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Ep 62: This Land is Ours with KD Randle
189 Plays4 days ago
Mississippi farmer KD joins us for the season finale to talk about inheriting family land, how land stewardship informs their faith, and the challenges that come with farm life. Dani and Leah also share where we've been these past few months, winning a podcasting award, and working as an environmental educator.
KD Randle (they/them) is a Black, southern, queer, genderfluid person currently living in central Mississippi. They’re a lifelong learner, visionary, creator, their mother’s youngest seed, a friend, partner, dog parent, and former farm apprentice at Sipp Culture.
RESOURCES
- Country Queers KD Randle
- Black Earth Wisdom: Soulful Conversations with Black Environmentalists by Leah Penniman
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This podcast was created, hosted, and produced by Dani & Leah.
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Transcript
Introduction and Welcome
00:00:01
Speaker
Hoodoo plants, mamas. Get your soul fed and your spirit ridden. This here in the trend, I possessed the power from way back when.
00:00:15
Speaker
Back when folk was stripped from all of their kin, so they had to find the magic within. Ancestors, they gather my urge. I conjure it, my ulcer.
00:00:26
Speaker
Hoodoo plants, mamas.
00:00:33
Speaker
We just out here trying to water our plants and mind our business, you know? Everybody from the deep south, man. Everybody can't have a culture like us.
KD Randall's Farming Journey
00:00:45
Speaker
Hey, y'all, and welcome back to the season finale of the award-winning podcast, Hoodoo Plant Mamas. I am your co-host, Lynn Nicole. And I'm Dani B. And today we are joined by KD. Would you like to introduce yourself? Okay, KD Randall, pronouns they he. I am a a small farmer.
00:01:08
Speaker
I live in rural central Mississippi. am in Attila County by way of Holmes County. And I am currently just trying to figure out my my farm life, my rural life.
00:01:21
Speaker
Raising some small herds of livestock. Also a market garden. doing a lot of intentional work, going to conferences with the methods that i'm really interested in, which are usually permaculture or like regenerative organic practices.
00:01:38
Speaker
and meeting other BIPOC land stewards and farmers, growers, herbalists out west, northeast, in the south, and intentionally trying to find a career that kind of complements that because it's a lot of is's a lot of new curves for me, learning curves for me in a way that I'm not formally trained as a farmer. so Well, before we get into some gratitude, let's do a quick check-in. How are you, Leah? I am good.
00:02:06
Speaker
I'm tired. I've been working real hard. i have like a 50 hour work week ahead of me that I'm prepping for. But you know what? I'm making it. I enjoy the work that I'm doing. So like I'm Kind of excited, but yeah, i'm I'm holding in there. How about you, Dani? I'm making it. I'm a little tired too. Just been doing a lot work-wise and then trying to do stuff personally, like creatively. And the work is winning, unfortunately. But we're going to figure it out. What about you, Katie? I'm all the way tired.
00:02:39
Speaker
Yeah, this is my first season breaking ground for my garden, and I went real hard between animals and gardening. So I'm definitely, with the fall season, sleeping later, going to sleep with the dark and things like that. The way it's supposed to be.
00:02:54
Speaker
Well, let's get into some gratitude. What are you thankful for today, Katie? I'm grateful for... Just more developing emotionally and becoming more aware of like just nervous system regulation.
00:03:11
Speaker
Just like, yeah, just getting her a lot of clarity around it and just personal evolution. I'm grateful for that. What about you, Leah? I going to say I am grateful to be here.
00:03:25
Speaker
Because I know like a year ago, this is not at all where I thought I would be, but I'm very happy to be here despite that. So I'm grateful to still be here. Still kicking it.
00:03:36
Speaker
How about you, Dani?
Gratitude and Personal Growth
00:03:39
Speaker
I'm grateful for the trees. Like I had, I got a chance to spend some time outside walking and touching the trees and Not tripping and falling like I did last time, you know, and I feel like they wanted me the last time I think I tripped because I was really like not present. I was just walking like I was just walking and really dissociating. Next thing you know, boom, like.
