the Powhatan Renape Nation, The Nanticoke of Millsboro Delaware, and the Lenape of Cheswold Delaware.

We acknowledge the Lenni-Lenape as the original people of this land and their continuing relationship with their territory. In our acknowledgment of the continued presence of Lenape people in their homeland, we affirm the aspiration of the great Lenape Chief Tamanend, that there be harmony between the indigenous people of this land and the descendants of the immigrants to this land, “as long as the rivers and creeks flow, and the sun, moon, and stars shine.”

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OUR THREADS Throughout this Book Mainly clothing for celebrations is made out of these. The wax prints are part of a nonverbal way of communication and expression among African women. The designs in this manual are inspired by the fabrics belonging to Soil Generation members.

Ankara Folk prints are mainly used for celebratory clothing. The wax prints act as a nonverbal means

Ankara: Folk Indonesia West Africa

of communication among West African women, but also as a way to carry their message beyond to the world. Some wax prints can be named after personalities, cities, building, sayings or occasions.

Okinawan textiles developed under the influence of fabrics

Bingata: Okinawa

from Southeast Asia, China and mainland Japan. The rich variety and technique of Okinawan textiles are beyond compare, even surpassing those of mainland Japan.

Okinawa is blessed with a variety of subtropical plants that can be used to dye textiles, such as using turmeric to produce yellow.

African wax prints, also known as Ankara

Ankara: Maize Indonesia West Africa

and Dutch wax prints, are commonly found in clothing in Africa, particularly in West Africa.

They are industrially produced, colorful cotton cloths with batik-inspired printing.

WHY THIS MANUAL?

The more we learned together...

Part of our politicization process included learning about agroecology.

Through our relationship to Black Dirt Farm Collective, we have been able to take part in the planning, execution and participation of several Agroecology and Afroecology Encounters here on the East coast. What we feel is especially unique to our practice of agroecology is our urban context. It’s because we’re situated in an urban context that we find it critical to define what agroecology means for us. More than anything, we hope that this text will capture the spirit of farmerto-farmer education. We see that capturing not only our relationships to each other, but also how we learn from one another and share practical knowledge in the field, as valuable. We also want to share with others what we have experienced and add to a growing body of information and knowledge.

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Farming Blueberries

Focus on this farmer’s palm as they share picked ripe Blueberries from a Blueberry shrub below.

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ABOUT US

In 2011, the Public Interest Law Center launched the Garden Justice Legal Initiative to provide free legal support, community education, organizing and advocacy to community gardens and market farms in Philadelphia. This project was created in response to the decline of gardens and farms in the city caused by lack of transparent, accessible city land policies. In 2008 University of Pennsylvania researchers reported that the number of Philadelphia’s community gardens had declined from 501 gardens to 275 between 1996 and 2008.

From the early stages of this work we recognized that to systematically improve the viability of urban agriculture in the city, we needed to connect urban gardeners and farmers to each other to build a self-determined, organized constituency that could advocate to improve local policies.

A coalition originally formed in 2011 in response to a proposed zoning amendment that would have threatened 20 percent of existing gardens and farms in the city. In 2013 that coalition formalized its membership and launched under the name Healthy Foods Green Spaces (HFGS). In late 2013, these efforts helped lead to the successful passage of the Land Bank law.

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After this, the direction of the coalition changed to prioritize building relationships with individual gardeners who reflected the majority of the growing community, instead of cultivating relationships with organizations. It was important that the people most affected by food insecurity be the ones actually directing any policy changes that affected urban agriculture moving forward.

In early 2014 Kirtrina Baxter, a Black community grower, was hired as organizer and prioritized cultivating relationships with individual gardeners from marginalized communities, instead of just organizations. An increased number of growers of color started coming to meetings to get politically involved.

Folks came from individual gardens and organizations and meetings were held in different gardens around the city to also attract a geographically diverse audience.

Friendships started to emerge. When these growers came together what was realized was that they all served the same goal, to provide food while learning and growing in community.

It was decided then that it was important for members to join as individual growers and not as representatives of their organizations. Nonprofit organizations had kept growers in silos from each other, under the guise of competition which usually rested around grant funding. But to those of us who lived in these communities we knew that money did not divide us. We wanted to have a place where we could practice our personal politics, but more than anything we wanted a place to commune.

Through these relationships, we became truly grassroots and changed our name to Soil Generation. With the new membership and name, we expanded our focus beyond land access policies to include racial and economic justice issues within the food system.

We declared ourselves anticapitalists, we believed in collective ownership and management as an alternative to capitalist ideas of business and living. More than profit or material wealth, we valued our relationship to each other and our relationship to the soil.

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Our Path Forward In February 2016, we held our first-ever strategic planning retreat as the new coalition. All members were involved in determining the calendar of activities and direction of the strategic plan.

In keeping with our values of community selfdetermination and representation, we voted to become a Black-led coalition, as the organizer was Black, along with others making decisions.

We are a Black-led coalition and through the years have had members of many ethnicities and cultures. We range from young farmers to gardening elders and we hail from communities of color, immigrant and refugee communities and disinvested neighborhoods. Some of us live and work in neighborhoods experiencing development, and gentrification that costs us access to affordable housing, education, play spaces, fresh food, health care and community safety mechanisms. We are people whose heritage is rooted in agriculture, though more recently these skills have been exploited by the food industry and by urban agriculture organizations and nonprofit organizations that do not truly understand food justice. We work in the health professions, education, arts and culture, as well as community enterprises. We are the ones most affected by land and food insecurity. Our members are those that create and carry impossible visions for the future.

As we often reiterate to those interested in our work, we are the community that we serve, and we are the community that we hope to grow.

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SG Monthly Meeting

SG Members pose for a photo after a meeting outside circa 2015.

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Shared Black & Brown Leadership

Racial & Economic Justice

AntiCapitalism

Agroecology

Soil Generation’s

four pillars 19

What’s our magic?

We operate within four pillars: black and brown leadership, racial and economic justice, agroecology, anti-capitalism. And importantly we offer liberatory language, historical analysis, and emotional accompaniment that are often denied to our communities, so we are growing the movement through practice and institution building.

Agroecology is a pillar of SG’s work and informs the proposed project design and goals. Utilized in an urban context and taking lessons from peasant social movements in South America, SG’s people-led agroecology addresses conservation challenges as well as the social, political, and economic needs of Philadelphia’s Black and Brown communities.

SG Ingredients for Growth

This movement is a reflection of our love for the land and the desire to protect those that steward it.

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Afroecology

realized by Black Dirt Farm Collective (BDFC) The Black Experience in the Americas has always been, by circumstance and by purpose, inextricably tied to the land and to forms of Agrarian Subsistence and Resistance, i.e. Maroon Societies, Quilombolas in Brazil, Palenques in Colombia, Garifuna and the Gullah/ Geechee Peoples, Freedom Farm Cooperative, Carvers Experimentation Wagon, Federation of Southern CoOps, Moon Farmers, etc. These historic experiences are both living testaments and examples for our collective study, as we understand and continue organizing efforts that carve out a way forward that supports the liberation of Black People, and the salvation and healing of our Mother Earth.

As part of the liberation struggle, we recognize the need to create political ideologies, and cultural theories and concepts to help clarify certain aspects of reality, so as to continue the transformation process. We present Afroecology as part of that process.

BDFC is an agrarian, creative and artisanal collective of returning-generation, peasant & urban farmers, artists and musicians, mothers and fathers. The collective is generated by a core group of persons who collectively commune with nature, organize distribution and markets, and organize within the Black and Brown communities in the DMV/P greater area (aka the NorthSouth) through afro/agroecology encounters. Our ecological and social practice is rooted in Agroecology, Food Sovereignty and Collective Liberation. We practice a collective political process, realized through our cultural base of Afroecology.

We recognize and name that we have been socialized in a society and culture of violence, exploitation and oppression of many forms – gender, racism, sexuality, capitalism, class, consumerism, materialism, etc.

Therefore we practice Family-Village work as our “collective action” which acknowledges healing and building together.

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Afroecology: A form of art, movement, practice and process of social and ecological

transformation that involves the re-evaluation of our sacred relationships with land, water, air, seeds and food; (re)recognizes humans as co-creators that are an aspect of the planet’s life support systems; values the Afro-Indigenous experience of reality and ways of knowing; visibilizes the importance of women and feminine energies as vital to our collective liberation; cherishes ancestral and communal forms of knowledge, experience and lifeways that began in Africa and continue throughout the Diaspora; and is rooted in the agrarian traditions, legacies and struggles of the Black experience in the Americas.

