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Digging into Detroit's Food Sovereignty Movement
78 Plays19 days ago
There is a robust and growing network of grassroots organizations supporting Detroit’s urban farming and food sovereignty movement. Kate speaks with Erin Cole and Shakara Tyler, two farmers and organizers working closely with the Detroit Black Community Food Sovereignty Network (DBCSFN), about their current projects and the values behind their vision.
The Taproot Podcast is an initiative of the Midwest Transition to Organic Partnership Program, a project funded by the USDA National Organic Program to support transitioning and organic producers with mentorship and technical assistance and to grow the greater organic community. Learn more at organictransition.org.
You can find new episodes from The Taproot Project wherever you get your podcasts.
Guest Bios
Erin Cole is a long-time Detroiter, educator, and urban farmer. She co-founded Nurturing Our Seeds nearly 15 years ago, born directly from a community need and built through a community-supported initiative. Nurturing Our Seeds is grounded in values of food justice and self-determination. They currently operate a CSA serving over 30 families and lead various community-driven programs that center food education, wellness, and land stewardship
Shakara Tyler is a returning-generation farmer, educator and organizer who engages in Black agrarianism, agroecology, food sovereignty and environmental justice as commitments of abolition and decolonization. She obtained her PhD at Michigan State University in Community Sustainability and works with Black farming communities in Michigan and the Mid-Atlantic. She explores participatory and decolonial research methodologies and community-centered pedagogies in the food justice, food sovereignty and environmental justice movements. She also serves as Board President at the Detroit Black Community Food Security Network (DBCFSN), board member of the Detroit People’s Food Co-op (DPFC) and co-founder of the Detroit Black Farmer Land Fund (DBFLF) and a member of the Black Dirt Farm Collective (BDFC).
Helpful Links
- Nurturing our Seeds
- Detroit Urban Farming: Detroit Historical Society
- Detroit Black Community Food Sovereignty Network (DBCFSN)
- Detroit People’s Food Co-op
- Detroit Black Farmer Land Fund (DBFLF)
- Transition to Organic Partnership Program (TOPP)
Credits
Music for this episode includes Chasin It by Jason Shaw, Tunez by HoliznaCC0, and Ghost Solos by Lucas Gonze– all from the Free music Archive.
Hosted and produced by Kate Cowie-Haskell.
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to Soil Work and Guest Speakers
00:00:00
Speaker
ah intimacy that comes out of the soil work based on the relationships that you form is just irreplaceable.
00:00:15
Speaker
Hey everybody, welcome back to the Taproot Project. This is your host, Kate, and today i am honored to share a conversation i had with Erin Cole and Shakira Tyler, who are both big movers and shakers in Detroit's food sovereignty movement.
00:00:32
Speaker
Erin Cole is a long-time Detroiter, educator, and founder of Nurturing Our Seeds, which is an urban farm and education project. And Shakira Tyler is a farmer, educator, and organizer who engages in Black agrarianism, food sovereignty, and environmental justice as commitments of abolition and decolonization.
00:00:54
Speaker
She is also a co-founder of the Detroit Black Farmer Land Fund and many other things, as you'll hear.
History of Urban Farming in Detroit
00:01:01
Speaker
And both of them are deeply involved with the current food sovereignty efforts in the Detroit black community.
00:01:09
Speaker
And I had a loose grasp on you know Detroit as a hub of urban farming innovation before my conversation with Erin and Shakira, but ah did a little bit more digging after our conversation about why this city in particular is such a leader in urban farming efforts.
00:01:30
Speaker
So it turns out there's actually a pretty rich history there going back even to 1893, which is the first time the city of Detroit had a publicly funded farming program where families were provided land, tools, education, seeds to grow their own food.
00:01:50
Speaker
And that was in response to economic crisis. And since then, in times of economic crisis, Detroit has revamped some version of a program like that, including in World War I and during the Great Depression.
00:02:05
Speaker
And most recently in the 1970s, which is when Mayor Coleman Young started the Farm-A-Lot program where people were provided education, tools, seeds to farm the vacant lots that were starting to appear in the city as the population was declining.
