Virginia Free Farm

6/23/21

New Newsletter Out! https://www.smore.com/ybu19-support-the-mlk-urban-ag-center?embed=1 Local Change Agents MLK Urban Agriculture Center in cooperation with Virginia Free Farm is a grass roots public-private partnership effecting change in the RVA area. The Urban Ag Center is a public-private partnership created to provide Richmond’s MLK School Ag & STEM education, and turn the project into a world-class urban agriculture education andContinue reading “6/23/21”

Selfless Service

I challenge you to take up a quotidian task of doing one thing, big or small, it doesn’t matter, to put healthy food on someone else’s table in the spirit of tribal collectivism, and curate a community that values protecting and caring for one another. We have the power within our own community to fundamentally change the lives of those most vulnerable.

Recipes You Should Know: Ground Cherry Jam

This native edible is incredibly versatile and works well in both sweet and savory applications Now that we’ve already introduced you in previous posts lets get to know the ground cherry (kiiadebimen in the original Abenaki language) a little more in depth. Ground cherries are now considered a super food, and the great news isContinue reading “Recipes You Should Know: Ground Cherry Jam”

Indigenous People’s Day 2020

Traditional food ways are the medicine we need to heal ourselves and the community as a whole.

Plants You Should Know: Amaranth

Sister Amaranth, scholars argue, antedates all other grains and gave way to them only as the new grains were bred to greater size and bulk. Amaranth Bowl with green beans, tomatoes, arugula, and Parmesan cheese Step aside quinoa, it’s time for another grain to have its moment in the sun. Amaranth is a small grainContinue reading “Plants You Should Know: Amaranth”

Dark Skies – an Ominous Economic Forecast for Typical Small Farms

I worried that the pandemic would cause more farms to go under (according to VDACS currently only 1/3 of the state’s approx 46,000 farms are self sustaining), and that faceless corporate Frankenfarms would buy them concentrating the wealth further. Essentially taking more of an already massive market share.

Patriotism Through Environmental Stewardship

As an enrolled tribal member of a sovereign indigenous nation, I also espouse the beliefs that we must operate with the native values of providing for the community, sharing what one has, and conducting work in a way that seeks to benefit future generations.

Plant You Should Know: Ground Cherries

A tasty edible plant you haven’t heard of—ground cherries.

Braiding Corn – Cultural Appropriation & Entitlement

Dear white gardeners, please don’t be disrespectful by becoming fetishistic or causing commodification of ancient, sacred seeds of indigenous farmers. It was a painful experience for me. I felt I had failed at protecting something I was charged with stewarding to preserve for future generations.

Vision for the Future

Our vision for a better future food system involves solving both the issue of food insecurity for disenfranchised communities, & financial insolvency plaguing many small farms. We will feed those in need, and provide an economic safety net for the farming families that are restoring the Rockwellian image of regenerative agriculture to our landscape. WeContinue reading “Vision for the Future”