BDFC Circa 2019 North Carolina

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Nykisha Madison “We do this work so that truth and knowledge would flow easily and messages that need to be given will be received. Inside of myself, especially with my ancestors being farmers, coming from spirit people-- agroecology is about trusting yourself and your relationship so that you have what plants, animals, trees, nature around you -this oneness and shared collective consciousness that is very very real. I continue to trust myself and the wisdom that is coming out of my own selves in this large collective-- the better my experience of agreocology and my expression of what agroecology is.”

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Atiba Ellerby “The coalition has provided me with a means to stay abreast of the hard work being done by sister and brother gardener in communities throughout Philly and south Jersey. I have also as a farmer benefited from the connections made through SG by partnering with SG members for events and actions and adding my voice to national and global food sovereignty initiatives. SG is one of the few explicitly food sovereignty focused community groups in Philly that is attempting to address the race, class and power issues that meet in our work as growers. SG is working hard to move forward in its work supporting food justice and neighborhood sovereignty in Philly and it has met some expected and unexpected challenges along the way.Through it all the membership has stayed committed to farming, working, praying and playing through it.”

SG Members Black Joy and Resistance

SG Members pose for a photo after a meeting outside with the Black & Brown Worker’s Cooperative.

Lan Din “Watching my parents grow in Vietnam… using trellising… growing in every foot of space…

What’s in the trash we can use. How to recycle materials to grow food and maximize space.

Everything from the climate in terms of what is possible to grow, what are we near, what cultural communities live in the area, what is the history of land and land ownership, what’s the context of gentrification and land security are important geographical indicators for agroecology practices.”

Sonia Galiber “I have never shared space with people who hold accountability with such love - it is transformative to learn how to share power, struggle, and yourself with others in true solidarity. It’s not just about what Soil Generation does, but how we also chose to do it. In a time when terms like “values” and “vision” seem to be so easily co opted, I can say that through ever changing tough times and good ones, Soil Generation’s values really do hold us and the work we chose to do together. At the center of it all is love.”

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RO OS EV EL T

WHERE Black and Brown farms & gardens in Philadelphia WE GROW

RM

AN

TO

WN

CO TT MA N BROAD

GE

GH HI LE

LAN

AMONG THEM ARE...

CAS

TER

MARKET E IMOR BALT

WO

OD

LA

ND

WASHINGTON

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Urban Creators/Life Do Grow Farm Mill Creek Urban Farm One Art Community Center Resilient Roots (Vietlead) Urban Tree Connection North Philly Peace Park East Park Revilitazation Alliance (EPRA) Norris Square Neighborhood Project Sankofa Community Farm Holly Street Girarden Overbrook Evironmental Education Center Dito Inc.

Where We Grow

EPRA Garden Farmer poses with freshly picked tomato.

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WHAT IS AGROECOLOGY?

“Agroecology - an autonomous, community-led process that values ancestral practices of growing food and community organizing with cultural signifigance.

Communities determine how they will recover or maintain land, retain the cultural integrity of their neighborhoods and work towards food sovereignty.”

- Soil Generation

Food Sovereignty and Agroecology “As it was taught to me, Agroecology is so much more than a practice of growing food, it is a political designation. One that allows us as urban farmers who do not have fair access to land but who greatly value our relationship to land and to each other, to identify and be in solidarity with rural landless peasant farmers across the globe who are also saying my right to thrive is contingent upon my right to land. This, as well as recognizing and valuing my ancestral ways of growing food over the more conventional growing practices that have threatened our cultural way of life along with our health, is why we identify with Agroecology as a pillar in our formation.”

“Food sovereignty is the peoples’, Countries’ or State Unions’ RIGHT to define their agricultural and food policy, without any dumping vis-à-vis third countries. Food sovereignty includes:

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▶ prioritizing local agricultural production in order to feed the people, access of peasants and landless people to land, water, seeds, and credit. Hence the need for land reforms, for fighting against GMOs (Genetically Modified Organisms), for free access to seeds, and for safeguarding water as a public good to be sustainably distributed. ▶ the right of farmers, peasants to produce food and the right of consumers to be able to decide what they consume, and how and by whom it is produced. ▶ the right of Countries to protect themselves from too low priced agricultural and food imports. ▶ agricultural prices linked to production costs: they can be achieved if the Countries or Unions of States are entitled to impose taxes on excessively cheap imports, if they commit themselves in favour of a sustainable farm production, and if they control production on the inner market so as to avoid structural surpluses. ▶ the populations taking part in the agricultural policy choices. ▶ the recognition of women farmers’ rights, who play a major role in agricultural production and in food.”

La Via Campesina, International Peasant's Movement

“Agroecology is an integrated approach that simultaneously applies ecological and social concepts and principles to the design and management of food and agricultural systems. It seeks to optimize the interactions between plants, animals, humans and the environment while taking into consideration the social aspects that need to be addressed for a sustainable and fair food system.

Agroecology is not a new invention.”

- Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)

Ready for Replanting

SG member Nyambi Royster holds a tray of seedlings in a strawcovered patch ready for field planting at her farm.

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Anything will give up its secrets if you love it enough. Not only have I found that when I talk to the little flower or to the little peanut they will give up their secrets, but I have found that when I silently commune with people they give up their secrets also – if you love them enough.

George Washington Carver

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2 THE TECHNICAL

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Agroecology is an approach to agriculture that combines crop science, ecology, and social scientific knowledge to maximize agricultural production in ways that support both the existing environment and communities supported by agriculture. A basic tenant of agroecology is that plants grow within complex and diverse ecosystems that, when nurtured, can help increase productivity.

nutrients like water, nitrogen, and carbon that plants rely on for growth. Agroecological approaches to agriculture increase plant productivity by nurturing forms of soil life that benefit crop plants and using natural solutions to manage and eliminate forms of life that damage crops. What that means?? An agroecologist must be a naturally observant person constantly taking into account what is happening above and below their soil.

The most important element of agroecology is the soil. Natural soils support multiple forms of life simultaneously: plants grow above and beneath it, earthworms, insects, fungi and bacteria live within, and soils store

What is happening in the soil is extremely important and cannot be neglected.

Biodiversity and productivity starts below the soil!

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MORE ON AGROECOLOGY

The Top “TEN”ets of agroecology To achieve their goals, agroecological farmers employ an array of practices (those tangible things that you might actually look for when visiting a farm). Just for fun, I’ve boiled these down to ten:

1_ Amendments: Many farmers add organic amendments to their soils to fulfill multiple goals. Neither all soils nor all amendments are created equal, so farmers choose based on their needs. Amendments like compost and biochar often improve soils and in some cases replace chemical fertilizers whereas others, like mulch, are frequently used to control weeds and minimize erosion.

2_ Cover crops and green manure: Cover crops are planted during the off-season to protect soils from erosion, reduce nutrientloss to waterways, and prevent weeds from expanding into bare areas. Some cover crops boost nitrogen or carbon in soils, reducing the need for fertilizers or other amendments the following season. When crops are grown primarily to serve as an organic amendment, they are often referred to as “green manure”.

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3_ Animal Integration: Farms can diversify by including both crops and animals. In an urban environment encouraging birds and reptiles in your garden can be beneficial to keeping other pests down.You can also integrate chickens or goats depending on your acreage and neighbors. Animal wastes can fertilize crops while their feed can be compost from the garden. In some cases, by grazing (chickens or goats) I and directly fertilizing fields, animals reduce energy or time-intensive tasks.

4_ Agroforestry: Can be as simple as planting 1 or 2 trees to border your leased or owned property.You can find a variety of ornamental or fruit trees in your local nursery. Trees offer shade, beauty, and invite diversity to your farm ecosystem.

5_ Breeds and seeds (local ones): The crops and animals in many agroecological systems include varieties specifically suited for local conditions (soils, weather, and pests). By growing locally adapted seeds and breeds, farmers can produce tasty food that is resilient to existing challenges while also protecting options to manage the challenges of the future.

6_ Crop rotation: Crop rotation involves switching the crops planted on fields from year to year. Rotating crops disrupts pest and weed reproductive cycles. Because each crop has different impacts on soils, rotations reduce soil depletion or even build soil health.

7_ Barriers and strips (of non-crop plants).

