ASHEVILLE, N.C. — Organic Growers School is hosting Leah Penniman, author of Farming While Black, and local farmer panelists for an evening lecture in conjunction with their 27th Annual Spring Conference. The lecture will be held at the Dr. Wesley Grant Sr. Southside Center, located at 285 Livingston St, Asheville, NC 28801 on Friday, March 6, 2020, from 5:30-8:30pm. The entrance fee for the lecture is $5 to $25, to be paid on a sliding scale fee with any amount paid over $25 to be donated to a Southern Appalachian reparations project listed on the Soul Fire Farm Reparations Map.
Leah Penniman will speak about how some of our most cherished sustainable farming practice—from organic agriculture to the farm cooperative and the CSA—have roots in African wisdom. Yet discrimination and violence against African-American farmers has led to their decline from 14 percent of all growers in 1920 to less than 2 percent today, with a corresponding loss of over 14 million acres of land.
Leah Penniman, author, activist, and farmer, is the cofounder of Soul Fire Farm, which committed to ending racism and injustice in our food system. Through programs such as the Black-Indigenous Farmers Immersion, a sliding-scale farmshare CSA, and Youth Food Justice leadership training, Soul Fire Farm is part of a global network of farmers working to increase farmland stewardship by people of color, restore Afro-indigenous farming practices, and end food apartheid.
Penniman’s book Farming While Black, is the first comprehensive manual for African-heritage people ready to reclaim their rightful place of dignified agency in the food system.
Childcare will be provided by the Dr. Wesley Grant Sr. Southside Center, for children ages potty trained and over during the evening of the lecture. Children under potty trained age are welcome to attend with their parents. There will be Spanish Translation, thanks to Czenzontle Language Justice. Food will be sold on-site, and light snacks will be provided as part of the event.
Sponsors and supporters of Farming While Black with Leah Penniman are Buncombe County Tourism Development Association (BCTDA), Gaia Herbs, Building Bridges, Living Web Farms, Self Help Credit Union, and Lenoir-Rhyne University.
For more information, visit the website at https://organicgrowersschool.
The Spring Conference is organized annually by the Organic Growers School, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization with a mission to inspire, educate, and support people to farm, garden, and live organically. OGS is the premier provider of practical organic education in the Southern Appalachians, building a vibrant food and farming community by boosting the success of organic home growers and farmers in our region.
–Sera Deva, Organic Growers School