From the Soil
Land, Food & Memory
This morning I stood outside in my robe with a coffee in my left hand staring at the garden and saying “this is good”. I don’t know when it happened but at some point I became that person. The auntie who stands in the garden with coffee in her bathrobe just like my aunties before me. I am at my parents home, and the garden is small, just the right size for them. Last night my dad and I talked about how crazy the world is for everything sustainable and regenerative now when it has been a way of life for my family and many others for generations. My grandfather built things with minimal tools, and items that most folks throw away. My grandmother made jams and jellies from the fruit grown on their land. Clothes were patched up and passed down to siblings and cousins. This is not new to us. It’s a way of life that most Black Americans of a certain age have experienced. Afterall, who else would be the experts on how to maintain land when we are literally the ones who were forced to do it for hundreds of years?
The soil tells a story, your story, my story, OUR story and thankfully, we have the ability to tell it OUR way. My name is Chef Liesha and I am one of the contributors to the NAPPI Podcast team. In my segment, “From the Soil” I share stories of agricultural brilliance through practices that are as old as time, resources for your own journey with land and food and so much more. I hope to inspire, bring joy and excitement about our foodways because we deserve it.