Non-crop plants, like prairie grasses, can be planted as buffers or borders around fields to support pollinators, enhance biodiversity, prevent erosion, and reduce water pollution.

When planted in less productive areas, these barriers and strips can rebuild soil health without diminishing profits.

8_ Conservation tillage: Tillage refers to the mechanical disruption of soils to incorporate crop residues, manage weeds, or loosen compaction, but it also accelerates the breakdown of organic matter and exposes bare soil to carbon loss, erosion and runoff. Conservation tillage ranges from limited to no tillage approaches that seek to balance the tradeoffs to achieve healthy soils.

9_ Diversified fields: Fields can be diversified by mixing crops, intercropping (arranging multiple crops on a single field), or growing different crops in close proximity.

Diversification can prevent the spread of diseases and pests, reduce erosion, support pollinators and other beneficial insects, and improve conditions while keeping productivity.

10_ Designed landscapes: The broader farm landscape can be managed to minimize erosion and runoff. For example, terracing on steep slopes, farming along natural contours, and constructing check dams to reduce destructive storm water flow in critical areas can prevent soil loss and degradation.

Agroecology is a process not a destination.

Which of these TENets are you most excited about? You should start with learning about and implementing practices that excite you.

Make goals that center around each tenant and track your progress to those goals over the seasons and over the years.

Now we will break down agroecology practices that happen on the soil, on the plant and on the environment!

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The Soul of the Soil: Ten Soil Health Practices Used By Soil Generation Farmers in Philadelphia

1_ Keeping soil covered as much as possible and decreasing bare soil patches with cover cropping and with mulches.

2_ Intercropping plants with cultural and scientific value to each other. At Mill Creek Farm they plant watermelons, cowpeas and corn together to protect the soil and support each others growing habits. Intercropping also saves space in your garden.

3_ Creating site made compost to reduce off farm inputs and to keep nutrients on the farm. One Art Community Farm has a three bin system made from recycled wooden pallets and wire mesh to keep away unwanted creatures.

4_ Many of the gardens and farms use a “notill” land care and preparation process to stand in solidarity with the soil microbes.

No-till is considered a beneficial tool for building rich soil with tremendous biodiversity.

5_ Sheet mulching using freely available materials like cardboard boxes and free tree mulch delivered from tree removal companies.

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6_ Building the topsoil with compost and bringing in outside topsoil to mitigate any risks of soil contamination.

7_ Heavily mulching around plants with straw or landscape fabric in order to keep soil moisture high and protect against unwanted plants sprouting.

8_ Crop rotation or growing a series of different types of crops in the same area in sequenced seasons. It is done so that the soil is not depleted of nutrients and it helps in reducing soil erosion and increases soil fertility and crop yield.

9_ Soil amendments like compost teas , worm compost, comfrey teas and mushroom compost. Mill Creek farms sprays them on plants regularly as a fertilizer.

10_ Loving the soil and seeing it as a living and breathing and productive part of their farm that needs to be nurtured and not depleted!

Intergenerational Farming

Little Nahla helps her Grandma as they tend to a patch of maturing cabbage at One Art Community Center .

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Pollinator Garden at Mill Creek Urban Farm

A variety of plants support a pollinator garden for bees and other insects to thrive; and thus adjacent gardens benefit 37

The Secret Life of Plants: Plant Health from Soil Generation Farmers 1_ Many SG farmers utilize companion planting such as planting marigolds with tomatoes in order to kill white flies and nematodes.

At Mill Creek they use black-eyed peas as nitrogen fixers and as a great companion plant with sorghum and corn, which need a lot of nitrogen.

5_ Use of solarization- using a dark plastic in the sun to germinate weeds in the baking soil that then die off due to lack of sun.

2_ They use pollinator gardens filled with marigolds, sunflowers, coneflowers, bee balm, and mints to serve the purpose of medicine and to attract pollinators and beneficial insects in the garden.

3_ At Resilient Roots, they plant lettuce with taller plants because the low lying and leafy lettuce covers the soil like a mulch.

4_ “You get the strongest thing that grows in your area, harvest it either during the morning or night when the plant has the most energy when it’s at its purest form.

Chop it up and mix it with brown sugar and pour the liquid out of that plant and everything that made the plant strong is poured into your plants you are fertilizing.

From one essence to another…” - Alkebulan of Mill Creek Farm. Look up Korean Natural Farming and Fermented Plant Juice for recipes!

Solarization use at Compost Area

Weeds are germinated and starved of light to prevent the loss of nutrients in planting beds.

6_ What is a weed to some, is a food to others.

Many people don’t know the purpose of some plants. SG farmers consume a lot of their weeds because many of them are cultural crops like purslane and burdock. They harvest and prepare the weeds or herbs before they start flowering and releasing seeds, to prevent an overabundance next season. Think dandelion, chickweed, lambs quarters,etc.

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CLIMATE JUSTICE

The Environment and its Importance Philadelphia has a moderately sunny climate with an average of 2,500 hours of sunshine annually, and a percentage of sunshine ranging from 47% in December to 61% in June, July, and August. The average window for freezing temperatures is November 6 thru April 2 allowing a growing season of 217 days. The plant life hardiness zones are 7a and 7b, representing an average annual extreme minimum temperature between 0 and 10 °F. - Wikipedia Zone 7 has a medium-long growing season, enough that all but the longest season vegetables have time to ripen. A last frost date of mid to late April and a first frost date of early to mid-October mean a frost-`r forecasts before planting. A medium-long growing season also means starting indoors and providing early and late frost protection will give good harvests.

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Understanding your climate and natural resources is essential to agroecological growing. Agroecologists work with the season and the elements to create efficient systems.

Tip: Search google for planting calendars applicable to Zone 7 and you will find different formats to choose from that will work for your growing and learning style.

Questions to Ask: ▶ When is the first and last frost date of the growing season where I live? When can I start growing things outdoors versus indoors? ▶ How are climate patterns changing in my area? What types of plants can I grow that are resilient and suitable to varying conditions? ▶ Do I live near natural resources for fertilizing my farm such as animal manure.

Fish parts, plant waste, coffee grounds, tree mulch? ▶ What was growing on my site before I started farming here? What types of contaminants and nutrients should I test my soil for? ▶ What type of soil do I have and what kind of amendments do I need to improve the organic matter or structure of my soil?

Peaches

Hardiness Zone 7

Map of hardiness zone 7 across the United States. The zone supports plants grown in the upper south.

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Agroecology Tips From George Washington Carver How to Fertilize: Before we can fertilize our crops intelligently, we must master the few following basic facts which all other things being equalwill insure every year against complete failure:

1_ That all plants require food in order to live, grow, and mature.

2_ That part of this food comes from the air and part from the soil as designated below: Air Derived Soil Derived Elements: Elements: ▶ Nitrogen ▶ Potassium ▶ Oxygen ▶ Phosphorus ▶ Hydrogen ▶ Calcium ▶ Carbon ▶ Chlorine ▶ Sodium ▶ Sulpher ▶ Silicon ▶ Iron ▶ Manganese ▶ Magnesium

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3_ That fully ninety per cent or more of our farm crops come from the air either directly or indirectly and not from the soil. The substances coming from the air are: sugars, fats, ils, gums, cellular matter, etc.

4_ That all the above products are manufactured in the leaves of the plant, hence a good leaf growth is necessary for heavy crop production.

5_ That our job is that of making conditions favorable for the plant to get all these elements it can use.

6_ That while the subject of plant food and fertilization has many complex angles, if the farmer will master the use of nitrogen, potash, and phosphoric acid, the others will come.

Agroecology Tips From One Art Several years ago we started learning about Earthships. We were attracted to these off grid buildings that utilized recycled tires and bottles as their main building materials. As we began the building process we realized that an Earthship wasn't totally aligned with where we were at. Its a fairly expensive type of building and extremely labor intensive.

Although the Earthship wasnt completed we continue to utilize some of the building techniques we learned.Where the Earthship would have stood is now a lovely pond and a tiny house built out of 95% recycled materials. The tiny house is made out of bottle bricks, bamboo, and salvaged materials.

The second tiny house will be completed by students in our Youth STEP (Sustainability Training and Education Program) program.

Showcasing a Tiny House

Images show practical and sustainable building techniques taught to youth to construct tiny homes.

