Producers/Hosts: Holli Cederholm and Clare Boland Editor: Clare Boland Common Ground Radio is an hour-long discussion of local food and organic agriculture with people here in the state of Maine and beyond. This month: In the April 2023 episode of MOFGA’s Common Ground Radio, host Holli Cederholm discusses “Black Earth Wisdom: Soulful Conversations with Black Environmentalists” with Leah Penniman, farm director/co-executive director of Soul Fire Farm and author of “Farming While Black,” and Rue Mapp, founder of Outdoor Afro and author of \u201cNature Swagger: Stories and Visions of Black Joy in the Outdoors.\u201d \u201cBlack Earth Wisdom\u201d is a newly released book of essays and interviews that explores Black people\u2019s spiritual and scientific connection to the land, waters, and climate. Topics this episode include: – \u201cBlack Earth Wisdom: Soulful Conversations with Black Environmentalists” by Leah Penniman. – \u201cFarming While Black: Soul Fire Farm\u2019s Practical Guide to Liberation on the Land\u201d by Leah Penniman. – \u201cNature Swagger: Stories and Visions of Black Joy in the Outdoors\u201d by Rue Mapp. – Contributions of Black people to environmental thought and agroecological practices. – The importance of representation to access and inclusion. – Why centering BIPOC voices is critical to environmentalism. Guest/s: Leah Penniman is a Black Kreyol farmer, mother, soil nerd, author, and food justice activist who co-founded Soul Fire Farm in Grafton, New York, in 2010, with the mission to end racism in the food system and reclaim our ancestral connection to land. Penniman is part of a team that facilitates powerful food sovereignty programs \u2014 including farmer training for Black and Brown people, a subsidized farm food distribution program for communities living under food apartheid, and domestic and international organizing toward equity in the food system. In addition to \u201cBlack Earth Wisdom,\u201d she is the author of \u201cFarming While Black.\u201d Rue Mapp documents her personal experiences while pioneering and shifting a new visual representation of Black people in the outdoors. An outdoorswoman, she transformed her kitchen table blog into a national nature-inspired enterprise and movement, called Outdoor Afro: where Black people and nature meet. Mapp is the founder and CEO of Outdoor Afro, and she is also the author of \u201cNature Swagger: Stories and Visions of Black Joy in the Outdoors,\u201d which was published in 2022. Her words about nature and Black joy can also be found in conversation with other Black environmentalists in the newly released \u201cBlack Earth Wisdom.\u201d FMI Links: \u201cBlack Earth Wisdom: Soulful Conversations with Black Environmentalists\u201d by Leah Penniman \u201cFarming While Black: Soul Fire Farm\u2019s Practical Guide to Liberation on the Land\u201d by Leah Penniman \u201cNature Swagger: Stories and Visions of Black Joy in the Outdoors\u201d by Rue Mapp Outdoor Afro Soul Fire Farm About the hosts: Holli Cederholm has been involved in organic agriculture since 2005 when she first apprenticed on a small farm. She has worked on organic farms in Maine, Vermont, Connecticut, Scotland and Italy and, in 2010, founded a small farm focused on celebrating open-pollinated and heirloom vegetables. As the former manager of a national nonprofit dedicated to organic seed growers, she authored a peer-reviewed handbook on GMO avoidance strategies for seed growers. Holli has also been a steward at Forest Farm, the iconic homestead of \u201cThe Good Life\u201d authors Helen and Scott Nearing; a host of \u201cThe Farm Report\u201d on Heritage Radio Network; and a long-time contributor for The Maine Organic Farmer & Gardener, which she now edits in her role as content creator and editor at MOFGA. Caitlyn Barker has worked in education and organic agriculture on and off for the last 17 years. She has worked on an organic vegetable farm, served on the Maine Farm to School network, worked in early childhood education and taught elementary school. She currently serves as the community engagement coordinator for MOFGA.
\nThe post Common Ground Radio 3/13/23: Black Earth Wisdom first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.