Soul Fire Farm is a community farm in

Grafton, New York Grafton is a town in Rensselaer County, New York, United States. The population was 2,130 at the 2010 census. It is believed that the town received its name from Grafton, Vermont, where the first town supervisor, Nathaniel Dumbleton, was originall ...

, United States. The farm is Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC)-centered and uses

organic Organic may refer to: * Organic, of or relating to an organism, a living entity * Organic, of or relating to an anatomical organ Chemistry * Organic matter, matter that has come from a once-living organism, is capable of decay or is the product o ...

and ancestral farming techniques to combat racism and injustice in the

food system The term food system describes the interconnected systems and processes that influence nutrition, food, health, community development, and agriculture. A food system includes all processes and infrastructure involved in feeding a population: grow ...

. It is owned by

Leah Penniman Leah Penniman () is a farmer, educator, author, and food sovereignty activist. Penniman is co-founder, co-director and Program Manager of Soul Fire Farm, in Grafton, New York. Biography Leah Penniman was born to Reverend doctor Adele Smith ...

About

Soul Fire Farm is a 72-acre farm located in

and was purchased by

and Jonah Vitale-Wolff in 2006. The farm officially opened in 2010. The name is taken from the song ''Soulfire'' by

Lee “Scratch” Perry Lee may refer to: Name Given name * Lee (given name), a given name in English Surname * Chinese surnames romanized as Li or Lee: ** Li (surname 李) or Lee (Hanzi ), a common Chinese surname ** Li (surname 利) or Lee (Hanzi ), a Chinese ...

and began as a farm share for low-income individuals. As the farm grew, it developed a mission to end racism and injustice in the food system by reclaiming the inherent right to belong to the earth and to create agency in the food system for black and brown people. The food is intensively cultivated using organic and ancestral techniques that increase

topsoil Topsoil is the upper layer of soil. It has the highest concentration of organic matter and microorganisms and is where most of the Earth's biological soil activity occurs. Description Topsoil is composed of mineral particles and organic matte ...

depth,

sequester carbon Carbon sequestration is the process of storing carbon in a carbon pool. It plays a crucial role in limiting climate change by reducing the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. There are two main types of carbon sequestration: biologic ( ...

, and increase

soil biodiversity Soil biodiversity refers to the relationship of soil to biodiversity and to aspects of the soil that can be managed in relative to biodiversity. Soil biodiversity relates to some catchment management considerations. Biodiversity According to the ...

. To help capture carbon, the farm grows mostly

perennials A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also wide ...

and practices

silvopasture Silvopasture (''silva'' is forest in Latin) is the practice of integrating trees, forage, and the grazing of domesticated animals in a mutually beneficial way. It utilizes the principles of managed grazing, and it is one of several distinct forms ...

, where

livestock Livestock are the domesticated animals raised in an agricultural setting to provide labor and produce diversified products for consumption such as meat, eggs, milk, fur, leather, and wool. The term is sometimes used to refer solely to anima ...

grazes in

orchard An orchard is an intentional plantation of trees or shrubs that is maintained for food production. Orchards comprise fruit- or nut-producing trees which are generally grown for commercial production. Orchards are also sometimes a feature of la ...

s, to mitigate the effects of climate change. The buildings on the farm are constructed by hand, using local

wood Wood is a porous and fibrous structural tissue found in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulose fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of ligni ...

adobe Adobe ( ; ) is a building material made from earth and organic materials. is Spanish for '' mudbrick''. In some English-speaking regions of Spanish heritage, such as the Southwestern United States, the term is used to refer to any kind of ...

, straw bales, solar heat, and reclaimed materials. The team of workers and activists at the farm bring together diverse communities to share information and skills on

sustainable agriculture Sustainable agriculture is farming in sustainable ways meeting society's present food and textile needs, without compromising the ability for current or future generations to meet their needs. It can be based on an understanding of ecosystem ser ...

natural building A natural building involves a range of building systems and materials that place major emphasis on sustainability. Ways of achieving sustainability through natural building focus on durability and the use of minimally processed, plentiful or renew ...

, spiritual activism, health, and

environmental justice Environmental justice is a social movement to address the unfair exposure of poor and marginalized communities to harms from hazardous waste, resource extraction, and other land uses.Schlosberg, David. (2007) ''Defining Environmental Justice ...

through their programs. The farm's flagship program is the Black Latino Farmers Immersion, a 50-hour course to train beginner farmers. As of 2018, 500 people had taken the course. In 2020, the farm made plans to expand and began raising money to better support accommodations for hosting the over 3,000 visitors that visit annually.

Programs

Soul Fire Farm Share

Soul Fire Farm Share is a

Community Supported Agriculture Community-supported agriculture (CSA model) or cropsharing is a system that connects producers and consumers within the food system closer by allowing the consumer to subscribe to the harvest of a certain farm or group of farms. It is an alterna ...

program that delivers freshly grown produce each week to farm share members in

Troy Troy ( el, Τροία and Latin: Troia, Hittite: 𒋫𒊒𒄿𒊭 ''Truwiša'') or Ilion ( el, Ίλιον and Latin: Ilium, Hittite: 𒃾𒇻𒊭 ''Wiluša'') was an ancient city located at Hisarlik in present-day Turkey, south-west of Çan ...

and Albany, New York. The program is based on the spirit of Ujaama, an ideology of cooperative economics. Payments are made according to an income based sliding-scale and EBT payments are accepted. This program also provides "#solidarityshares", for

immigrants Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, ...

refugee A refugee, conventionally speaking, is a displaced person who has crossed national borders and who cannot or is unwilling to return home due to well-founded fear of persecution.

s, and those impacted by state violence. Describing the program, Penniman says: "We are committed to working with the most marginalized issues. It's a different economic model. It's about relationships. It's not just a model of selling."

