For me, summertime is when Michigan really comes alive It means time at the lakeshore camping and long hikes with strawberry But it also means an abundance of delicious fresh food and produce It wasn’t until after living here for years that I learned Michigan is the second most agriculturally diverse state in the U.S So I wanted to spend a little time learning more about food cultivation in Michigan and gain a deeper understanding of how growing food might help build a more meaningful relationship to nature So what are your guys’ relationship to food Do you try to source local or organic?

Is it something that comes up for you when you’re.. getting food?

Yeah.

I mean, it does for me.

Like, I try as much as I can, you know?

Like, Definitely, the food system makes it very easy and convenient to choose other options, but as much as I can, I like to, you know, I like to grow what I can at home during the summer there’s nothing better than like fresh tomatoes in the summertime, cucumbers The more you learn about how food is processed, the more it makes me mindful of what’s going into things before they even come into my house.

Yeah.

What about you?

I’m diabetic, and so I’ve been learning how to eat better, and the more you learn from documentaries and things of how food is processed and healthy are choices for you that has been a big learning curve for me I also have family who work in the blueberry fields or apple farms And so whenever they have any produce, I’m like, hey, give me some.

So I think sometimes there’s sort of negative associations with cultivating our own food, right?

Like, within our communities just exploitative labor practices and how that shows up In our in our histories, in our present Yeah, I’m a proud daughter of immigrant migrant farm workers and I still have family that that still continue to to do that type of work and so I know that from seeing them, they work long hours, seven days a week, from like, 5 a.m. till like, it’s dark, 8, 9 o’clock at night depending on what type of food vegetable they’re picking, they are paid by how much you pick.

It’s not by ours.

And it’s in hot sun under the hot sun.

You’re outside all day.

And so that’s the experience that I’ve had from my family What about you?

What do you what kind of things do you see in black communities as it relates to sort of negative associations with farming or getting your hands in the dirt I mean, obviously, there is the history of slavery in this country, which is you know, the exploitation of labor and the backbone of our economy.

But I think one of the things for me that always remained important is that by being able to farm land, you have a way of being able to take care of yourself and provide for yourself Yeah, I think if we can really understand the power in farming in that it’s not, it’s not about what was done to us, but it’s about this skill that lives in us and that is a part of what we can use to not only survive but drive.

Yeah, absolutely.

This cheese?

Yeah?

Like that?

Okay, cool.

So I’ve been wanting to kind of learn a little bit more about farming and food cultivation and ways that you know, farmers can are connecting to nature through food but also are helping to connect other folks and their communities to nature, through food and access to food, that is, you know, farmed ethically, that is, you know, goodness, for the land, good for the people, all of those things And so my friend Devon at Sunlight Gardens asked me if I’d willing to come and check out the farm for a day.

So would y’all be interested in coming with me and kind of checking it out and, you know, maybe doing a little bit of harvesting?

Maybe we can cook some food?

Absolutely, yes.

We’re headed down to battle creek to meet up with Devon, founder of sunlight gardens.

We’re hoping to learn more about what it means to increase access to food and farming skills in Michigan I did not know that was a thing, by the way.

I plant them with my tomatoes, but I didn’t know why We plant merrygolds with our tomatoes These bushes here are merrygold flowers, and they protect tomatoes from the pest I’m a Mexican.

And so on November 1st and 2, part of our culture and tradition is to do an altar for the dead.

And marigold flowers are a part of that altar because they symbolize like the path that we guide our loved ones towards heaven.

But the smell also brings people towards the altar because they have a really nice smell.

So when you’re next to the altar, you’re smelling also the flowers.

Nice.

That’s awesome.

Native to Mexico and many other countries in Latin America Marigolds are believed to be both mystical and ancestral have long been associated with honoring the departed and used in traditional medicines for treating digestive issues, easing coughs, reducing inflammation, and even soothing skinners.

irritations.

My name is Devon Wilson, and right now we are at Sunlight Gardens our urban farm here.

So welcome Thanks so much for having us.

We’re really excited to just see what you have going on here.

Learn more about the impact that you’re having in the community and Let’s get started This is our main outdoor production field out here, right now.

We grow a lot of greens.

So, you know, being an urban farm is very important to grow what our community likes.

to eat as you can see, we’re surrounded by our neighbors So we very quickly found out our community.

We love greens Dino kale, collar green, some curly kale The second stand, we have a lot of green onions tomatoes, basil, and Garlic In the back, we have a lot of summer squash, zucchini A lot of really high Productive crops We like to grow crops that we get multiple harvests from really make the best use of our space being that we are only on two acres Devon, tell us what you do here.

Yeah, so, you know, we our mission is to increase access to local food and the next generation of farmers.

So we do that in a lot of different ways.

But when I really think about it at the core of what we’re doing a lot is connecting people back with nature, connecting people with the soil, and helping them build a relationship with their food.

And I think that helps us really achieve our mission Yeah, let’s check out the cucumber Greenhouse here.

Yeah.

So you can see we string them up that way that they can reach their highest potential growing up to the top here.

You can also see there’s a lot of cucumber beetles up there, too.

Oh.

