Listening To Earth Wisdom With Leah Penniman, Soul Fire Farm

The Queen Mothers of Ghana asked Leah Penniman whether it was true that American farmers plant seeds without prayer, song, or gratitude — then said: 'That's why you're all sick. You treat the earth as a commodity, not as a living relative.' That one sentence is the heart of this episode. Leah Penniman — Black Kreyol farmer, co-founder of Soul Fire Farm, and author of Farming While Black and the new anthology Black Earth Wisdom — joins Care More Be Better to explore George Washington Carver as the forgotten godfather of regenerative agriculture, the shared root of human supremacy and White supremacy, the term food apartheid and why it matters more than food desert, the returning of 258 acres to the Mohican Nation, Dijor Carter's grandmother's spirit rising through his feet in the mud at Soul Fire Farm, and the sit spot practice anyone can start today. COMPLETE BLOG & TRANSCRIPT: https://caremorebebetter.com/listening-to-earth-wisdom-with-leah-penniman/ 03:03] - Gathering Different Voices For Farming While Black [05:58] - Immersing Into The Spirit Of Nature [18:25] - Returning Earth’s Ownership To Earth Itself [28:15] - Most Notable Voices In Farming While Black [43:05] - Difference Between Food Apartheid And Food Desert [50:23] - Why Climate Justice Requires Deferring To Nature [54:10] - Why You Should Get A Plant Friend [57:08] - Get In Touch With Leah [58:09] - Discussion Wrap-up And Closing Words About Guest: Leah Penniman is a Black Kreyol farmer, mother, activist, author, scientist, earth-lover, and African Traditional Priest who has been tending the soil and organizing for a racially just food system for 30 years. She serves as Co-Founder and Farm Director at Soul Fire Farm in Grafton, New York, an Afro-Indigenous training farm dedicated to food and land sovereignty. Leah’s books, Farming While Black: Soul Fire Farm's Practical Guide to Liberation on the Land (2018), Black Earth Wisdom: Soulful Conversations with Black Environmentalists (2023), and Children of the Land: A Soul Fire Farm Parenting Guide (2027) are love songs for the land and her people. Guest LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leah-penniman-6839025a/ Guest Website: https://soulfirefarm.org Guest Social: https://www.facebook.com/soulfirefarm/ https://www.instagram.com/soulfirefarm/ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCz3Bs3G0GkDR83JSxF4C5Eg https://www.instagram.com/leahpenniman/ https://www.facebook.com/leah.penniman Additional Resources Mentioned: BIONEERS KEYNOTE: Leah Penniman – Free the People! Free the Land! BOOK: Black Earth Wisdom: Soulful Conversations with Black Environmentalists by Leah Penniman BOOK: Farming While Black by Leah Penniman BUILD A GREENER FUTURE with CARE MORE BE BETTER Together, we planted 36,044 trees in 2025 through our partnership with ForestPlanet. We screamed past our goal of planting 20,000 trees thanks to subscribers like you! CAUSE PARTNER: If you value open dialogue, sustainability, and social equity, I invite you to support our new cause partner — Prescott College. To learn more about this effort and to support the show, visit: https://caremorebebetter.com/support/ Follow CARE MORE BE BETTER on social media: YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/caremorebebetter TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@caremorebebetter Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/caremorebebetter Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CareMoreBeBetter LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/care-more-be-better Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.