00:02:22
Speaker
And the Farm-A-Lot program was actually the last city-funded farming program. It closed down in 2002. And since then, it's really been Detroit's Black community that has continued to hold down food sovereignty and farm education efforts.
The Taproot Project and Organic Transition Initiative
00:02:37
Speaker
And today, many of these efforts are housed under the Detroit Black Community Food Sovereignty Network, which you'll hear about in just a bit.
00:02:50
Speaker
The Taproot Project is an initiative of the Midwest Transition to Organic Partnership Program, a project funded by the USDA National Organic Program to support transitioning and organic producers with mentorship and technical assistance and to grow the greater organic community.
00:03:08
Speaker
Learn more at organictransition.org.
00:03:14
Speaker
hey welcome both. I'm really excited to have you here. And to start, could you just tell me who you are and and what you do in Detroit's farming scene?
Mission of Nurturing Our Seeds
00:03:25
Speaker
Maybe starting with you, Erin? Yeah, absolutely. my name is Erin Cole. I am the co-founder of Nurturing Our Seed. ah It's the community-based, community-routed urban farm and wellness education and initiative initiative that we started on the east side of Detroit.
00:03:47
Speaker
um Our mission is to basically serve as a model of sustainability and food as access for residents in the city of Detroit. um We've been doing this for about 15 years.
00:04:02
Speaker
I've been working at the intersection of food justice, ah land stewardship, youth engagement, um and education, like I said, for over 15 years.
00:04:15
Speaker
And my work centers a lot around growing food, as resistance, as building local food systems and collaboration, as well as helping to cultivate new generations of land stewards.
00:04:31
Speaker
And particularly, I will emphasize in the Black and Brown communities. I can imagine just hearing the name Nurturing Our Seeds that there was a lot of thought put into choosing that. Could you say a little bit about and how you landed on that name?
00:04:44
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. So we landed on nurturing our seeds, specifically because we we say all the time we are planting seeds um today, and we may never see or reap the benefit um of the harvest.
00:05:02
Speaker
But additionally to that, we plant seeds. ah tens of thousands of seeds each year by hand, either for transplant um to send out to over 14 different BIPOC farms across the city of Detroit, um or to put in the ground here at our own space.
Shakira's Journey and Influence of Motherhood
00:05:24
Speaker
um So yeah, that's where the nurturing our seeds comes from. Literal and metaphorical seeds. Yeah. How about you, Shakira? Can you share a bit about yourself? Peace, everyone. Thank you, Kate, for having me. And it's such an honor to be here with Erin.
00:05:40
Speaker
And um yeah, i mean, i'm I'm really blessed to do this work. i am Currently, I'm at home with my children. i homeschool my younger children, Moyo, who's four, and Tendaji, who's almost two.
00:05:55
Speaker
So they're a big part of my life, and you'll hear them in the background. And this, you know, mommying and... and Farming and all the things that intersect are are very like strategic for me.
00:06:10
Speaker
um But I'm doing pretty well. I'm so happy to be here with you all Yeah, thanks. Thanks for joining. Shakira, I'd love to hear a little bit more about how you came to Detroit. i know you're originally from from Philly and um that the your connection to land and food started very young and and you kind of followed that over to ah to Detroit. So can you tell us a little bit about that journey and um and what you do in in the Detroit food scene now?
00:06:43
Speaker
Yes. So I moved to Michigan for grad school to study in what was then called the Department of Community Agriculture, Recreation and Resource Studies.
00:06:55
Speaker
And um the department switched to community sustainability. So basically it was a food systems department and I studied black farmers.
00:07:06
Speaker
And um I got to that place because ah was an undergraduate at Penn State University, my home state land grant, sort similar to Michigan State.
00:07:19
Speaker
And so um I was an agricultural sciences major and i was one of the few black people in the field. So I was always like one of the few or the only black person, let alone black woman at conferences and my classes. And I was really confused why that was because I always had a really strong connection and interest.
00:07:41
Speaker
and soil and water and worms, you know, like I was one of those children that just loved to be quote unquote in nature. um And so that's what I studied when I went to college and ah was always confused why there weren't a lot of people that looked like me.