00:04:07
Speaker
face down like it wasn't even it was literally like my entire body fell so this time I didn't I acknowledged the trees I spoke I said hey thank you and we had a good time so I'm thankful for that today well let's get into the show I've talked before on this podcast about my family's relationships to plants. Like my paternal granddaddy is a farmer and this is the first year in his adult life that he has not been able to farm because he just had eye surgery. He did not let that stop him from trying. He was still on the tractor right after eye surgery when he was supposed to be, but
00:04:46
Speaker
My maternal grandmother, who I'm named after, she had a flower garden and her house was filled with houseplants. And so that's what my granny told me. And I know for you, your mom grew up on a farm. And so being a farmer is in your blood. And so can you speak on what it means for you to come from and to carry on this lineage?
Returning to Farming Roots
00:05:07
Speaker
Yeah, my family, both sides, my mother and father, Grew up on farms, specifically farms for sustenance. It was a buku of them, and that's how they took care each other. um it was just a coming wave of, like, I feel like black rural life of just working the land, being land stewards, waking up in the morning, taking care of um animals and livestock. And, yeah, and so it's actually been kind of a delayed, like, process or, like, legacy, I feel like.
00:05:39
Speaker
returning back to this work because y'all know I'm a formally studied sociology. And so getting into this later in life has been by way of mom my mother sharing different oral stories that comes up for her just by me being interested in it. Like stuff I'm like, girl, what this was, you know, when I was like in high school or, you know i'm saying?
00:06:00
Speaker
um So it's been a lot of like returning and remembering and just listening to stories from like my elders. i Also recognizing when we used to go to like Holmes County and pick up sweet potatoes or check up on elders when we lived when we had moved um and recognizing that was a part of but like that agriculture, like Lifeway, them being in touch where they were from. And so.
00:06:22
Speaker
Yeah, I think it was something that was delayed, but it's definitely been something that once I got convicted by, like, okay, going to do this. I'm going to be on the land. I'm going to be tending to land, figuring out what's my form of farming and loving the land.
00:06:37
Speaker
But once I got into it, i haven't stopped, and it's been just rolling. So I've been grateful to return to what feels so like aligned with what kept my people In the Country Queers podcast, you discussed falling back in love and reclaiming your love of the land and living in a small town.
00:06:58
Speaker
And I was really moved by the way your mother spoke over your life and just like really affirmed the journey. So in one part of y'all's conversation, She says she's pleased that you've been selected by our ancestors to carry on this great task of being an earth keeper. And then in another part of the conversation, she said, I see a sense of clarity and calmness in your life as you have become answering this calling as a land steward, a keeper of the land and with farming. This is a big inheritance and responsibility, but like also a gift.
00:07:33
Speaker
And, but... I feel like as a Black person, as a queer person, you also have to hold the contradictions of the land and the ways it's been like historically weaponized against your ancestors, against your living people and against yourself in spite of that or just like.
00:07:50
Speaker
alongside that how did you really come to fall back in love with mississippi and with the land and sort of gain that sense of calmness and clarity based on like your mother's observation but like how did you get to that place what did it look like sort of like seeing mississippi and the land through like a new lens oh that's a that's a full body question ha
00:08:17
Speaker
Yeah, that is interesting because um just thinking about the time – Since that podcast, since that conversation with my mother, a lot has shifted, right?
00:08:27
Speaker
it took It took a lot of work. I moved back to Mississippi of impulsively. The pandemic was like, you know, don't know how to describe the stages of the pandemic, but it it was happening. And I had a deep concern ah for my mother. I wasn't reckless seeing my mother, even for the holidays. And I'm just like, I might go check up on my mama. Like, I don't know what's going on in the world, but I'm going to go check up on my mama. And during that time, i was back in Mississippi for that summer, currently living in New Orleans.