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SEED KEEPING

The Importance of Seed Stories and Heirloom Varieties Soil Generation farmers save their seeds from generation to generation and season to season in order to increase resilience to environmental conditions in plants. This also allows them to cut down on costs and ensure quality. Some even use local True Love Seeds as a market for their heirloom and landrace seeds.

The story of the ‘Fish’ pepper is about bee stings and black history, and a delicious hot white sauce. All the ‘Fish’ peppers now sold by seed companies trace back to seed I shared many years ago through Seed Savers Exchange. From my grandfather’s little seed jar, this unique variegated-leaf pepper spread to the world of pepper aficionados and, because of its ornamental character, to landscape gardeners.

My grandfather acquired the seed in the 1940s from Horace Pippin, a black folk painter in West Chester, Pa. Mr. Pippin suffered from a war injury that he referred to as “the miseries.” Because the miseries were of an arthritic nature, he would beg my grandfather to let him counter the pain with honeybee stings. My grandfather’s bee hives were his pride and joy, and the idea of killing bees (honeybees die shortly after stinging) in the name of an old wives’ remedy did not sit well with him.

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So to humor my grandfather and “pay” for the dead bees, Pippin would bring seeds, sometimes wonderfully rare varieties from old-time gardeners in his far-flung network of friends stretching from Philadelphia to Baltimore and beyond. The ‘Fish’ peppers came from Baltimore, where they had been employed by black caterers to make white paprika for the cream sauces then popular with fish and shellfish cookery. In terms of heat, they are like cayenne, but are more mellow when cooked. The white pods were also used in soups where red peppers would have created a muddied appearance. As far as Mr. Pippin could tell, these peppers had been in use since the 19th century, one of those secret heirloom ingredients that never showed up in cookbooks. They were simply part of oral tradition.

for cooking, and are perfect for drying into wonderful hot-hot chili powder. - William Woy Weaver, Mother Earth News Today fish peppers are grown throughout Philadelphia at different Soil Generation sites and throughout the rest of the world. Black Farmers are saving and sharing the seeds as well as creating businesses in honor of Horace Pippin, ancestor farmers and ancestor chefs that created and cultured this variety to suit their needs.

“When you allow the plants to fully complete the lifecycle,

the plant begins to ferment the seeds to prepare for germination. So we ferment seeds when we harvest them to remove the flesh and degrade the film or residue from the seeds that prevent germination.”

Amirah, True Love Seeds

Today, ‘Fish’ peppers are popular for their ornamental qualities and because the 2-foot plants are easy to grow in containers. The leaves, with their patches of white and graygreen, derive their unique appearance from the same recessive genes that cause albinism.

This results in a curious combination of striped pod colors, from white to red. ‘Fish’ peppers make perfect accent plants in the landscape. Of course, they’re also grown 44

HOW TO...

AGROECOLOGY TECHNIQUES Step by Step Instruction for Agroecological “Farm Hacks” in Philadelphia How to Sow and use a Cover Crop Why? ▶ support various soil nutrients ▶ Improve soil structure ▶ Provide habitat and food for beneficial insects ▶ Prevent erosion by protecting soil surface ▶ Prevent nutrient leeching ▶ Break compacted soil

When to seed in Philadelphia: To cover soil anytime, one can start as early as soil is frost free with these cover crops: ▶ Buckwheat, ▶ Oats, ▶ Millet, ▶ Clovers

Type:

Example

Comment

Grasses: Quickly germinates before other cover crops. They have fibrous foot-long roots that till the soil. Grasses are constantly dying off roots that then add to the organic content of the soil. Harvest before if flowers.

Oat, Millet, Buckwheat

Winter kill; can sow in early spring

Winter Rye

Cold-Hardy

Hairy Vetch

Cold-hardy, will survive winter through spring and actually complete Nitrogen fixation in May.

Medium red clover, White Clover

Perennial, Can undersow under brassicas

Radish

Breaks up compact soil

Legumes: Have deep taproots. Nitrogen fixating bacteria feed on roots and fix nitrogen from the air into nodules with ammonium which is a nitrogen form that plants can uptake. When plant is killed, nodules remain in soil and continue to release nitrogen. Check for pink colored nodules for yourself! Harvest when 25-50% in bloom Roots: Over the winter, these roots rot leaving large wholes where water can percolate 45

For Winter cover crop: Start covering in early September, and try to get seeds in by early October the latest.

How to Seed: ▶ If cover cropping an entire seed bed, make sure that the ground is cleared of any plant debris and soil is raked evenly.

This will allow for no puddling and even watering for seeds to germinate. ▶ Seed either by: ▶ Broadcasting which means to throw the seeds on the ground and rake them in to be covered by soil. This technique is faster but if not all seeds are raked in, birds may eat the seeds and know that there are more seeds nearby. Resilient Roots has not had much success with broadcast seeds. ▶ Handseed: Make shallow rows 2 inches apart and sow the seeds about an inch from each other. Use the back of a rake to cover the seeds with soil, making sure there is soil-seed contact.

This takes a bit more time but allows for more consistent soil-seed contact.

This is how Resilient Roots has seen the best germination results.

Sonia Admiring Seedlings

SG member Sonia Galiber inspects seedlings in a winter greenhouse at Life Do Grow. ▶ If a Fall cover cropping cannot be established, dormant seeding can be done but is not completely reliable. ▶ Dormant seeding involves broadcasting appropriate species in the early winter just after the field has frozen and it is cold enough to prevent germination. Ideally this is just prior to snowfall. Seeds remain dormant under the snow through the winter and emerge in the spring. ▶ Living Mulch ▶ Make sure to weed and clear out any plant understory and prune plants to make sure cover crops have adequate sunlight. Seed short cover crops such as clovers around the plant.

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How to Cut Cover Crops: 1_ Cut the biomass (can use hedge shears) in small pieces ( the smaller the better for it to decompose). Collect the cut pieces on the walkway next to it or in a wheel barrel.

2_ With whatever of the cover crop is left standing, skim off the cover crop at the base of the plant where it meets the soil.

Skim with a hedge shear, sharp spade, or machete. Make sure to sharpen your blades.

3_ Keep the roots in the soil for it’s cover cropping properties.

4_ Cover it with the previously cut cover crop, spreading the cover crop evenly. Let it lie to decompose.

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5_ Note on timing: As the cover crop grows, the carbon-to-nitrogen ratio increases and the digestibility of the plant material decreases. Cutting sooner while it is succulent before it flowers,cover crop is more nitrogenous and can be incorporated into the soil and break down. Harvesting when it is older and after it flowers, the plant is more carbonous and is better to be incorporated into compost than directly back into the soil. If incorporated into the soil, over-mature non-legumes will be too carbonaceous and will “tie” up the nitrogen for a newly planted plant. Both can add to the organic matter of the soil and improve soil structure. A good rule of thumb for when to knock down the cover crop is when one half of the crop is flowering.

6_ Incorporation: ▶ Low- Till: Add compost, incorporate the cut cover crop, and about the top surface level of the soil (2-6inches depending on desired depth of soil incorporation). Let sit for 2-3 weeks before planting. Save enough cover crop to cover as mulch if desired. ▶ No- Till: Let cover crop sit on top of soil as a natural mulch while it decomposes for about 2-3 weeks.

Once ready to plant, can choose to collect a layer of decomposed cover crop to set aside. Layer thickly with compost. Plant and layer a layer of decomposed cover crop on top as mulch.

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How to Mulch ▶ Providing temperature insulation to keep plants at a more consistent temperature, not getting at a temperature extreme - hot or cold ▶ Supporting consistent soil moisture by acting as a simultaneous wicking agent and sponge--redistributing excess water and also retaining moisture as well. ▶ Covering the soil to protect from sun dehydration and soil evapo respiration.

There are also many natural and free ways to mulch!

▶ Providing temperature insulation to keep plants at a more consistent temperature, not getting at a temperature extreme - hot or cold ▶ Supporting consistent soil moisture by acting as a simultaneous wicking agent and sponge--redistributing excess water and also retaining moisture as well. ▶ Covering the soil to protect from sun dehydration and soil evapo respiration.

Different Mulch Types

Clockwise: ▶ Newspaper Mulching: Make sure to make thick. ▶ A living mulch of shiso. This could be considered a “weed” but instead we left it as a mulch for our garlic. ▶ Pumpkin patch as mulch covering the soil underneath 49

Thoughts and Notes:

Salt Hay on Baby Peppers

Children at Resilient Roots Farm learn about mulch and peppers grown in the garden 50

How to Companion Plant Mulching has great natural farming benefits: ▶ Prevent weeds by suppressing sunlight.

