Invest in Black: Ways to Actively Support Black Healers & Farmers
*photo by Etty Fidele
One anti-racist practice to which we can commit is to learn from, honour and enable the work of Black voices. As a school that has built upon, and benefited from, the wisdom of BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Colour) healing knowledge, we want here to highlight a handful of Black farmers, healers, herbalists, chefs and food justice advocates whose efforts are deeply needed in our world.
It is also essential that we recognise the impacts of structural racism in any conversation on health and wellness. From the trauma held in bodies that the nervous system must carry, to the historical and continued experience of implicit bias that compromises trust in medical providers, racist policies and practices are constant stressors that also compromise the well being of anyone subjected to it.
Racial injustice exists through policies - in housing, employment, education, policing and environmental conditions, for example - that also determine the quality of a community’s access to food, and we know that food is a powerful tool that fundamentally affects health.
As we work to replace the racist policies we have created or inherited with anti-racist policies that value Black life, we can consider what other actions play a part in this reparative work. One valuable starting point: remembering that our resources are a form of power.
Using our Resources Intentionally: as an act of anti-racism and healing
The following is an incomplete list of visionary and inspired practitioners whose work we admire. Visit their links, buy the products of their creative labours, donate to sustain their work, and spread the word.
Black Healers, Herbalists and Farmers
Poppy Okotcha (@poppyokotcha) is a UK-based permaculture designer offering a revolutionary lens on herbal wisdom (and recipes).
Amanda David of Rootwork Herbals and the People’s Medicine Project: is dedicated to accessible community herbalism and the movement of BIPOC in reclaiming their traditional medicines.
Harriet's Apothecary co-creates accessible and all-honouring community healing spaces to nurture the next generation of Black healers.
Heal Haus is focused on holistic healing and wellness, and to changing the stigma attached to healing.
WE.DNTPLAY is a Wandsworth-based yoga, Pilates and martial arts collective with a holistic focus on well-being, building spiritual, mental and physical strength through movement.
Third Root is a worker-owned POC-queer community health center providing accessible care and online workshops.
Sacred Vibes Apothecary offers herbal medicines, workshops and apprenticeships that anchor spirituality in the practice of plant medicine.
Jess Turner of Olamina Botanicals is an herbalist, farmer and educator with a social justice lens.
Soulfire Farm is committed to ending racism and injustice in our food system, raising and distributing life-giving food as a means to end food apartheid.
Yemi Amu and Oko Farms is a Brooklyn, New York, educational farm focused on mitigating the impact of climate change and increasing food security, currently building a new site in the historic Black community of Weeksville.
Sinead of Aweside Farm is the co-founder of this organic farm in East Sussex, dedicated to healing the land through regenerative farming practices, growing heritage vegetables, fruits, herbs and flowers.
Candace Taylor of Conscious Homestead is a land steward, yoga practitioner, herbalist and ancestral cook building a BIPOC Urban Farm and Wholeness Center in Winooski, Vermont.
Land in our Names reimagines land stewardship and land justice as a centrepoint for issues of food insecurity, health inequality, and widespread disconnect from nature for BPOC communities in Britain.
*photo by Wesual Click
Black healing nutrition and food justice practitioners
Sophia Roe (@sophia_roe): is an activist and whole foods chef whose work focuses on personal and collective healing through food.
Bryan Terry (@bryantterry): is a chef and author committed to creating a fair and sustainable food system.
Jenné Claiborne (@sweetpotatosoul): is a chef and author devoted to wholesome and accessible vegan cooking.
Food Heaven Made Easy with Wendy & Jess is a fantastic resource for whole foods recipes and wellness wisdom (check out their podcast too).
JUSTUS Kitchen’s Jocelyn Jackson is a chef and co-founder of the People’s Kitchen whose work is rooted in social justice and the role of shared food in building beloved community.
Nam Singh is a Taoist priest, practitioner of all eight limbs of Traditional Chinese Medicine, a chef and an honoured faculty member of Academy Healing Nutrition (check out this video where Nam presents an introduction to Tonic Herbalism, or the use of herbs that build, strengthen and nourish particular organs or systems in our bodies).
The present moment is a perfect time to engage in acts of loving and reparative solidarity.