00:07:57
Speaker
And one of my mentors told me that I should do research to find out why that was. And so that sort of led me down this history,
00:08:09
Speaker
projects around what happened to Black farmers and land. you know What happened to Black people and our relationships to the waterfalls and the worms and the ants and just like these things that I hope so dearly, like i I'm in love with, you know like I worship.
00:08:29
Speaker
And so, yeah like I did research on the plight of Black farmers here on Turtle Island. And that led me to black farming communities in Detroit, around Detroit.
00:08:42
Speaker
It led me to begin farming myself. And so that's that in part how I arrived to this work. I also arrived to this work as a mother. so being a young mother at 19, And wanting my daughter to have a better diet than I had growing up. And so we we started growing our own food because that was the best way to ensure that, you know, you don't have to feed your children with food that's sprayed with glyphosate and other chemicals that will disrupt your their whole bodies and spirits.
00:09:11
Speaker
um And so i understood growing food as as a source of power so that you have and a more nutrient-dense diet, you have a better connection with what you're eating, you know where it comes from. And so a combination of my mothering and my need to understand why There weren't people that looked like me in these places led me to where I am now.
Erin's Path to Farming and Community Efforts
00:09:34
Speaker
Erin, how about how about you? how did you come to be a farmer and what's the origin story of of your farm journey? Yeah, absolutely. So um i emphasize all the time that one, for a very long time, i did not know i was a farmer.
00:09:55
Speaker
um i had, I've always been an educator. And so I have, I give way to that, um, that term is like an honor when I hear people say farmer, because I know farmers that are like, you know, farming tons of acres. and And so it took me a long time to adapt and be like, who me, farmer, but we're nurturing our seeds. It, it, I can't emphasize this enough. began. And my kids tease me for saying, emphasize this enough.
00:10:31
Speaker
Um, this began out of a community need, um we would this was the land that we're on this is our great aunt's house that we are currently in and operating out of um the surrounding land was city of detroit lots that were for sale um or not for sale, but being hold by the city of Detroit land bank.
00:10:58
Speaker
And we will come over and maintenance for years. We will come over and maintenance the grass, cut the lots and make sure it just looked nice around our great aunt's house.
00:11:09
Speaker
And that's because the city wasn't maintaining the lots. Is that right? At this point, yeah no at this point, years ago, no no one, the lots would grow up taller than five feet.
00:11:22
Speaker
And so we would, on our block where there were tons of people whose grandparents still lived here, whose mothers still live here, we would come and cut the grass. And on one particular day while taking a break, we had just cut the grass on the side of her house when we were about to cut the grass across the street from her house.
00:11:44
Speaker
And I'll just say a person, you know what I mean? Without calling a name or putting name, a person got up out of this five foot grass and just walked off. Mm-hmm.
00:11:59
Speaker
And, you know, we were just really blown away and taken aback by we had just caught cut like two lots of grass on the side of her house. So to think that somebody could be there and just kind of laying and sitting, um it just really made us think about safety and security for her.
00:12:18
Speaker
So we cut that grass and we planted some flowers directly from across the street so that, um yeah so that it could be more beautification in the neighborhood and more like, hey, let's take ownership in this instead of like dumping. And that was,
00:12:36
Speaker
was the the thought around it for a lot for a long time. But for my aunt, as soon as we planted the flowers, she was like, that's great, but what about some mustard?
00:12:48
Speaker
And we we I say all the time that I've always had a love to grow. um As a teacher, I would teach mathematical concepts through like nature and what we planted outside, measurements, um geometry shapes.
00:13:06
Speaker
So it was always, i was, I had a garden in my backyard. So it was always this love for growing and knowing that you can educate with this as well.
00:13:17
Speaker
And so we kind of, just kind of hopped nose first of like, okay, how do we get this this space um up and growing? And what does our soil look like? And how can we develop? and surprisingly enough, the community was really excited about it. And the elderly folks were like, hey, I can't come out and work.
00:13:41
Speaker
But here I can donate my lime. I can't come out and, you know, physically tend to the food. But if you bring me some squash, I'll cook you lunch every Thursday. Wow.