Companion Planting is supporting the growth of multiple plants in a symbiotic and mutually beneficial relationship. This can be done understanding various characteristics about the plant: ▶ Height: Planting a taller plant with a shorter plant can allow the shorter plant to act as a mulch to suppress weeds for the taller plant. The taller plant can in turn provide shade if desired. This height pairing allows for maximizing planting in a given space.

At Resilient Roots, they have tried to experiment with multiple polycultures similar to the Three Sisters and the Vietnamese three sisters- cassava, beans, and corn. One year they planted okra in the center because it would grow the tallest. Next to it, they planted hot peppers which are medium size. On the very end, they planted malabar spinach which we harvest to a short snub. Things grew relatively well in this diverse environment!

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Companion Planting at Reslient Roots

Students learn about companion planting

STONE FRUIT

KALE

LETTUCE Mature Companion Planting

They often pair lettuce and kale often at Resilient Roots farm.

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How to make a water barrel system If you do not have a waterline and have a fire hydrant nearby, here is a water system model built by one of Resilient Roots elder growers. ▶ Materials: ▶ 50 gallon food-grade bins, PVC Pipea, PVC Tee Sockets, PVC end cap, PVC Flexible Coupling with Stainless Steel Clamps ▶ Construction: ▶ Assemble water bins next to each other ▶ Connect PVC pipe to a PVC pipe with PVC Tee Socket ▶ Screw together ▶ Connect another PVC pipe on the third PVC Tee Socket so it is perpendicular to the PVC pipe Trellising Plants ▶ In the beginning make sure to support the

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Filling With Water ▶ Uncap all the PVC caps ▶ Connect the fire hydrant hose to the fire hydrant. You will need permission from the city for a fire hydrant key to unlock. ▶ Connect end of fire hydrant hose to PVC Flexible Coupling with Stainless Steel Clamps. Screw the clamps tight. ▶ Turn on the fire hose to release water ▶ As water barrels fill up, cap each correlating PVC pipe. This will cause water pressure and allow the water to keep filling up the further barrels. ▶ Turn off the fire hose when the last barrel is filled. ▶ Connecting fire hose to elastic end of the PVC pipe system. ▶ Unlocking the Fire Hydrant. ▶ A team can help to fill up the barrels more quickly using buckets if there are any barrels without a PVC outlet.

Connecting Water System

Farmer connects water barrell system to water source

Installing Water Barrel System

Youth demonstrate their understanding of the water barrell system while installing it at Reslieint Roots Farm in Camden, NJ 54

How to Build a Trellis Trellises support the growth of vine sprawl loving plants. Plants with tendrils have been studied to show that the ability to wrap it’s tendrils around an object allows for a hug affect that stimulates continued plant growth. How similar to humans and the need for physical touch! Trellises also allow for big fruit to hang and grow straight and not crooked such as gourds, melons, and other cucurbits.

Trellis Materials: ▶ Tree branches ▶ Bamboo ▶ Metal rods

▶ PVC ▶ Lumber

vine and trellis pole union by encouraging the vine tendrils to wrap around the poles. ▶ Periodically prune crowded leaves so sunlight is able to get through to the plants.

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Building a Trellis ▶ Set in place foundational vertical supports every 6 feet. This should be sturdy material. Dig accordingly to anchor deep in the ground. ▶ Place other vertical pieces in the ground every foot. ▶ Note: Distance between the trellis poles can be 8” to 12”. Keep the criss-cross squares big enough that the fruit can fall through. If it is too small, some fruit can get trapped on top of the trellis or inbetween the trellis. ▶ Place a foundational horizontal piece at every 6 feet to connect all vertical pieces ▶ Place other horizontal pieces every foot. ▶ Provide extra secure precaution by tying the “t” pieces

Trellis Type 1: Vertical Standing This is made from scavenged lumber

Trellis Type 2: Hanging Ceiling Trellises These are a very common one build in Southeast Asian cultures for fruit to hang downward. These utilize vertical trellises and a top trellis. Many Southeast Asian homes can be identified with outside porches created by these trellises. It can also provide shade in the summer for friends to sit underneath and hang out with the plants.

Bittermelon is hanging from the trellises nice and straight.

Trellis Type 3: Hut Trellis Hut Trellises utilize two leaning vertical trellises. Here is Chu Trong standing proudly underneath his bittermelon trellis

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Compost Pile at Mill Creek Urban Farm

A large pile of organic material is repurposed as compost.

A sign in front of the compost section exmplains Vermicompost. This process recognizes the cyclical relationship between land, insect, plant and farmer; a key aspect of Agroecology 57

How to Compost George Washington Carver taught his students how to compost rather than throw away leftover foodstuffs, leaves and weeds, saying, "Thereisnobetterplantfoodthanthethingsweignoreorthrow awayeveryday."

He believed

"wasteisman-made.Natureproducesnowaste; whateverisconsumedisreturnedtothewholeina reusableform.Manfailstoutilizeappropriatelythe bountyofnature."

Materials: ▶ Brown material to produce carbon: Leaves, twigs, sawdust, coffee filters, cotton rags, shredded paper, nut shells, etc. ▶ Green material to produce nitrogen: Grass clippings and live leaves, fruit and vegetable scraps, hair, coffee grinds, etc ▶ Water source: hose, or container ▶ Storage Area: large bins, chicken wire and wood construction, etc Steps:

1_ Select a dry, shady spot near a water source.

Ideal size for this area is 3x3x3.

2_ Add Brown and Green material in alternating layers. Keep the ratio roughly 3 parts brown to 1 part green. Reduce size of large objects

3_ Keep the compost moist (but not wet): a little moisture helps to breakdown materials.

4_ Turn mixture periodically for aeration: Holding Vermicompost Ready for Planting

Grower holds an handful of compost showing the how reliable the worms make a consistent compost.

adding air reduces smell and fuels breakdown of organic materials. This mixture may get warm, this is a good sign of life!

5_ When material is dark with no obvious food or waste the compost is ready!

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How to Make Natural Fertilizers At Mill Creek Farm they use Fermented Plant Juice or FPJ. This is made from axillary buds and young fruits, fast growing plants, young leaves of plants and grasses. Mixed with crude sugar or molasses, the juice is extracted and fermented after storing for a period of time. The liquid is applied to plant’s leaves and growing points, soil around the plant, compost heap and animal beddings to fortify microbial activities. Look up FPJ or Natural Korean Farming for more information on making ferments and how to apply them.

Ingredients ▶ 2/3 full plant material fast growing plants before sunrise ▶ 1/3 weight of plant material brown sugar or molasses ▶ depends water If needed, just enough to top off the plant material ▶ jar/bucket with cloth napkin

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Instructions It is important to know that this fermented plant juice should be started right away after gathering your plants. Start the ferment while the plants are still fresh or else you will have a low quality, weak fermented juice.

1_ First thing in the morning, go out and pick your green plants as they still have their morning dew

2_ Do not wash these plant leaves, just swipe off or lightly flick off any dirt or debris.

If you wash it, you lose many beneficial microorganisms the FPJ needs

3_ Weigh your plant material, then mix in with it 1/3 of its weight, brown sugar. (You can use up to 1/2 of the plant material’s weight of brown sugar, depending on the plant’s natural water content)

4_ Next, stir these together in a container on a wide tray or container. Lay some newspaper on top and let it sit for a couple hours

5_ After the initial waiting period, place the mixture in your clay pot.You should have enough to fill the jar up 2/3 full with the plant and sugar mix. Don’t bring the newspaper into it, just the plants and sugar mix. Leave 1/3 free for air circulation

6_ It’s recommended to place a rock on top of your plant material mixture to push out extra air before rubber banding a thin cloth or piece of paper on the clay jar as a lid. If your container has it’s own lid, don’t use it. Use paper or thin cloth (we had a million 100% cotton thin sheets we used for our newborn.

These are perfect for fermenting clay pot lids. By tying a cloth or paper tight it keeps little critters like fruit flies out

7_ After 1 to 2 days of sitting in a dark room, open the jar and remove the rock you have inside to remove extra air.You can use any heavy object for this, but at this step take it out. Will no longer use it

8_ Leave the clay jar open for a few minutes up to an hour and then cover it again to let it ferment for a few more days

9_ After around 5 days, check the plant material to see if liquid is coming out from the plants yet. The sugar should have broken down the plant cells and started the decomposition process to get it fermenting.

