032, Northeast Farmers of Color Land Trust: Land Sovereignty for POC

In today’s episode, we talk to Coordinator Stephanie Morningstar and John Deloatch (JD) Giraldo of the Northeast Farmers of Color Land Trust. Their vision is to advance land sovereignty in the northeast region through permanent and secure land tenure for Indigenous, Black, Latinx, and Asian farmers and land stewards who will use the land in a sacred manner that honors our ancestors dreams - for sustainable farming, human habitat, ceremony, native ecosystem restoration, and cultural preservation.

Stephanie Morningstar, of the Oneida Nation, is an herbalist, soil and seed steward, scholar, student, and Earth Worker dedicated to decolonizing and liberating minds, hearts, and land- one plant, person, ecosystem, and non-human being at a time. Stephanie is the Coordinator of the Northeast Farmers of Color Land Trust, grows medicines and food for her community at Sky World Apothecary & Farm; and mobilizes knowledge for Indigenous-led climate change and food sovereignty research projects for Global Water Futures.

John Deloatch Giraldo is an Earthworker that focuses on connection to the land, healing with the land and education of how natural systems work. He is guided by Freedom Loving Plants, also known as weeds, and the stories of ancestral plants. His dream is to have green spaces where people can pass on family and cultural traditions as well as create new experiences. He believes it’s critical to have spaces where people can pass on their stories and ways of being in respect to Mother Nature, especially for people who are migrating from different Mother Lands to those who are being raised here so they can maintain a sense of culture, tradition and sovereignty.

Resources

• https://nefoclandtrust.org/
• Farming While Black: Soul Fire Farm’s Practical Guide to Liberation on the Land by Leah Penniman
• Lilith's Brood: The Complete Xenogenesis Trilogy and Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler
• Oryx and Crake and The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood
• The Organic Medicinal Herb Farmer: The Ultimate Guide to Producing High-Quality Herbs on a Market Scale by Jeff and Melanie Carpenter

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