00:13:53
Speaker
You know what I mean? And so it began to be a really
00:13:59
Speaker
coming together of the community. um And that was the very first year. And year after year, we just kept our goal, just kept wanting to be to grow, to get bigger, to get better, um and to keep returning. So we would say...
00:14:20
Speaker
Every year we're going back and we're going to do this. We're going back and we're going to do that. And every year because we didn't live over here. oh yeah And so every year we would come back and they would say, y'all coming back again to play in the dirt for another year. Thank God. Thank God for y'all coming back.
00:14:41
Speaker
And so it did. We just kept year after year after year. We kept coming back. We kept nurturing our seeds. We kept growing.
00:14:53
Speaker
um We honestly, for years, didn't even... This used to be called, I think they called it the Helen Street Block Club or something like that. It didn't even used to be called what it was called until we were like all sitting down We had just worked super duper hard, had volunteers out.
00:15:14
Speaker
And a group of us were sitting down and we were like thinking about different things and like just planning for the future and what everything could be. And somebody said, that's it.
00:15:26
Speaker
Nurturing our seeds. And everybody was like, Yeah. Wow. You know what i mean? And that is that's been the name. and you know And we even got to the point where we feel so comfortable that we've like started to abbreviate it, NOS.
00:15:43
Speaker
You know what mean? like To just say, we're trying to brand something that's staying and we want to continue yeah to show people that you can do this in whatever space you're in whatever neighborhood you're in.
00:15:58
Speaker
um You can build community and you can improve like the overall overall quality of life. Yeah. Yeah. yeah Wow. that's um That's so beautiful.
00:16:10
Speaker
And it sounds like, you know, you planted some flowers and then it opened up just maybe like ah it seems like there was a ah shared kind of a hunger for organized um caretaking of of the lands and the neighborhoods that you all are in. and um And when you first started going, were you finding that there were a lot of people already growing, but just in kind of like separate islands?
00:16:40
Speaker
Or was there sort of an organized network that you were able to step into? Or has that sort of been building over the last 15 years?
Evolution of Food Sovereignty Networks in Detroit
00:16:48
Speaker
ah When we first started growing, it was, i think it was small, organized networks.
00:16:55
Speaker
And then the more we kind of start to like see that, okay, the energy around this is building, it was like, we do need to engage more. We're having more food.
00:17:07
Speaker
Then we know what to do with it at the time. We're starting to meet more and more people that are asking us questions. And we have questions too. And so um we engaged with Keep Growing Detroit as well as the Detroit Black Food Security Network um to start this food sovereignty journey, I would say, together like as a group of growers.
00:17:35
Speaker
Thank you. Shakira, can you tell us the history of the Detroit Black Community Food Sovereignty Network and and what it's doing now to promote food sovereignty in Detroit?
00:17:51
Speaker
So the Detroit Black Community Food Sovereignty Network, we changed our name from security to sovereignty for political reasons, right? Like we're power building organization that believes in building community self-determination with food and land at the center of that, right? Like there is no black liberation if we don't have more power in how we feed ourselves and how we like meaningfully participate in the food system that runs so much of our lives.
00:18:24
Speaker
um And not just like consuming food, but waste, and air quality and like these things that are deeply intersectional. So we we're an organization, a black led organization that is building greater self-reliance in Detroit's black community around the food that we eat, um consume, grow, process, distribute.
00:18:48
Speaker
And ultimately this this this means that We have to come together. Like relationships are the most important part of the work. And so Black food sovereignty, as we often say, is about reconstituting how we care for one another, like how we how we relate to one another in ways that aren't reifying the systems that we're fighting against.
00:19:11
Speaker
So in part, that's how the Detroit Black Farmer Land Fund was born, where we we specifically, um to fear Mama T, as we affectionately call her,
00:19:22
Speaker
um, is who's now the director of sustainability for the city, but she noticed in her deep relationship building with black farmers throughout the city, that black farmers had a lot of trouble purchasing their land from the Detroit land bank authority compared to white farmers and other farmers. And we know why this is, you know, deep inequities, deep wealth disparities.
