Conversations Series: We Are Each Other’s Harvest
Conversations Series
Exploring food and farming with Black and Indigenous Leaders in the Food System
Friday, March 26th via Zoom
12pm Alaska Time / 1pm Pacific Time / 4pm Eastern Time
Join us for a conversation with author and filmmaker Natalie Baszile about her upcoming book: We Are Each Other’s Harvest: Celebrating African American Farmers, Land, and Legacy, an anthology of essays, poems, photographs, quotes, conversations, and first-person stories. We Are Each Other’s Harvest elevates the voices and stories of Black farmers and people of color, celebrating their perseverance and resilience, while spotlighting the challenges they continue to face.
Hosted by Melony Edwards, Natalie will be joined by Jim Embry, a lifelong social, food justice and agrarian intellectual activist. Both Melony and Jim are featured in Natalie’s new book.
Registration is free and open to the public! Pre-registration is required: click here to register via Zoom.
Brought to you by Calypso Farm & Ecology Center and the Folk School Fairbanks
Natalie Baszile
Natalie is the author of Queen Sugar, which has been adapted for television by and co-produced by Ava DuVernay and Oprah Winfrey. Her new non-fiction book, We Are Each Other’s Harvest: Celebrating African American Farmers, Land & Memory, is forthcoming from HarperCollins (April 2021). Natalie has had residencies at the Ragdale Foundation, VCCA, Hedgebrook, and Djerassi where she was the SFFILM and Bonnie Rattner Fellow. Her non-fiction work has appeared in National Geographic, Lenny Letter, The Bitter Southerner, O, The Oprah Magazine, and numerous anthologies. She has taught fiction at Saint Mary’s College in the MFA Program and is on Sierra Nevada College’s MFA Faculty. She is a current resident at SFFILM and member of the San Francisco Writers’ Grotto.
Click here to learn more about Natalie’s work and pre-order We Are Each Other’s Harvest.
Jim Embry
The great grandson of formerly enslaved small farmers and often labelled as Black and Green, Jim Embry considers himself “stardust congealed in human form” that represents billions of years of Earth’s evolution. Jim is the founder and director of Sustainable Communities Network and a leader in various social movements, seeking to contribute to the theory and practice of sustainable living at the local, national and international levels with a focus on food and agriculture systems. An activist since 10 years old, Jim has participated in all the major social movements of his era and now believes that the sustainability movement encompasses all other movements and will serve to further bend the arc of the universe towards justice for all Earth family members. Jim is currently serving as a land steward on his 30 acre family farm and believes that we need some big ideas that connect humans in a sacred relationship with the Earth which will require us to think not just out-of-the-box, but out-of-the-barn.
Click here to learn more about Jim’s work.
Melony Edwards
Melony Edwards is a first-generation farmer on a journey to reclaim farming on her own terms. After completing degrees in culinary arts and hospitality, and working in all facets of foodservice, Edwards began wondering “where does our food come from? And why are there no visible Black farmers at the local farmers market?” Edwards found that gaining access to entry-level farming training in the rural landscape was exclusive, but she was determined to learn agricultural skills outside of her urban setting. Edwards’ journey landed her on a 20 acre mixed vegetable farm on rural Whidbey Island where she immersed herself in small-scale agricultural practices. Edwards spent three years there advancing to Farm Manager. She then spent a season at Calypso Farm and is now embarking on her own farming business focused on seed growing, natural dyeing and fiber arts.
Click here to follow Melony’s farm business, Ebony by Nature, on Instagram.