If there is no water yet, at this point you want to add clean water to it yourself, just enough to top off the plant material, no more. Cover it again and place it back in your dark room.

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10_ Next, after adding the water or confirming water has been extracted and covering it again, leave it be for 2 to 3 weeks. Do not touch it, mess with it, check on it, or move it to a better location in these 2 to 3 weeks. Leave it alone to let it complete the fermentation.

11_ After this final waiting period, it should be finished. The fermentation won’t have a very pleasant smell. It will be sour. If you see tiny bubbles, then it’s well made and ready to use.

12_ Strain and store: Last step is to strain the plant material out. Discard the solids and keep the liquid fermented plant juice in an air tight container. It will last a year in room temp in an airtight container.

At Resilient Roots, they make fertilizers by soaking chicken, fish, rice or other plants in water and pour into soil after. Another fast method is using fish fertilizer which involves breaking up fish and burying directly in soil.

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▶ If the plant leaves are large, cut them into around 10 cm pieces in order to increase osmotic pressure (for plant cell breakdown that kicks off the fermentation process) and surface area. ▶ Make sure to let the FPJ ferment undisturbed. Bubbles start forming after a couple `days and this is a clue that all is well. If after a week it’s still not fermenting, your weather may be too cold, or it may be due to disturbing it too much in the first days. ▶ The finished FPJ will have a very slight alcohol scent. This is normal for ferments and is caused by chlorophyl breaking down. ▶ Washing the chosen plants or collecting right after a rain will give you plants without enough lactic acid bacteria and yeast. Your ferment will come out thick, dark and sludgy and not be very usable. ▶ Choose plants that grow fast for your FPJ. Faster growers contain growth hormone that plants really respond positively to when fertilized with it. They’ll in turn grow faster and stronger as well.

Thoughts and Notes:

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FRUIT RIPENS ------> COLLECT + CLEAN SEEDS ------> DRY + STORE

FRUIT RIPENS ------> DRY + STORE FRUIT ------> COLLECT + STORE FRUIT RIPENS ------> COLLECT + CLEA

FRUIT RIPENS ------> DRY + STORE FRU NS ------> COLLECT + CLEAN SEEDS ------> DRY + STORE

NS ------> DRY + STORE FRUIT ------> COLLECT + STORE

How to Save Seeds From Grow Real Food ▶ Beans: Let pods age on the vine until brown. You can also store the entire plant upside down in a warm area until pods dry out. Cross-pollination could affect the purity of the bean seeds in the future. Pale beans are more likely to cross. ▶ Cantelope: Collect seeds when fruit dies and when the fruit separates easily.

Remove the membrane of the seed by rinsing and gently rubbing with fingers. ▶ Cucumbers: Harvest seed when cucumbers are fully ripe and yellow. ▶ Bell Pepper: Collect seeds when plant begins to shrivel. Dry out seeds. Peppers from the same species could cross. ▶ Sunflowers: most sunflowers are hybrids.

Save heirlooms seeds if you want flower to stay true. Hang flower heads upside down by a short length of stalk in a cool, dry place. Once dry remove the seeds and keep dry until planting. ▶ Peas: Collect seeds when plant dies. Peas do not cross-pollinate

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FRUIT RIPENS ------> COLLECT + CLEAN SEEDS ------> DRY + STORE

FRUIT RIPENS ------> DRY + STORE FRUIT ------> COLLECT + STORE AN SEEDS ------> DRY + STORE FRUIT RIPENS ------> COLLECT + CL

UIT ------> COLLECT + STORE

FRUIT RIPENS ------> DRY + STORE

▶ Lettuce(?): Let seed pods dry on the plant. Bag the plant to capture the seeds becaues they will progressively fall off from the bottom to the top. Do not save seeds from plant that bold too soon because the seeds may produce future plants that go to seed prematurely. ▶ Pumpkin: Remove seeds 3 weeks after harvesting. Varieties within the same species could cross. Rinse off membranes and dry well. ▶ Tomato: Save seeds when fruit is full color and firm., but still tender to the touch.

Remove the protective cover covering the seeds. Cross pollination may occur with wild or currant tomatoes, but most popular types will not cross. ▶ Zucchini: Harvest seed when squash has a hard skin and is too ripe to eat. ▶ Watermelon: Remove fibers and membranes by rinsing. When dropped into a glass of water viable seeds will sink to the bottom. Seeds that float may not germinate well.

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Thoughts and Notes:

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Thoughts and Notes:

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The concept of total individual ownership of huge acrages of land by individuals is at the base of our struggle for survival. Cooperative ownership of land opens the door to many opportunities for group development rather than create monopolies that monopolize the resources of a community.

Fannie Lou Hamer

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3 GROWING IS POLITICAL

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Politics pave the paths traveled. The technical, cultural and other aspects of agroecology are driven by the political focus on developing better systems of living and being, of which eating nourishing food is an essential piece.

The need to resist, envision and rebuild other possibilities in opposition to the dominant oppressive regime as a process to survive and thrive is the fertilizer that continuously infuses the community with the “wokeness” needed to do and be different. To be political, in these times, is as simple and complex as growing food on stolen, colonized land.

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STAYING TRUE

Maintaining a Radical Voice How do we create radicalism in our spaces?

Gatherings that make space for all voices, encouraging and inviting all walks of people including children and family participation, loose agendas, food and chill time, and cultural offerings all make for a different experience, a more true cultural experience if we are thinking about building collective power.

Along with this we invite folks to come as individuals, not as representatives of their organizations. This allows for community people to bring their personal solutions to the table based on their lived experiences.

What do you want for your community, not what does your job tell you to want? This honors the fact that we too each live in this city and work and grow here. What are the disparities that we face and that we want to push back against? This, as well, speaks to shared leadership. When members understand that their opinions and thoughts are what’s being respected, they feel and understand that they have more agency.

Outside of our spaces, The Radical Black Voice is how we push spaces to change and demonstrate that accountability can take place when we stand grounded in love and speak truth to power. It is a way of redistributing comfort back to Black and Brown people in institutional spaces that otherwise expect a colonial-minded “professionalism” or “respectability.”

“We create an inclusive space which holds our radical politic.

Everyone is welcome in, but not everyone will want to remain.

There are certain types of people who stay at the table, and we are OK with this.”

Kirtrina Baxter

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BALANCE N E E DE D :

W H E N ON E G OURD TAKES MORE RESOURCES THAN SUSTA INABLE

In doing so, we demonstrate to other Black and Brown people that one can and should speak more freely at the expense of white and institutional comfortability. This, of course, can be more effective the more radical Black and Brown people are in the space - so inherently, infiltrating these spaces in numbers is a necessary tactic as well.

This allows our truth to cut through the intentionally coded language and processes, holding people and institutions to our own standard as opposed to navigating under their standards - which has never worked for us.

Organizing Tips ▶ Unapologetic radicalness - exclusive network building and the creation of safe spaces for people of color ▶ Prioritizing relationships - emphasizing the work of building relationships full of trust and accountability ▶ Holding space - welcoming difficult conversations that often straddle various ways learning, knowing and being ▶ Shared leadership - helping people become aware of their own power to lead Balancing our Gourds

Soil Generation efforts represented as empty gourds filling with water; the reform gourd has taken too much resources from other efforts 72

FARMER -TO-FARMER METHODOLOGY History of Base Building through Farmer-to-Farmer Methodology: The loss of ancestral farming traditions eroded local agriculture.

The agroecological method of farmerto-farmer learning uses collective memory to rebuild and recover the ancestral practices. The Farmer-toFarmer Agroecology Movement offers many lessons in how the power of horizontal knowledge sharing impacts the recruitment and retention of sustainable farming practices. Originating with rural farm families around the world, farmers as the primary actors, experimented with various methods and farm management.

They then gathered this knowledge, shared with neighbors and implemented what was learned. Maybe with minor adaptations.

This process of farmer-to-farmer learning, addresses the dispossession and displacement of local and traditional knowledge triggered by the Green Revolution during the mid-20th century as a testament to modernization. The Green Revolution refers to a time when mass food production practices was mainstreamed as a result of technological and research investments.

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SG Members Protest

Outside of city hall for greater recognition of farmers struggles in Philadelphia to grow their own food.