00:19:44
Speaker
And so, um She had the brilliant idea of fundraising so that we could basically give Black farmers the money to purchase their land so they have more security, like just like a mutual aid fund, like no strings attached, let's support them and give them what they need.
00:20:02
Speaker
um And that's how the Black Farmer Land Fund was born. And so now we are coalition of three urban ag organizations in the city that is working to rebuild Black intergenerational wealth um through Black farmland ownership.
00:20:20
Speaker
So we we support Black farmers with purchasing their land, um and we support infrastructure projects on their land. and we And we bankroll it as much as possible. And we provide the technical assistance in that in those processes.
00:20:36
Speaker
So whether it's like purchasing their land from a private seller or the land bank authority, we make sure someone is holding their hand to get them through that process. You know, when even after they get the deed. OK, so let's help you with the change of use permit that you need so you don't get fined, you know, as you're growing food.
00:20:54
Speaker
And then, oh, you want a rainwater catchment system or you need a tool shed or you need a fence. We pay for that because we know it's not just about. the initial part of owning the land, it's like, okay, now you actually want to do some things on it.
00:21:08
Speaker
And our folks need financial assistance with that too. Right. And so it's, it's, it's like the black from a land fund to me represents, um, like this really strong abolitionist ethic of what just literally caring for for our community looks like and giving the resources that are needed to people that need it the most.
00:21:32
Speaker
And without asking them a lot of questions and without expecting a lot in return, just because they literally exist, they deserve these resources.
Impact of the Black Farmer Land Fund and Land Revitalization
00:21:40
Speaker
How did you interact with the land fund as your as your farm was was getting going, Erin?
00:21:46
Speaker
I'm pretty sure we were like one of the first awardees. for this land fund. I won't say it was created for us, but we were one of the first awardees of the land fund.
00:22:00
Speaker
um It helped us to, two like I said, cut off all of the red tape. We were able to purchase three lots from there, um establish ourselves as community partners with the land fund and additionally have purchased since we like started building this relationship, I think maybe purchased, um, maybe additional four or five lots um
00:22:32
Speaker
oh Over the years, I think the land fund has everything that was just mentioned, but the real piece is the blockage that was removed from purchasing the land.
00:22:51
Speaker
And so there was always this idea that
00:22:57
Speaker
we were doing the things that needed to be done, And still it was just this lagging. And you know, I can't emphasize that the land fund helped to shift the idea that not only could people of color in the city of Detroit now own land, but it could shift that idea that we're on borrowed time and borrowed land.
00:23:26
Speaker
to a long-term sustainability and more of a legacy building project. You know what i mean? And so it really provided that opportunity and it gave people during a time when, like we say, when we're losing hope and we're losing faith, it gave people a time to to find something.
00:23:48
Speaker
to collaboratively invest in and what more important to invest in than soil and land and feeding, you know what I mean? And wellness. So that to me is like the biggest, you know, the biggest strength that the land fund, um, and it's still going. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you for, for saying that.
00:24:11
Speaker
Um,
00:24:13
Speaker
I am thinking about what Shakira, you said about the the land funds being linked to you know abolition efforts. and And what I think of with that is also how you know urban vacant lots have become such a kind of like symbol of ah you know blight quotation marks around that. and And that being able you know to not only have this initiative that rebuilds the you know economic well-being of the people, but also says like, no, this land is something that feeds us and that we have relationship with and um can restore into the future feels you know like I have little goosebumps right now. it feels really beautiful and really hopeful and
00:25:00
Speaker
um I'd love to hear more about that rebuilding connection with the land particularly. Like, what has it been like to restore soil? And also, what have you seen as folks have been, you know, putting their hands in in the ground and trying to yeah turn turn this land into something that can grow food?
Spiritual and Educational Aspects of Farming
00:25:23
Speaker
Yeah, mean I mean, I literally dream about this all the time. I do. I do like I do my ceremonial things with mugwort, the dream herb you know, I'll do some ritual, put it under my pillow and just ask it to provide me insights on this very thing. Like what does deep transformation look like with our soil that has been so deeply
00:25:59
Speaker
like raped over centuries and and what do we need to do um as people that are so intimately tied to the soil, right? Like Carolyn Merchant is an environmental justice activist and she says the the raping of the soil and the raping of the people not just like intersected, but they depend on one another.
