Five years ago, we, Irucka Ajani and Obiora Embry, embarked on a journey to create a two acre edible forest garden on our maternal family farm, Martin Acres. Martin Acres is an eighth generation black‐owned family farm in the Rhodes Chapel Community of Greenville (Muhlenberg County), KY. The two acres were left fallow for decades after the area stopped being used for grazing. Although our initial plan was to simply farm the forest we have started to develop a larger vision.
This vision is an important part of our journey as we resurrect ideas from the past while thinking about the present with an eye on the future (akin to the Asante Adinkra symbol, Sankofa). During the past five years we have also been helping a paternal cousin transform her family farm in rural Richmond, KY.
At our inaugural event, we will celebrate Nature and our maternal and paternal family farms (and legacies)! In doing so we will give a talk/presentation on both farms, including the regenerative work being done. In addition, we will discuss our new vision, share photographs, and break bread with seasonal and locally sourced food (quasi farm‐to‐table).
We invite our collective community from near and far to join us in our celebration of Nature and family...and to meet the farmers from whom you may purchase food from in the near future and beyond!
Food prepared with love by Irucka Ajani or Obiora, the future growers of your food:
If you are interested in attending a workshop or class by Getting Back to Nature™ in 2019, please contact us to sign up for an alert when the dates have been set.
Five years ago, we, Irucka Ajani and Obiora Embry, embarked on a quest to turn marginal grazing land into resilient land that feeds us, our collective community, pollinators, etc. We have completed our first leg of this journey using only our own funds.
As we move into the next phase, we are reaching out to our collective community (i.e., think of crowdfunding) near and far to help us acquire new plants, equipment, tools, supplies, and more so that we can bring more of our ideas for our two acres to fruition.
Although this is the first year that we have attempted to sell anything, we decided to do something different as we begin the next phase: to develop our CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) through our first event—there will be limited samples of our current products. And you will meet the "growers of your food" and learn about the land that has chosen to be used by us on this journey.
Table 1: Our Wish List for Fall 2018 Fundraiser: A Celebration of Nature and Family