How do we practice Afroecology on the land?
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On 29th August we hosted a free agroecology workshop led by GoGrowWithLove and The Earth Sistren Collective, in place of one of our monthly community days. This land-based workshop was rooted in African traditions of heritage, land stewardship, food sovereignty, and championed women-led grassroots movements. It was a beautiful way for Afro-disaporiac communities to gather for a day of learning, remembering, and reconnecting.
The workshops overall received positive feedback and successfully combined hands-on horticultural skills with cultural and ecological learning. Participants also expressed a strong interest in wanting to learn more about how to grow and other growing matters, including food sovereignty, biodiversity, ancestral knowledge and comeunity spending lots of time in nature.
Our event formed part of a larger Introduction to Afroecology programme launched by GoGrowWithLove and in partnership with African Carribbean Heritage Food Network and funded by Farming the Future.
This blog is a wider reflection of how we, Black Growth CIC, practices agroecology at our market garden based in Croydon, South London at Roots Allotments.
What is afroecology?
‘The conscious practice of growing food and caring for the land, guided by principles of traditional African knowledge that work in harmony with nature to support community food sovereignty.’ - GoGrowWithLove
We practice Afroecology as a way of growing, learning, sharing and building community; connecting ancestral knowledge with contemporary experimentation and collective practice.
We teach and share skills and food through the Afrikan philosophy of Ubuntu
Ubuntu roughly translates to “humanity to others”, or “I am because we are”. It comes from the Zulu proverb “Umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu”, meaning “a person is a person through other people”. ( https://www.dandelionphilosophy.com/blog/whats-in-a-word-the-meaning-of-ubuntu)
We create opportunities for people to learn together through community days and festivals celebrating the seasons and land, workshops, events and online media. We put Ubuntu into practice through shared experiences such as family meals, curating Black farmers’ market events, delivering farm tours, educational games and other gatherings that bring people together around food, land and culture.
We create a living place to explore history and knowledge and following Afrikan philosophy of Sankofa
Sankofa is an Akan term that means, “to go back and get it.” An Adinkra symbol for this is a bird with its head turned backwards and an egg in its mouth, which represents past knowledge. This symbol is associated with the proverb, “Se wo were fi na wosankofa a yenkyi,” which translates to, “It is not wrong to go back for that which you have forgotten.” (https://climatejusticealliance.org/workgroup/black-caucus/sankofa-bird-2/)
The site is developing as a place where people can learn about the histories of growers, plants, food and activists. Knowledge is shared through the land itself; through the allotment beds, staff knowledge, conversations, demonstrations and word of mouth. The site becomes a living archive as well as a growing space.
We use the land as a space for wider experimentation and pilots.
We explore ways of strengthening food systems and creating greater value from what we grow - including pilots such as value-added products to developing a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) food box scheme. CSA was developed by Black agricultural educator from Alambama, Dr Brooker Whatley and we hope to build on his legacy.
We practise and learn from ancestral indigenous growing techniques.
We draw on approaches such as no-dig growing, companion planting, composting, seed saving and preserving harvests, keyhole composting, water saving alongside other practices rooted in ancestral and culturally specific knowledge, that honour the land and its energy. As people of the diaspora, we recognise that this is an ongoing process of learning, reconnecting and remembering. By documenting what we learn about how they grow in this context, the conditions they need and the knowledge that can be shared with others. Through growing, observing, experimenting and sharing, we are building a body of practical knowledge that can support people, soil, nature biodiversity and food sovereignty today.
We tell, record and share our stories.
Our community is intergenerational and we actively work to bring young people to our land through collaborative projects. An important part of our Afroecological practice is storytelling, archiving and sharing. We want to document the knowledge, experiences, experiments and stories emerging from the land so that they are not lost. By recording what we learn and sharing it with others, we can contribute to an intergenerational body of knowledge, allowing future generations to learn from what we have grown, practised and discovered together.
In this way, Afroecology is not just about what we grow. It is about how we grow, who we grow with, what knowledge we carry, what we learn through experimentation, and what we leave behind for the generations that come after us.
“Its a way of life where we recognise and honour our co existence with all that's around us (seen and unseen). It's a process.” Sandra/ Go Grow With Love Founder.
For further reading from a participant of the program taster session - please support the a beautifully written reflection memore blog written by Yemaya from here:
If you’re interested in co-hosting or collaborating on a workshop on our land next year, we’d love to hear from you. Please reach out to us at hello@blackgrowth.co.uk.
Co-written by Obie + Lauren.
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