00:08:57
Speaker
And i took the time to like just even before, like right before the pandemic, I had gotten this deep like curiosity about like land stewardship specifically in Mississippi. That's when I started to find like a lot of like personal accounts um with different farmers that had gone through different things with like USDA, different discrimination, you know, doing a lot of discovering about a different work of ancestor Fannie Lou Hamer. Like a lot of things were coming up and I got deeply curious about my own personal accounts on the land and knowing that both of my family had land and steward land. So during that time when I came back to Mississippi, I intentionally had an older cousin that's raising cows out there.
00:09:36
Speaker
Like, hey, you know, take me on the family land, you know, give me a tour. My oldest auntie still lives out there, raises a garden. And so just been out went out there for a couple of days, got to see the sunrise, got to see the sunset, got to walk the land.
00:09:48
Speaker
And then I intentionally asked my mother to take me to her side of the land. And so I just walked that land with them and just was like, just in deep awe of like, dang, like this ours. Like, you know what saying? Like, can't nobody say nothing. Like this shit ours. Like this land is ours. And like,
00:10:05
Speaker
That just deeply moved me in a way that I was just like, yeah, I think I want to do this. i don't know. I ain't got like half the skills. ain't got like
Isolation and Community Building
00:10:12
Speaker
80% of the skills that i feel like I need to like steward it, but hey, we're going figure it out.
00:10:16
Speaker
And so it was like, you know, that deep curiosity that that came before um everything that felt like with the pandemic and just, you having a lot of just reassessment of like, you know, what I'm going to next. Like i was working in education, was coaching, deeply enjoyed that.
00:10:32
Speaker
But I also feel like that pulled a lot for me that I felt like i wasn't feeling grounded and centered. And so when I came back home and I had that chance to like tour the land and be with my family on the land in that way, i just, I fell in love with it all over again. And, you know, at the same time, I wanted to check up on my mama. I feel like I'm ah um a mama's boy in a way. And so...
00:10:54
Speaker
Those things week together, I think, really brought me back. But since then, you know, it's been a big shift to like really settle in my small town as much as I want to. It's been hard, you know. There's not like intentional social spaces for black queer people. If that's something that I want, I kind of got to create it. Well, I ain't got to kind of create it. I got to create it. while also tending to the land. So it's just a lot of, like, labor of, like, being, like, oh, where are the spaces where I can just come into and be a part of something that's already there? And usually that's still in the city, you know, in Jackson, which is, you know, 60 miles from my land. And so then that's another thing I got to add on. So, yeah, it's still been some workings of just um sitting with, like,
00:11:41
Speaker
What's the intention around when you want to live in a rural place about the the social infrastructure that's also needed for your spirit and your belonging? um as you're choosing to be on the land because it can extremely get isolated.
00:11:53
Speaker
And so, yeah, that's presently happening. But I fell in love with the land once I saw the land. I'm crazy about the landscape of Mississippi. And I deeply love my family and all the ways that we are different, you know, than my people, you know what saying? And so I think it's been about figuring out what are the what are the goals that I've, like, desired in my life, but, like, what are the things that constantly want to honor. And I think I'm always in, like, that that weave of that dilemma of the two. I'm glad you said that. I just wanted to add, like,
00:12:19
Speaker
the mission of the isolation because every time I feel like talking to certain people when you talk about growing up in the country like in Mississippi like people don't understand when I say it was isolating like you feel like you so far away from everybody and everything and then like if you growing up and you starting just become aware of different parts of yourself then you just start feeling like just so small like so thank you for saying that I think I initially started with that isolation feeling really like sad and upset about it. I'm like, ain't no way.