00:26:28
Speaker
You know what I mean? And so the ecological crisis that we're currently experiencing predates climate change. And it so it didn't begin with like the burning of fossil fuels. It began with the trans-Saharan or trans-Atlantic slave trade, as the title goes, and the genocide of indigenous peoples and the taking of indigenous lands through colonialism and imperialism. And so the magnitude of these events and the impact that it has on humanity and our ecosystem is andcomprehensible And so sometimes I get really daunted, like, oh, what ah are can we really save the planet in the next 80 years by returning carbon to the soil, um you know, using agroecological growing methods and, you know what I mean? Like it's, it can be overwhelming.
00:27:20
Speaker
And at the same time, I'm always reminded that we are exactly where we are meant to be. and we are dev divinely moving forward at the rate that we need to. um When I see farmers like Aaron and their partner, Meg, and just many, many other growers around the city, literally giving their whole souls to the land, like working themselves to the bone,
00:27:45
Speaker
um to to make sure that our our babies can eat and our, you know, our families are fed not just like physically, but spiritually, right? Like this, this is for for many of us, as spiritual process.
00:28:03
Speaker
It's a reconnecting to the ancestors, to the broader environment around us and reconnecting to each other. you know, like we live in a very individualistic siloed society, right?
00:28:15
Speaker
And food and land brings people together. you know what I mean? So it's not just like tending soil for ecological purposes. It's also cultural and political and and deeply spiritual.
00:28:26
Speaker
The intimacy that comes out of the soil work based on the relationships that you form with people that have similar worldviews or similar value systems is just irreplaceable.
00:28:42
Speaker
You know what i mean? I think that's something that we're all really hungry for, to be connected other people that are doing really similar work and and to figure out how to make solidarity not just lip service, but to actually be in deep solidarity with one another as we do the work.
00:29:01
Speaker
So that's where cooperative institutions come in. and yeah trust the process. s Yeah, that gives me a lot of hope. Yeah, Erin, do you have anything you want to add to that? I know that you you you have a lot of education efforts at your farm too, and I'm sure you know maybe you could speak to what it's been like to to bring people back into connection with with the dirt.
00:29:27
Speaker
um Yeah, absolutely. i think we lead off the basis that what we put into the soil is what we're going to get out of it.
00:29:43
Speaker
The breaking down of soil, of nutrients, of different particles, wood chips, the life that lives under the soil that no one sees, that is so very intricate in all of the practices, um i think really speaks volumes to the things that are happening ah above the soil and the relationships that are being built and connected, not just through the food um and working the land and tend tending the land.
00:30:25
Speaker
But like I said, I'm seeing more and I love it. I'm seeing more spaces that are growing things. So maybe I'm growing things that are um of the African diaspora, or maybe I'm growing growing flowers because right now I'm on a mission to heal all of these grieving hearts in society.
00:30:48
Speaker
And what it's doing is, it's creating, I say it all the time, it's creating these small circles that will eventually continue to overlap and will, at least in Detroit,
00:31:03
Speaker
begin to give us as in, and I, us meaning our Detroit community, our people of color, our residents, the city of Detroit people that have been forgotten about and stayed here, you know, when the lights were barely on, it gives us that hope and that faith um to see what everybody else has seen as things are being built up around us.
00:31:33
Speaker
And it, It encourages us to build in our own way, just at as resilient as we always have, and build in a way that feels good and genuine to us.
00:31:46
Speaker
And thinking how we all kind of go back, not all of us, but some of us go back to the earth. You know what I mean? When it's all said and done. And so we absolutely, when we plant the seeds, i have to tell people,
00:32:02
Speaker
all the time that we're planting the seeds and we're putting out speaking good intention and we're putting the blessings that we, you know, want for ourselves into the universe.
00:32:16
Speaker
Um, because we understand that this is way bigger than us.