Black and Latinx Farmers Immersion

The program teaches novice and intermediate growers the basic skills of

regenerative farming Regenerative agriculture is a conservation and rehabilitation approach to food and farming systems. It focuses on topsoil regeneration, increasing biodiversity, improving the water cycle, enhancing ecosystem services, supporting biosequestration, ...

and has trained over 350 farmers since 2011. The training covers skills like

planting Sowing is the process of planting seeds. An area or object that has had seeds planted in it will be described as a sowed or sown area. Plants which are usually sown Among the major field crops, oat The oat (''Avena sativa''), sometimes ...

transplanting In agriculture and gardening, transplanting or replanting is the technique of moving a plant from one location to another. Most often this takes the form of starting a plant from seed in optimal conditions, such as in a greenhouse or protected n ...

harvest Harvesting is the process of gathering a ripe crop from the fields. Reaping is the cutting of grain or pulse for harvest, typically using a scythe, sickle, or reaper. On smaller farms with minimal mechanization, harvesting is the most lab ...

ing,

compost Compost is a mixture of ingredients used as plant fertilizer and to improve soil's physical, chemical and biological properties. It is commonly prepared by decomposing plant, food waste, recycling organic materials and manure. The resulting ...

pest management Pest control is the regulation or management of a species defined as a pest; any animal, plant or fungus that impacts adversely on human activities or environment. The human response depends on the importance of the damage done and will range ...

, processing

chicken The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domestication, domesticated junglefowl species, with attributes of wild species such as the grey junglefowl, grey and the Ceylon junglefowl that are originally from Southeastern Asia. Rooster ...

s, and use of

medicinal herbs Medicinal plants, also called medicinal herbs, have been discovered and used in traditional medicine practices since prehistoric times. Plants synthesize hundreds of chemical compounds for various functions, including defense and protection ag ...

. The program supplies the tools for additional comprehensive commercial farm training. Participants learn in a culturally relevant and supportive environment that helps them connect to the land and understand "trauma rooted in oppression on land.”

Uprooting Racism Immersion

The workshop provides farming and

food justice The Food Justice Movement is a grassroots initiative which emerged in response to food insecurity and economic pressures that prevent access to healthy, nutritious, and culturally appropriate foods (food should fit the cultural background of the ...

leaders with theory and action. Participants examine the history of food injustice and then devise strategies to end the systemic racism in the food system.

Youth Program

The goal of this program is to reconnect youth to their innate belonging to the land and to restore each person's rightful place of empowerment in the food system. It exposes young people to harvesting, cooking and food justice knowledge through one day workshops, including inter-generational groups. From 2013 to 2015, the farm's restorative justice program allowed teens to earn money to pay off court-ordered restitution and avoid incarceration. Soul Fire Farm's youth program began in 2011.

Activist Retreats

Soul Fire Farm makes their space available to activists working for social and environmental change so that they might "rejuvenate, strategize, and connect.”

Community Farm Days

Each Month, from April to October, Soul Fire Farm hosts community farm days, where volunteers and staff work the land and learn together, followed by a

potluck A potluck is a communal gathering where each guest or group contributes a different, often homemade, dish of food to be shared. Other names for a "potluck" include: potluck dinner, pitch-in, shared lunch, spread, faith supper, carry-in dinner ...

and conversation. The farm honors the Haitian cultural practice of Konbit, cooperative work and mutual aid.

Partner Projects

Soul Fire Farm is a partner of the Victory Bus Project, which was created to assist the family members of incarcerated people with the cost of visiting loved ones after state funding for busing families was eliminated. Instead of purchasing a bus fare

ticket Ticket or tickets may refer to: Slips of paper * Lottery ticket * Parking ticket, a ticket confirming that the parking fee was paid (and the time of the parking start) * Toll ticket, a slip of paper used to indicate where vehicles entered a to ...

to the prison for a visit, the family can instead pay for a box of Soul Fire Farm produce with

Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program In the United States, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as the Food Stamp Program, is a federal program that provides food-purchasing assistance for low- and no-income people. It is a federal aid program, ad ...

(SNAP) benefits. They receive the benefit of visiting loved ones and receiving fresh

produce Produce is a generalized term for many farm-produced crops, including fruits and vegetables ( grains, oats, etc. are also sometimes considered ''produce''). More specifically, the term ''produce'' often implies that the products are fresh and ...

. Soul Fire Farm also partners with The Northeast Farmers of Color Network on the Reparations Map for Black-Indigenous Farmers. The aim is to claim sovereignty of the food system that was built on the stolen land and stolen labor of black, Indigenous, Latino, Asian and people of color and calls for

reparations Reparation(s) may refer to: Christianity * Restitution (theology), the Christian doctrine calling for reparation * Acts of reparation, prayers for repairing the damages of sin History * War reparations ** World War I reparations, made from ...

of land and resources.

Known employees

* Brooke Bridges (2018–present)

Reference section

{{reflist Farms in New York (state) Rensselaer County, New York