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Knowledge Sharing: Farmer-to-Farmer Methodology Farmer-to-farmer knowledge sharing is also crucial to our long-term survival as we move into an era of Climate Chaos. Unpredictable and violent weather patterns have forced farmers to adapt quickly. Soil Generation members have made trips to the Caribbean such as Puerto Rico and St. Croix of the USVA post Hurricane Irma & Maria to not only offer support, but also learn from their resilience how they are responding to such events.

Farmers Inspecting their Crops

Khalil Stewart and Jovan Watkins gather just before the sunset on a rich green lawn to share stories at Life Do Grow.

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Guiding Principles of Farmer-to-Farmer ▶ Start slow, and start small ▶ Allows time for evaluation, reflection and rectification of errors while lowering risks ▶ Limit the introduction of technologies ▶ Gain command of new innovations one by one, stabilize and integrate them little by little ▶ Attain quick and recognizable success ▶ Enthusiasm is the moral engine and effective motivator that recognizes advances made by daily tasks ▶ Experiment on a small scale ▶ Test, share, adapt and adopt new techniques or solutions based on needs ▶ Develop a multiplier effect ▶ Teaching peers through demonstration is the best way to learn a subject in depth and creates a living example of what is possible

Methodological Tools ▶ The farm: Most basic tool in demonstration offering great assurance ▶ The testimonials: Farmers share stories with other farmers about the solution to a problem or how to succeed when beginning to farm sustainably ▶ Teaching demonstrations: Visually and practically demonstrate a practice that may be harmful or beneficial ▶ Exhibition of products/seeds/materials/ innovations: Share during skill shares and explain how acquired or produced ▶ Dynamics group: Uplift the mood during meetings with activities incorporating humor and other needed dynamics ▶ Songs and poetry: Encourage dialogue, awaken participants to spirituality and integrate the talent of the people into the community process ▶ Skits: Theater performances exhibit problematic situations and solutions ▶ Other: Photographs, posters, maps, drawings, etc.

Popular Education as a Methodological Tool Popular education is an important component of the farmer-to-farmer methodology because it highlights ways to share or present topics such as agroecology and cooperative organizing through fun and innovative ways like songs, poetry and skits.

Popular education basics ▶ Start with the grievances, problems or issues of the people ▶ Speak the language of the people in discussing the topic at hand ▶ Draw from the cultural context of the people in developing solutions to the topic at hand ▶ Have faith and trust in the process of the unknown

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Shared Leadership and Organizing Shared leadership is a growing structure that honors the leader-fullness of any group and directly opposes singular leadership.

Everyone has the capacity to lead and is hopefully empowered to feel as such and move into their power as leaders. Power is most effective in the hands of the many rather than the hands of the few.

Urban Ag Meeting Opening Remarks

Soad Mana and Ashley Gripper deliver segments of the opening remarks for the first working community meeting for Phialdephia’s first Urban Agriculture Plan 77

Shared Leadership Tips from Kirtrina Baxter Create constant opportunities for members to grow their skill sets: Education ensures that members feel empowered and helps to grow confidence and inevitably leaderful decision making.

“When I started this work I knew that I was not interested in a hierarchical structured coalition.

My personal politic was that shared or horizontal leadership from within the Black community was necessary in order to move us towards liberation because I believe our African ancestral ways were more communal and trusted the structure of the village where a council held shared power as power over or in a group is not meant to be held by one person alone. So any situation where I was going to be organizing would require a shared leadership structure. I started using this practice organizationally in Ithaca with the formation of the Youth Farm Project and the Congo Square Market.”

Rotate responsibilities: like facilitation of meetings, scribing (taking notes), finance, and more. We strive to have at least 2 people who are responsible for any one thing. This way there is nothing that only one person knows how to do. This is a practice we built over time based on observation and adjustment-agroecological practices. From the beginning create space for everyone to have a voice. Value the knowledge in the room.

“When we have decisions we ensure that everyone gives a response by going around the room. It may take longer to listen to everyone so make that time in your agenda setting. In today’s society we are pushed to get the subject matter in…”tell them what we want them to know”. In this model we create space to listen, “What is it that people are saying?”

We are constantly learning more by listening to each other. And then we sharpen each other through dialogue.”

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CAMPAIGNS AND POLICY AGENDAS Threatened Gardens Campaign To resist the growing loss of spaces supporting food sovereignty In 2018. Soil Generation organized its first every action campaigning for Threatened Gardens. Black and Brown people have been growing food in the city for generations as a response to being uprooted and migrating away from home, a way of maintaining culture and connection with each other and with land, and to feed ourselves despite historic, systemic, and ongoing racism and discrimination. Rapid development and displacement in the city put land that was formerly neglected and deemed vacant in the spotlight to be sold to the highest bidder, quickly destabilizing the urban agriculture community’s land security.

A culmination of years of collective experiences, research, and relationship building, we were able to understand how power and land flow through the city, and we drafted a list of demands. We also recognized that a huge part of our challenge was very publicly reclaiming the urban agriculture narrative and debunking the notion that it is a trendy eco conscious hobby.

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The work is ongoing and evolving. Shortly after this action was organized, Soil Generation was invited to co-create the Alliance for a Just Philadelphia, a cross sector grassroots alliance, representing issues affecting poor and disenfranchised people in the city including food insecurity and land access. Organizing against the 10 year tax abatement, and pushing for a moratorium on all sheriff sales of active gardens have taken steps forward alongside Alliance members, and all Threatened Gardens demands live in the People’s Platform by the Alliance for a Just Philadelphia.

The Alliance for a Just Philadelphia also played a role in the election of Councilwoman Kendra Brooks, the first nonRepublican minority party councilperson to serve in Philadelphia in over a hundred years. Councilwoman Brooks ran on the Working Families Party ticket and continues to communicate and work with the Alliance for a Just Philadelphia on policy.

THREATENED GARDENS CAMPAIGN List of Demands: ▶ End the 10 year tax abatement ▶ Create a moratorium on Sheriff Sales of active gardens ▶ Provide gardens with real security and pathways to commuity ownership

SG members Zakia and Malaika in front of city hall at the Threatened Gardens Action.

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To strengthen the voice of those most marginalized in Philadelphia

Reducing Impact of Adverse Possession

City Hearing: Urban Agriculture Hearing

Suggested State Policy: Adverse Possession to be changed to 10 years from 21.

In 2016, Philadelphia City Council held its first hearing specifically for urban agriculture. Soil Generation and community organized over 100 farmers and advocates to attend this hearing.

Community came to the hearing prepared with specific concerns to be addressed and possible solutions. Those mentioned include, prioritizing preservation of existing community based gardens, fewer barriers to access land, longer leases, pathways to land ownership, community person(s) on the Land Bank board--a representative specifically for urban agriculture, transparency in city council goals, objectives, policies, and processes around the Land Bank, and funding for resources like, water, storage,and refrigeration.

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Because most Black and Brown urban farming spaces are on formerly neglected “vacant” land, land security is a major challenge.

Currently, the number of years an individual must prove they occupied and maintained a private property for adverse possession (to gain ownership of land) is a baffling 21 years.

This means there are urban gardens that have been in operation for over a decade that still face possible displacement. There is brewing potential to change this from 21 years to 10 years. Soil Generation communicates with Ebony Griffin of the Garden Justice Legal Initiative from the Public Interest Law Center around this issue among others.

Holding the Land Bank Accountable to Community Voices

Moratorium of Sheriff Sales on Active Gardens

City Policy: Philadelphia Land Bank

Suggested Policy: Moratorium on market sales of active gardens

There was a time when the establishment of the Land Bank was seen as a victory and a solution to our movement.

Unfortunately, institutions have a way of evading community accountability, and so this institutions has over time proven to worsen our circumstances, speeding up the auctioning of existing garden spaces to outside developers with little to no regard. With the recent consolidation of land holding agencies in Philadelphia, our work is cut out for us to understand this new formation and to continue to push for accountability to community and transparency.

To resist the growing loss of spaces supporting food sovereignty.

The sale of these “vacant” properties where gardens exist happens at the Sheriff Sales auctions. There is a precedent for a moratorium on sheriff sales, and so we are pursuing a moratorium of sheriff and market sales for all active gardens to stop the mechanism of garden displacement.

To strengthen the voice of those most marginalized in Philadelphia

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Shifting Power & Representation on the Philadelphia Food Policy Advisory Council City Policy: Food Policy Advisory Council Philadelphia’s politics around food policy is hopefully finally moving towards creating more systemic changes that address solutions beyond emergency food assistance. The work of drafting food policy that provides nourishing food, is grown locally in not only environmentally sustainable ways but also regenerative, AND honors labor as a means for economic justice is currently on going.

