Fall 2025 / Issue 1
Preparing the Soil
Planting new seeds requires loving preparation. The soil-its composition, temperature, moisture, what grows near it, its access to sun-is the tiny seed’s foundation. This past summer, we have been preparing the soil of our vision. Our mission is threefold: Refuge, Restoration, and Sustenance. With so many of our siblings hungry in Gaza, Sudan, and right here in Oakland, as SNAP benefits threaten to be cut, we know that food is the first need and growing food requires land.
Dr. John Boyd Jr., founder of the National Black Farmers Association, said, “you can’t have food security without land security.” After some searching, some trial and error, some shifts in flow, Spirit has led us to some land for growing. Just outside of Oakland, in the hills of El Sobrante, on land originally stewarded by the confederate villages of the Lisjan, we have begun our work towards providing sustenance. We are leasing half an acre from Soul Flower Farm, a Black, woman-owned urban farm. We have begun to build a greenhouse and will soon be bringing microgreens and mushrooms to our communities needing fresh food. This season, in ground, we are growing collard greens, potatoes, beets, carrots, and lettuces. With each lift of a bucket, pull of a weed, or plunge of shovel into the precious soil we rejoice at what the near future holds: abundant harvest and more sustenance for our community.
To read more of our journey, here’s the full newsletter.