00:12:55
Speaker
I don't have finally got this chance to still land and now i feel like lonely as hell out here. You know what saying? And like, what the folks said? And you know, but it's also been a lot of like, just reflection on myself of like the things that,
00:13:06
Speaker
you know i think i can be very sociable but at the same time like i'm selective too like you know and as a person that has over you know the years have come into like my own like personal understanding my transness for myself and my queerness for myself like these days don't i don't even tell people about my pronouns because i know they don't get it right like it's not even something i like choose that battle like with my small-town folks But like that isolation does just, in a way, it it swallows me at times. But when I'm on the land and tend to my animals and in the garden, I'm like, oh, my kid falls out here. My animal kid, my plant kid, you know, all my elements and stuff. But, you know, at the same time, I know community is needed and I know there's something that I want and desire.
00:13:50
Speaker
And, you know, look at this land. Like I need to be sharing this, you know what I'm saying? So I think that's where I'm at in my journey of recognizing just like, what is that social infrastructure? How do I start to create that?
Spiritual Connection with Nature
00:14:02
Speaker
Because as much as I want to like, this would be the offering for the community, like it's also a sanctuary for myself because it's been intentional for me to make a space, and you know, where I'm from to like feel safe and feel like that can be like a campus of my expression and creativity and safety. So, but at the same time, I want that to be a ministry and an offering to folks that need that as well. So,
00:14:24
Speaker
It's not just, you know, making sure the animals don't die and harvesting the the crops. is It's a lot bigger tending. And I feel like I'm just learning how to pace myself and accept these new things that I didn't expect with this journey.
00:14:38
Speaker
I feel like a lot of what you just said goes into my next question. So like me and you, we met back in second grade. We're from the same hometown. We grew up together and I think we both experienced being ostracized in that small town.
00:14:54
Speaker
for me, it felt like I was being suffocated a lot. And it felt like people had an idea of who they wanted both of us to be really, and they refused to let go of that. And so it was very hard for me to like live there with those expectations.
00:15:12
Speaker
But I found for me, the land was where I felt the freest, like despite of all the negative portrayals of Black people in the land in Mississippi, all three of us, we have this deep love and appreciation for the land and it informs our healing and our spiritual practices. So I was wondering if you could speak a little bit more about how being a land steward in Mississippi informs your faith? I appreciate that question and I definitely resonate with, um yeah, just always feeling like I was just always sticking out or doing something different in our small town and people always had these dissertations about my life and I'm just like, wow, can I just be a young person and explore this and figure it out and develop?
00:15:55
Speaker
oh But yeah, um I believe that the land has like, it truly has kept me. Like I can feel spirit when I'm out in the land. Like if I'm upset, if I'm feeling like, you know, very dissented or sad, like it's nothing for me to go out there, you know, with my lifestyle guardian dog, Angel, and walk the land with the animals and just like look at them and have them like look back at me and like we talking, they like hungry. Like it's just something about that connection and that responsibility of caring for each other. And then also being in the garden, tending to the soul, you know,
00:16:30
Speaker
transplanting some some plants into the ground working those roots really being intentional about what's going into the ground intentionally planting planting flowers with my crops so I can have the bees and the wasps yeah it's just something about all of that just helps me frame when I feel like I'm by myself when I like you know I've heard you know in church the scriptures that to like to reground myself and think about spirit. i see the I see it and feel it in all the things that um I tend to on the land.
00:17:01
Speaker
It's just amazing how like animals can sense you um and like spend time with you and just really
Family Influence on Land Stewardship
00:17:07
Speaker
ground you. and so Yeah, intentionally, when the first thing I do when I wake up and say my prayers, I'm going outside. I'm like, um I need to witness the sun rising. I need to with witness the rooster crowing, the, you know, the sun, you know, the the breeze or what the what season is going on. And I um i automatically just get an awe, come over myself.
00:17:27
Speaker
And, oh yeah it it continues to like direct my faith because i think i've also have struggled with like my relationship with christianity being um a person that early on was just like i think i'm a boy oh no like and not really having a lot of language and understanding around it and like being honest with my mother around it and she's been like but I don't know what you talking about. like And so, yeah. So, but then seeing how I know specifically my Christian denomination of United Methodists have like um gone through their
00:18:05
Speaker
journey with LGBTQ issues and even having to split off in the church of allowing different um gay ministers in the pulpit and seeing that they, you were know, stand beside LGBTQ community.
