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Farming While Black Book Tour in Ithaca, NY

March 7, 2019 @ 6:30 pm - 8:30 pm EST

To Register:  Click HERE

Meet Leah Penniman and hear her talk about her new book “Farming while Black
Thursday March 7th 6:30pm @ Tompkins County Public Library, Ithaca.
Suggested donation $5, nobody turned away.

Leah Penniman visits Ithaca again this year! View our Past Events Page to see video of Leah’s Keynote at the Southside Community Center last year during the Spring Into Justice Event.

Interested in sponsoring this event? Click here for more info.

Thanks to our event collaborators Rootworks Herbals, Youth Farm Project.

Following this event is a Land Access & Reparations Discussion Session open to the community. More details here…

About the book, Farming While Black

In 1920, 14 percent of all land-owning US farmers were black. Today less than 2 percent of farms are controlled by black people―a loss of over 14 million acres and the result of discrimination and dispossession. While farm management is among the whitest of professions, farm labor is predominantly brown and exploited, and people of color disproportionately live in “food apartheid” neighborhoods and suffer from diet-related illness. The system is built on stolen land and stolen labor and needs a redesign.

Farming While Black is the first comprehensive “how to” guide for aspiring African-heritage growers to reclaim their dignity as agriculturists and for all farmers to understand the distinct, technical contributions of African-heritage people to sustainable agriculture. At Soul Fire Farm, author Leah Penniman co-created the Black and Latinx Farmers Immersion (BLFI) program as a container for new farmers to share growing skills in a culturally relevant and supportive environment led by people of color. Farming While Black organizes and expands upon the curriculum of the BLFI to provide readers with a concise guide to all aspects of small-scale farming, from business planning to preserving the harvest. Throughout the chapters Penniman uplifts the wisdom of the African diasporic farmers and activists whose work informs the techniques described―from whole farm planning, soil fertility, seed selection, and agroecology, to using whole foods in culturally appropriate recipes, sharing stories of ancestors, and tools for healing from the trauma associated with slavery and economic exploitation on the land. Woven throughout the book is the story of Soul Fire Farm, a national leader in the food justice movement.

The technical information is designed for farmers and gardeners with beginning to intermediate experience. For those with more experience, the book provides a fresh lens on practices that may have been taken for granted as ahistorical or strictly European. Black ancestors and contemporaries have always been leaders―and continue to lead―in the sustainable agriculture and food justice movements. It is time for all of us to listen.

Thanks to Event Sponsors:

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Details

Date:
March 7, 2019
Time:
6:30 pm - 8:30 pm EST
Event Category:
Event Tags:

Venue

Tompkins County Public Library
101 E Green St
Ithaca, NY 14850 United States
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Phone
(607) 761-2393
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