Understanding Detroit's Food Networks and Co-ops
00:32:21
Speaker
Wow. Thank you, Erin. I knew there was really cool farming stuff happening in Detroit. And I think just speaking with you both and and reading more in preparation for this episode, I've realized that I only see the tip of the iceberg of how intricately linked all of these you know overlapping circles are that like you mentioned, Erin. And um And Shakira, you were just talking about the the role of cooperatives in and this work. And that makes me that brings me to um you know maybe one of the more recent circles that have been layered on top of the the food network that exists in Detroit, which is the um People's Food Co-op.
00:33:04
Speaker
And I would love to hear more about what that is and how how it was birthed um and what it's doing now. I have my two-year-old sitting in my FYI, pressing buttons the and Okay, go ahead.
00:33:24
Speaker
No, no. That was a good sale, though. Very strong-willed. I have very strong-willed children. So the Detroit People's Food Co-op is...
00:33:38
Speaker
full so Full service grocery store located at the intersection of Woodward and Euclid in the north end of Detroit. And um it grew out of DVC-FSN's Black Food Sovereignty work. It took over 14 years to actually raise the money and get all the ducks in a row to build up the institution.
00:34:07
Speaker
Okay, little Tandaji starts talking a lot here, so I'm going to hop in and just try to summarize the rest of Shakira's words. She shares that the Detroit People's Food Co-op exists to regenerate the economic wealth and abundance that Detroiters deserve.
00:34:23
Speaker
and that the co-op represents what it means to shift power at the consumer level in the Detroit food system. She shared that there are now over 4,200 people who have become member owners of this Black-led food institution, and the co-op aims to source as many local products as possible.
00:34:44
Speaker
and these are my own words now, the People's Food Co-op is just one part of a brand new building called the Detroit Food Commons, which also includes an incubator kitchen for food businesses, an event space, and an outdoor vendor space.
00:35:00
Speaker
Okay, back to Erin and Shakira. Yeah, Erin, maybe you could say a little bit about what you've seen, how you've been involved in the um the birth of the the food co-op, and um and if you sell there.
00:35:15
Speaker
So the Detroit People's Food Co-op, it's a wonderful place that you could, it's only one year old so far, but you could tell that it's becoming like the place that the inner community kind of thinks of as home because it's like a ah hub spot that we, of course you're going to buy something, right?
00:35:44
Speaker
But because everybody's so excited that this is here and this is happening, it's almost like a reunion. So you're going in and you're like either in the park, by the between the parking lot and in, you're going in and you're like,
00:36:00
Speaker
hey, you, or hi, such and such. And there's hugs and there's camaraderie and there's questions asked. And so it's really becoming like a very central location. It's in the middle of town and it's becoming a central location, I think, for a lot of local things and um good synergy and collaboration building.
00:36:25
Speaker
um There's the the people's food co-op on the bottom, and that's where you're going to get all your local stuff. So you are, it's becoming that, that foundation that good things are happening here, that local can be found here, local We are, you know, of strength and community. I think the sales were wonderful last year in terms of like the support needed to start off.
00:36:58
Speaker
um We do sell to the co-op. We have other, we are so we're a part of Grow More Produce Cooperative, which is a ah co-op of 14 different companies.
00:37:10
Speaker
ah Black and brown farmers across the city of Detroit. And we're trying in the process. We actually just met with the co-op yesterday. And we're in the process of trying to get all the farms on board and getting them what they need um so that they can go in and sell to the co-op and have more local food there.
00:37:33
Speaker
um D-Town Farms, which is also part of Detroit Black Food Security Network. um their food is in the co-op as well, as well as Oakland Ave, which is like two blocks down the street from the farm.
00:37:48
Speaker
And so you're getting this idea of knowing, of beginning to know exactly where your food comes from. And so this provides a huge avenue, a huge resource um that can with all of the community support that can be bigger than any of us.
00:38:07
Speaker
So super duper exciting and super duper proud for first the years that it took to build this because I am a member owner. So the years it took to build it, um super duper proud of the one year, but also definitely excited for the future.