00:18:18
Speaker
But at the same time, like, what does that mean on a personal account and very much in the space that I am in a small town that I am like, just because it's happened on a grand scheme doesn't mean that I can directly feel that impact where I'm at. And so,
00:18:31
Speaker
It's just been taking a lot of you know, the land and my faith has really has has helped me be more secure in who I am and trust that, like, yeah, like, I'm able to be loved just the way I am and able to, like, take up space just the way I am.
00:18:47
Speaker
And nothing, no nobody judgments or like discrimination can like break that and shape that and mold me. And so i just have to do a lot of work to lean in into that. Cause I think a lot of times I've let those stories and let people narratives just like move me in ways and be very disassociated from like who I was. I feel like land tending and like,
00:19:08
Speaker
Farming has helped me really find like my personal ministry, not only for myself, but what I feel like I can offer folks. And that's been very much informed informing and shaping my faith for myself and for how I like just be in relation with folks.
00:19:21
Speaker
As you were talking, you reminded me of another moment in the Country Queers podcast, the conversation with you and your mother. And she was talking about the animals that being like, basically what you were saying you do, like going out and listening to God, listening to spirit, like the animals, because if you watch the animals, they're doing it. And I love when people really see animals and like the non-human as like still a part of community, but also see them as like this very closer extension of spirit. This is not even a question I have, but now I'm interested in people Has like your mother being a minister impacted how you relate to nature now? Like, have you always felt that way? Or was it like through those conversations that helped you sort of like see through that similar lens? Yeah. Yeah, that makes me think back. um
00:20:22
Speaker
I had a coach, a basketball coach that like got in touch with me through Facebook. It'd be amazing how Facebook keep you in touch with folks. But he saw me post something. I think I was at either the farmer's market or something. He would just reached out and was catching up.
00:20:36
Speaker
And I was like, yeah, you know, I got, I got a small farm. I'm trying to start, build up, figure it out. And he was like, oh dang, I remember you was younger, used to say that you want to do that. And I was like, what? He was like, yeah, he was like, you always wanted like a little house out in the country and farm. And so like, this is like something that was wild to me. Cause I'm just like, I don't remember that. No recount at all. You know what I'm saying? And, um,
00:20:59
Speaker
So that's interesting that, you know, I'm now currently here in this reality of what I'm doing. And so I think it has something that been that's been present for me because I think growing up being an athlete, you know, playing a lot of basketball, like my hooping was done outside. Like if I didn't have a court, you know, I had a goal, but. I was on the land in the backyard just chopping it up, getting developing my skills that way. So it was still like this element of being outside that really grounded me and kept me feeling good and feeling safe. But you ask my uncle who raised cows out of Holmes County, he would call me a city girl.
00:21:33
Speaker
Because live in a small town, I play a lot of ball, and I didn't necessarily know how to like, you know, i didn't go dirt riding or horse trails or things like that. So I wasn't really in touch with like, I feel like the things that I'm very directly in touch with now. oh And I can obviously see and feel the big difference of like a small town and a way more rural life if you're on a farm.
00:21:54
Speaker
But as I've gotten older and as she's like been sharing these stories of like, oh, waking up and having to milk the cows and feed the peas before they walk down the road to catch the bus. hearing these personal accounts, I'm like, yo, y'all was in that thing. Like, y'all was doing this.
00:22:10
Speaker
And, you know, my mom's the youngest of, like, 11, I believe. And so she is far off from her siblings. So she was one at the house that really had to a lot of attending as, like, older siblings went off to college or moved up north to Chicago. So just hearing these personal accounts, I'm like, man, like, this is really informing me in a way I didn't understand. You know i'm saying? I feel like she used to try to tell us these stories back when me my sisters, like, do something. She's like, y'all don't understand how, you know, how privileged y'all are and what y'all got at this and this, you know, as a kid, they go in the, we like them my old times. What you talking about? What is you talking about?
