Soul Fire Farm aims to fight racism within the food system

RENSSELAER COUNTY, N.Y. — Fighting racism through food, that’s the goal of a community farm in Rensselaer County, and now thanks to a new grant, they have even more resources to fight back.

If you drive by too fast, you might just miss it, but down a quiet road in Rensselaer County, a community comes to life.

Staff and volunteers at Soul Fire Farm are feeding their souls while also feeding others.

The Afro-Indigenous community farm focuses on uprooting racism and seeding sovereignty within the food system, all while inspiring the next generation of activist farmers.

“It’s not an accident that there are food deserts or communities living under food apartheids," said Danielle Pelaez, Education Coordinator/Farmer, Soul Fire Farm. "These were intentional policies that were created to systemically disenfranchise communities and make it so that folks living in one zip code have very different opportunities and accessibility to different resources than folks living in another zip code, which is an injustice, and more people are learning about this and trying to take the steps and actions to try to rectify this."

People like Education Coordinator Danielle Pelaez herself, who first became interested in the cause when she found herself living in a food desert in Baltimore two years ago, which prompted her to start growing her own food before ultimately moving to New York and joining the farm.

“Even though I lived in this neighborhood where there was a lot of crime and neglect and that had a lot of issues going on, there was this peace that came from being in a green space and a sense of pride and empowerment that comes from growing your own food," Pelaez said.

A pride she’s now instilling in others at Soul Fire Farm.

“Personally working in an office setting I’m not usually using my hands unless I'm typing, so to be here in the field and really doing the things that my ancestors did I think is really beneficial and influential," volunteer Marquel Jeffries said. "This was my first time here but it definitely won’t be my last."

The farm reaches more than 50,000 people each year through their food justice workshops, doorstep harvest delivery for households in need, and farmer training for black and brown growers among other offerings. Volunteers travel from all across the state to take part.

“We all need to be connected and we all need someone to pull us in and I like that," volunteer Ivette Medina said. "I like the idea that we're getting pulled in and we're pulling other people in so that this community can grow and it can expand and more people can benefit from it."

Those benefits are about to expand as the farms founder Leah Penniman recently received a $250,000 grant from the Heinz Awards for the Economy, which Danielle says will help the farm continue their efforts of education, connection and community.

Allowing the group to further re-imagine what it means to prepare and gather over a meal.

Showing what it means to serve food from the heart, for the soul.

“It takes a lot of really intentional changes to try to undo all of those years and years of disenfranchisement,” Pelaez said.

For more information about the farm or ways to volunteer visit this link.