00:38:26
Speaker
And idea of seeing more food co-ops come to light and more um cooperative groups right rallying around what food access looks like.
Collaboration Between Community Co-ops
00:38:38
Speaker
Yeah.
00:38:39
Speaker
Yeah, that sounds so it sounds like such a lighthearted, fun place. And i yeah, um congratulations to both of you and the whole community for plugging away for 14 years and getting it off the ground. That's so exciting. Yeah.
00:38:54
Speaker
But I will also add that Grow More Produce Co-op is has currently been what I like to call the baby of the Detroit Black Land Farmer Fund.
00:39:09
Speaker
the Did I say it right? I'm getting it. Yeah, you did. i probably need to take a sip. But the land fund... helped get this cooperative going and like we've been at this for three years now and the land fund has been extremely helpful in investing in the cooperative to make sure it has shared resources to make sure it has like a funding um budget to help just send technical assistance where it needs to go to um get the farmers that are truly interested in growing food to kind of get them where they need to be in scaling up and able to grow more produce. And that's what I was speaking of in terms of we're still actively working um to get them all ready
00:40:03
Speaker
to send produce over just those 14 farms alone to send produce um to the people's food co-op. So we're super duper excited ah about that.
00:40:17
Speaker
The idea of um us like, Grant making together and building community together and building knowledge together so that we can do things um on a larger scale, providing education, even the the trans the transplant distribution as spoken of where you now have you know, 14 different farms that are all growing a lot of different crops and, a you know, ah not just a lot, um but you might have it in large quantities, but we're also growing some of the same things.
00:41:00
Speaker
So in us committing to grow, some of the same things, which we already know we're due, but but by us collaboratively doing it, we're able to say, hey, we can now fill some of these larger orders.
00:41:14
Speaker
We can now begin to make a more, ah dent, a bigger imprint in um the food scene so that we can, like, even if it' our long-term goal is be able to supply um through our, the co-op through our growing season, the Detroit People's Food Co-op through our growing season, is they build volume. We are able to target a lot of the like main pillars, staple produce items, such as, you know, the leafy greens, the cucumbers, the tomatoes, the things that people love to purchase during like that high season produce time. initiative
00:41:59
Speaker
So, Yeah.
Supporting Detroit's Food Sovereignty
00:42:01
Speaker
And before we go, how can people follow Learn More and support Nurturing Our Seeds, support DBCSFN and the Food Co-op or you know, any ah any of the many, many projects that are happening in Detroit right now?
00:42:21
Speaker
We need folks to come and shop at the Detroit People's Food Co-op. We need folks to donate money to the Detroit Black Farmer Land Fund and the Detroit Black Community Food Sovereignty Network or DVCFSN more broadly. um We need folks to come and support the farmers of Grow More Produce.
00:42:40
Speaker
There's tons of ways to tag in And sometimes showing up to volunteer or showing up to to buy produce from those that work so hard to grow it matters a lot.
00:42:53
Speaker
Erin, do you have anything to add to that? i was going to say the i was going to say right around the same thing of like, I think that the land fund, DBFSN, think they do a wonderful job of getting the resources where they need to be.
00:43:11
Speaker
And so instead of saying, hey, I've got a CSA or hey, I've got it, I often lift up the bigger idea of this, which is there's a whole, there are two huge networks being the landmb the land fund and DBFSN with the food co-op to where um Just pouring in and building up those two establishments could really help the entire, you know, the entire movement.
00:43:56
Speaker
Deep, deep gratitude to Shakira and Aaron for their time. You can find links in the show notes to the different Detroit food sovereignty organizations mentioned in this episode.
00:44:07
Speaker
Music for this episode includes Chasin' It by Jason Shaw, tunes by Holizna CC0, and ghost solos by Lucas Gonza, all from the Free Music Archive.
00:44:19
Speaker
The Taproot Project is produced by me, Kate Cowie Haskell. This podcast is an initiative of the Midwest Transition to Organic Partnership Program, a project funded by the USDA National Organic Program to support transitioning and organic producers with mentorship and technical assistance and to grow the greater organic community.
00:44:40
Speaker
Learn more at organictransition.org.