00:22:43
Speaker
And child, it is now, do you hear me? It is very much present and very much as a way of life, you know? And so, I think in these different, I know in these different accounts as I've like spent time with her and she like recounts like, oh, how they used to like have to like do this to the pigs or go get the firewood or be out there working with her brothers. And hook my grandma be like, oh, tell my granddad you turn my girls into boys they was working so hard. Just all these things that like informed the way they had to like take care of themselves and tend to each other. Yeah, it's really taught me a lot about, okay, like,
00:23:20
Speaker
I might be isolated. You I'm saying? There's a lot of sacrifice and being feeling really young, but like it's it's a purpose of this. like I'm able to do when I get these systems down and when I get the efficiency I'm shooting for, I'm going to be able to really extend and take care of people. and I think it's that lesson and that witness. I've always seen my mother care for people and my family's care for people that I feel like I'm deeply connected with when it comes to my like land stewardship and what I want to offer. Yeah.
00:23:48
Speaker
Yeah, I think she been informing me a lot. And my, like, elder, Auntie Jessie. Like, when i tell you she be... I found videos of my family at a family reunion on YouTube. And she, like, going in. I'm like, where did this come from? Like, y'all got documentation that we didn't even know. And, like, she's, like, on the mic, like, hey, we need to come come together on a limb or, you know, be the family reunions. Like, really holding people accountable and, like, stating it with her chest. Like...
00:24:12
Speaker
And it's like fooded footage I didn't even know of. And I'm like, also, who was behind that camera, like, documenting this is as well? You know what I'm saying? Like, the intention behind it. So I think my elders and directly my mother being a minister has helped me a lot and continues to steward my information of how like how I'm digesting these different experiences on
Shared Mississippi Experiences
00:24:32
Speaker
the land.
00:24:32
Speaker
So, yeah. Why everybody got an Aunt Jesse? Say, this is a common old name. I swear. Yeah. Jessie May to be specific. That's AT name too. Jessie May. Oh, Lord. They was recycling them names, boy. But I get it. I get it. um So our last question is pull from Black Earth Wisdom, which is our guiding text for the season. It's a question that Leah Penniman asked all the interviewees, which is, what is the earth saying to you at this time? Yeah. I'm going, I'm in a place of a lot of,
00:25:11
Speaker
It's been a rough year in a lot of ways, but also exciting year. lot of things have been pruned and a lot of things have also been growing. And so, don't know, the land keeps telling me, mean, I feel like the earth just keeps telling me to be still.
00:25:27
Speaker
have this, like, sense of self when I like, I feel like things are not happening as fast as I want them to happen, especially when I go as hard as I do and I'm like looking for results. I feel like the earth like reminds me to just be still, like, even though I can't see it, even though, you know, it hasn't like came in fruition yet, like it's happening to be still.
00:25:47
Speaker
And also just like believe like what you want is like able to be your reality. And so, yeah, I think just that stillness and like I can really like draw draw out and like tangibly build the blueprint of what I want my life to look to look like. Both are capable and possible.
00:26:06
Speaker
Well, thank you so much, KD, for spending time with us today. I think this was like one of our... not our first Is this our first episode with like somebody from Mississippi, like another person from Mississippi? Yeah, this this is also our first episode where neither of us is in Mississippi. True, neither of us in Mississippi, but we all grew up in Mississippi. We all went to the same college. Y'all grew up, y'all actually was in the same town going to
Supporting the Podcast
00:26:34
Speaker
school. So yeah, this was like really meaningful. Getting traumatized.
00:26:42
Speaker
This was really meaningful and important and like just being able to uplift a Mississippi farmer. So, yeah, i I think we both really enjoyed the conversation and learned a lot.