The opportunity to make these changes has become more apparent in the face of major food insecurity during pandemic times.

Over the years, there have been Soil Generation members and Black & Brown farmers who have participated in FPAC as voting members. This has culminated into members holding positions in the Membership & Governance Subcommittee (as opposed to the Urban Agriculture Subcommittee) in order to target a more

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systemic opportunity to shift the Committee at large. As a result. a new cohort of members are to be voted in who are much more reflective of most impacted, marginalized Philly natives - and with them comes crucial & critical questions and wisdom that will steer this organization away from capitalism and white supremacy, and towards equitable community power in informing the city’s food policies.

Philadelphia’s First Urban Agriculture Plan City Policy: To inform policies that impact food sovereignty in Philadelphia.

After years of organizing politically and working to reclaim the narrative, Soil Generation is working with the Department of Parks & Recreation to develop Philadelphia’s first ever Urban Agriculture Strategic Plan.

This project has entailed extensive and intimate work to codify the needs of Black and Brown urban farmers in the city as well as engaging the city at large to hear from people who are interested or adjacent to the movement. This is a major step in the city government’s acknowledgement and investment into the urban agriculture community, as well as laying the ground work to protect AND support Black and Brown farmers on a policy level. It has been an opportunity to also educate on how urban agriculture is a feasible solution for so many community issues beyond food insecurity such as biodiversity, waste management, community culture and preservation, as well

This opportunity sets an important precedent of centering most impacted people, as well as legitimizing direct experience as expertise.

The strategy for how community has been engaged, the way the data is analyzed, and information is shared is specifically meant to contribute towards anti-racism and accessibility. T his process has not only been a way to educate law makers and decision makers in the city, but also the population at large about how comprehensive urban agriculture is in the ways it systemically touches virtually every facet of our society’s way of life.

Centering Land and understanding People as the force that moves the food system, this plan sees all who consume food in our city as stake holders of urban agriculture.

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PARTNERSHIPS

Soil Generation remains active in city, state, regional, and national coalitions that align with our mission and/or help us to move our work forward on a community level. Because urban agriculture is food, land, and people, we understand that our work is connected to virtually every facet of our larger culture-- adjacent movements including climate and environmental, labor, land, food, health, economic, and education to name a few.

Local Partners Over the years we have partnered with and participated in organizations such as Philadelphia’s Food Policy Advisory Council, and Philadelphia Climate Works(PCW), the Alliance for a Just Philly, Young Farmers Coalition, the North Eastern Sustainable Agriculture Working Group (NESAWG), and Philadelphia Coalition for Affordable Communities (PCAC), Philadelphia Area Cooperative Alliance, and Philadelphia Department of Public Health.

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Movement Partners Participating in Mass Social Movements and seeing our work as part of the larger Climate and Environmental Justice Movements, as well as Land Justice is an important aspect of the work.

These spaces allow us to sharpen our analysis of world issues while giving space for our voices to contribute to large causes that affect us at the community or grassroots level. We honor nonextractive, non-performative spaces and see politicizing of urban agriculture as a part of a larger radical movement that is global. We value being members of spaces like the HEAL Food Alliance and Climate Justice Alliance because of their unwavering support for the grassroots and their BIPOC leadership. These spaces allow us to grow our understanding and connection to global issues and the people most affected by them.

Courtesy of Asian Pacific Environmental Network

Thankfully, based on our Just Transition framework, if we think of our movements and organizations as the values filter, we already have a lot of guidance around the way capital must move to support our trajectories toward regenerative economies.

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As always, to our ancestors we give thanks first, for paving the way of liberation for us all. We began each chapter with a quote from a movement elder to show deference in the way of libations!

We Pour This Out to You…

Thanks to all the folks who participated to make this manual possible

Curricula

Thank you to Aleya Fraser & Shakara Tyler for being our sistas in this work but also for developing the curriculum and writing along with members Kirtrina Baxter and Sonia Galiber, thank you for your activating prose.

Design & Editing

Thank you Paul McGee for helping us to digitize our dream project with your fantastical graphic design skills, supporting the development of Sonia Galiber’s visual concept, & Joshua Mallory for big lifts in helping to carry this project across the finish line.

Other Content Contributors and photo credits including land spaces including land spaces- Soad Mana, Malaika Gilpin, Atiba Ellerby, Zakia Elliott, Nyambi Royster, Lan Dinh, Minh Tran, Shania Morris, Amirah Mitchell, Nahla Gilpin, Ewan Gilpin, Monye, Atiba Ellerby, Amy Huỳnh, Nyseem Smith, Bro El Ha Gahn Urban Tree Connection (Nykisha, Dan) Mill Creek Farm (Alkebulan, Hannah) Urban Creators (photo credits) One Art Community Center (Ewan, Nahla) Vietlead-Reslient Roots Farm (Amy, Lan, Minh, Chu Trong) The Schuylkill Center (photo credits)

Thanks to the Philadelphia Health Department for your financial contribution and generous support to get this piece realized, especially Terry and Amanda, for truly understanding the “pace of community”, and being in support of the autonomy of our process.

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4 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We have had so many beautiful souls bless our space, folks who show up and show out with us through the years as well, SHOUT OUT to all the homies out there!

We would also like to make special mention of some of our elders and frands who directly supported our work. To our Elders: Sis. Alia Walker & Linda Richardson, Lordes Estrenera-Rest in Power! Elders: Andrew Huggins, and Abdul Rahim Muhammed, thanks for paving the way for environmental education in Philadelphia.

Amy Laura Cahn for being passionate about the law, environmental justice and for having the foresight to believe in Black organizing leadership. For constant support throughout the years in community.

Aissia Richardson, Alicia Dorsey, Cythia Muse, Sis. Zakkiya, Sis Muneerah, Tina Marie Russel, Ms Gail, Ms Jackie, and Ms Wendy from Stadium Stompers, we love yall!!

Sally McCabe & Sis. Patricia Smith, Hannah Chatterjee, Natasha Tanner, Francis Rose & Acorn, & Ash Richards, Ebony Griffith, thank you for always being willing to throw down!

Thanks to the young people who trusted our pollination process at the Teen Agroeco Encounter with BDFC and those who continued to work with us at SG including, Jasmine Joseph, Shania Morris, Wayne Hamm, Sam Harris, Khalil Steward, Crystal Geraldo, Jovan Watkins, & Justin Smith, we hope you continue to sprout, grow and reach the sun!

And thanks to BUGS (Black Urban Growers) Conference for holding a safe space for us every year to learn together and meet other Black farmers across the country to grow with.

We would like to thank and acknowledge SG Leadership through the years…* in alphabetical order Amirah Mitchell (2019), Annie Preston (20152019), Ari Rosenberg (2015-2019), Atiba Ellerby (2015-2021), Ashley Gripper (2019-2021), Bri Barton (2015-2019), Charlyn Griffith (20152019), Chris Bolden Newsome (2015-2018), Daquan Washington (2018-2020), Drew Gold (2015-2018),Eboni Taggart (2019/2020), Gen Rollins (2017-2019), Ike Franks (2015-2018), Jasmine Hamilton (2015-2017), Jamillah Meekins (2015-2017), Jeaninne Kayembe (20162018), Jessica Mammarella (2015-2017), Joshua Mallory (2019/2021), Kirtrina Baxter (2015-2021) Lan Dinh (2015-2020), Malaika Hart (20152021), Marian Dalke (2015-2019), Marquita Taylor (2015-2017), Minh Tran (2018-2020), Nati Passow (2017-2019), Nicole Sugerman (20142019), Noelle Warford (2015-2019), Nyambi Royster (2015-2020), Nyseem Smith (2018/19).

Owen Taylor (2015-2016), Ras Michiah (20152018), Sam Spetner (2016-2019), Shania Morris (2019/2020), Soad Mana (2018-2021), Sonia Galiber (2017-2021), Stanley Morgan (20162020), Terrance Toppin (2017-2019), Zakia Elliott (2018-2021) Organizations who were members *we no longer have organizational membership One Art Community Center, Vietlead, Mill Creek Farm, The Master’s Garden, Urban Creators, Urban Tree Connection, The Kitchen Table

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Reproduction in whole or in parts is permitted, provided that credit is given to Soil Generation.

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