00:26:54
Speaker
And I know for me, it just gave me a lot to think about about family land because... I might have to inherit some, and I've been just so disillusioned. I have been thinking about telling my grandma, girl, give it to somebody else.
00:27:07
Speaker
I don't want it. Like, because I just am like, I don't know if I want to be tethered to a place. But yeah, I think this gave me a lot to think about, about the importance of that. So...
00:27:19
Speaker
Did you have any final thoughts? My final thoughts is just thank you for coming to speak with us this afternoon. We do really appreciate you being here. Appreciate y'all. Thank you. um This is a rare occasion. All my Mississippians and Tyler County and Winston County. oh But yeah, just shout out to y'all for creating this space and shout out to all the land stewards and earth keepers in Mississippi. They keep keep us rolling. um it it's Especially Black, especially our elders and especially the ones that are always rocking beside us and supporting us. So they they have brought me to where I'm at as well and want to honor them. amy
00:28:08
Speaker
Let's get into some ways you can support the Hoodoo Plant Mamas. One is through our bookshop where you can buy the books that we discussed on our Writing the Spirit series. We have a Hoodoo Beginner's Guide, Tarot, and Oracle Decks, as well as our top reading picks.
00:28:22
Speaker
You can also buy Leah's books. Every purchase you make helps support our show. Check us out at bookshop.org slash shop. slash hoodooplantmamas or at the link in our show notes. Our Patreon is currently paused, but other ways you can support us include rating and reviewing this podcast on Spotify and Apple
Reflections and Joy in Nature
00:28:42
Speaker
Podcasts. Follow us on Instagram at hoodooplantmamas. You can donate via Cash App, cash tag hoodooplantmamas, or our PayPal hoodooplantmamas at gmail.com. Thank you, April, Andi, and Central Nature for your donations. Let's get back to the show.
00:29:03
Speaker
So we're doing things a little bit different after this break. It's been three months since we've recorded our last episode. So we wanted to catch up on some things like we're an award-winning podcast. Part of me is shocked because of the process, but the rest of me is like, of course we are. So the thing that we learned from hosting this podcast cast is that most awards are pay-to-play, meaning you have to pay to even be nominated for it And we don't have money. So when Signal contacted us, we told them that like, we don't have the money to be able to be done nominated for this award. And we ended up entering a scholar scholarship contestants.
00:29:47
Speaker
And when we were finalists, I was like, oh, they're humoring us, right? But to hear we place gold out of the finalists, I was like, wow, we actually did it. And so, Dani, what was it like for you when you got that news? I'm surprised, but I think it was just a reminder that there are people who resonate with our podcast and really value the work that we're trying to do. And so I'm just thankful for the acknowledgement because we do this because it's like something we enjoy. It's an offering we want to provide for our community and it's a way for us to build community. So, yeah, it was a really sweet experience.
00:30:26
Speaker
thing that happened I mean there's been a lot of sweet things this year but like one of those things of like you put in this time and labor for five years and like somebody really saw that and affirmed it so I agree and also for me I had a keynote speech for Wake Forest University you were there So thank you, everyone who showed up for that. It was incredible for me to be able to talk about mythology and gender and storytelling. And afterwards, i was talking to one of my co-workers about how it's a different experience to lecture on something you're actually good at. and experienced in versus something that you're still learning about.
00:31:10
Speaker
So for me, it really felt like a star moment and it was really incredible. And the last thing I kind of want to go over, ever since I have taken this job working in the Oconee National Forest in Georgia,
00:31:23
Speaker
I can't help but to think of the season. And i think for me, like the romanticization of nature kind of goes away once you're in the woods real heavy. And so most of me is no longer odd, like every single time I'm I'm outside, but there are days when I'm like walking to work and it's like the way the wind hits the leaves or the way the sun hits the water. And I have to force myself to keep going because I'll be late for work. And I have been late for work because I'll just stop and stare at it because it's so beautiful.
00:31:58
Speaker
And yeah, and when I'm walking over from my co-workers' cabins at night and I look at the stars and I was actually able to pick out a constellation for the first time ever, which was an incredible experience for me. i know people can do it, but when I saw it, was like, that's a constellation. So I think for me, this has just been like an amazing experience for me all over. You reminded me since I've been living downtown in downtown Durham, I haven't seen the stars in so long. When I think I see a star, it's like a plane or a helicopter or something, or maybe a UFO because I have theories about what I'm actually seeing. But it's fine. And just living in these boxes, it just reminded me, like, I got to get out of these boxes. And I got to get out of downtown. And I need to be somewhere near the trees. Because I've never picked out a constellation either. And that sounds really cool and magical.
00:32:59
Speaker
So, yeah, as far as my current your relationship with nature, environmentalism, all the things, especially after this season and reading Black Earth Wisdom, I mostly just been writing poetry about the natural world, like this sort of longing love poems, some of them about nature, the trees, some of them about actual love, but it still has this like undertone of like something of the earth. I don't know. I don't know if that makes sense, but
00:33:39
Speaker
I am thinking a lot about my relationship to earth through the lens of liberation and what that can look like. Sorry, you all, my cat is meowing in the background because she's greedy and she's not hungry because she just ate.
00:33:56
Speaker
But yeah, I've just been thinking about that. My life right now feels like, I don't know, just pretty boring, like just monotony and work focused. But my with my birthday coming up, I'm just like, you know, what do i want my life to look like? This is about to be my Jesus slash resurrection year. So I'm really been trying to think about what life I want to build and especially what life I want to live beyond the United States or what it could look like to build a network of community that overlaps between here and another part of the country. have a lot of new and
00:34:37
Speaker
sprouting ideas that I've never had before about like my creative life and the rest of the world and so I'm excited for what that's gonna look like and it's it's connected to this it's connected to what we've been talking about all season and so yeah I feel like this season unintentionally actually was a part of like a larger sort a sort of broader journey for me personally in like really rediscovering things about myself and my place in this world so hope that makes sense I think for me the part about black earth wisdom that I have been holding on to these past few months is that nature is not out to get us
00:35:30
Speaker
And I know when I came to Georgia, I wanted to improve my relationship with the outdoors. And I feel like I have. Like, I'm a lot less nervous about being outside by myself. I'm a lot less nervous about hiking and navigating the outdoors. I can handle picking up a snake and a few different animals. The alligators have been biting each other.
00:35:50
Speaker
So I do not pick those up. ah But for me, this job has re-sparked, you know, the curiosity and the joy that I had when I was younger. and it's reminded me of how generous and abundant nature is. And the rest of me feels like I'm not even doing anything really by being here. Like, yes, I'm here to encourage children to learn and be comfortable in natural spaces. But I think for me, it's not as grand as others have made it out to be, but it has not brought out a lot of
00:36:21
Speaker
joy and comfort and pride in
Season Finale and Future Outlook
00:36:24
Speaker
myself. And like Katie had said earlier, I feel settled. Like when I'm outside, I just feel settled. Like I'm not wanting anything. I'm not yearning for anything. i'm just, I'm okay.
00:36:37
Speaker
I like that. And I am not settled. I'm longing to be out of these capitalism boxes and somewhere where I could see the stars. Yeah.
00:36:49
Speaker
They're hiring. Listen, I can't, if I can't bring Roxy, I can't go. got bring my Roxy. Well, I guess that's it for this season. um It's been fun.
00:37:03
Speaker
We will see you at some point next year, maybe on YouTube, maybe on here. We'll see. We'll we'll see. But just continue to follow us on social media to stay updated on what we're doing.
00:37:15
Speaker
If you like this show, you can like, rate, and review Who Do Plant Mamas on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. If anything from the show resonated with you, make sure to share it with us on social media. You can find us on Instagram at Who Do Plant Mamas. And once again, thank you so much for listening. We will see you next season, next year.
00:37:39
Speaker
y'all.