Trying Trying to attack our plant.

So that is actually why we plant dill here.

And the dill is pretty small still, but.. Oh, is that what dill looks like?

That’s dill, yeah.

Oh, cool.

So it’s pretty tiny.

Can we touch the pl Of course.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And the dill does It’s a companion plant, so it wards off the pests that like to eat the cucumbers.

Infestation of pests or disease can occur more quickly if you plant all the same crop close to one another By growing certain types of plants together or companion planting Growers can rely on healthier soil and fewer harmful insects while maximizing their space and making the nutrient rich food taste even better It’s especially helpful for organic growers looking to avoid the use of pesticides Devon, I know you also do some work here with youth and also with some workforce development and getting folks engaged in farming and gardeninging So a part of increasing access to me, you know, you really have to have more practitioners people that are providing the local food to create a strong local food system.

So we do a lot of different tours, workshops, engagements with youth, to just show them what a farm is We’ve been creating a program that we’re calling Project Feast So it’s food, education, and agricultural systems training, that is going to be a workforce development program to actually, it’s just a step above, you know, we take the kids on the tour, this will be actual training, you know, with the curriculum to really understand how they could see themselves in the food system This was one of my friends, Loic He’s actually a French artist created this mural for us and it says, it always seems impossible until it’s done.

And I I love that quote because, you know, when you have a strong drive, big dream, aspiration Sometimes it just seems impossible, especially in the beginning but you just have to keep going.

You have to find the strength, make the connections, and get it done.

And then once it’s done, you look back on it and it’s like, wow.

Yeah.

We did that, you know And then, obviously, Nelson Mandela just Incredible human someone that feels like represents, you know, freedom, free thinking.

Sovereignty.

100%.

Yeah.

Yeah, definitely.

And just a community leader, someone who had very good principles and morals that I think We could all learn from.

Yeah.

Absolutely.

So you said you have a store.

Yeah.

So what’s your store called?

So the name of the store is Farmacy.

Love that.

Okay.

Where food is medicine.

Okay.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Welcome to Farmacy.

Come on in.

So as you can see, to Healthy corner store is what we have here The goal is to have things that are still flavorful, you know, fun, fresh, familiar to our community, but also healthy And then also we have a ton of fresh produce.

So we have produce that we harvest right here on the farm But then we also work with over 40 different farms in the area to source meat, fruit, and vegetables that we don’t grow.

Very cool.

So it’s kind of like a hub also in a way, like a farm hub in some ways, where you’re working with collaboratively with other farms.

100%, yeah.

Yeah, cool.

How do you sort of like man cost because obviously that’s the thing that comes up all the time is eating healthy organic food is more expensive than eating Process.

So part of it is we try to do, like I said, that Yeah.

education and let them know, you know, okay, yeah, this is 50 cents or a dollar more expensive, but this is why trying to make things accessible We accept all forms of payment and also EBT and double up food bucks You basically double your money when you’re buying fresh produce.

Right?

Like, I grew up eating from convenience stores a lot And it was always very unhealthy options You know, honey bun, hot Cheetos, things that Tastes great, but they’re not necessarily good for our bodies.

And then we also try to push people to the stuff that we grow here because that is a little bit more affordable.

We can charge less for that because we’re growing it ourselves Walking around with Davon, I can’t help but notice the countless bees and butterflies here on the farm Pollinators are just as important to a farm as soil, seeds, or water They come in all shapes and sizes from hummingbirds to wasps to butterflies, bees, and bats These small creatures are a big deal.

Almost every single seed plant in the world from trees to flowers needs to be pollinated Of the 1,400 crop plants grown around the world, almost 80% require pollination by animals These animals and insects are so integral to a plant’s production process that most plant species would not survive without them and the entirety of the planet’s terrestrial ecosystems, including humans, would cease to be Collard greens have deep roots in African American culture because they were among the few crops that enslaved people were allowed to grow for themselves Over the years, collards became more than just food, but a symbol of resistance Today, collard greens embody the history, traditions, and stories of African Americans and remain a key staple in soul food What are your guys’ experiences with farming and gardening So my grandparents all came up north to Michigan.

It’s part of the Great Migration in obviously as descendants of slaves.

They grew up growing and picking produce.

My grandma always tells us about Having to pick cotton when she was little, and how she hated it, and she’d stand around and get yelled at for not doing anything.

She grew up on her grandparents’ farm so Unlike a lot of people at the time, her grandparents weren’t sharecroppers.

They had their own land and their own farm.

And so that gave them a sense of agency.

It was important for Grandpapa to make sure that they knew the importance of being able to care for yourself and care for your family and not to have to rely on especially white people to be able to do that.

Sometimes I wonder if for me why that part of agriculture does feel more like part of our lives in a way that doesn’t feel exploitative, if that makes sense.

I think that there’s sometimes a definition of success.

That means getting away from the land.

Yes.

But what does that Yes.

look like when there is food sovereignty, land sovereignty, and the autonomy, associated with it.

Yeah.

It’s very interesting how how life or the way society sees a certain profession or career Changes the perspective.

Like my grandparents, they were farmers in Mexico.

My great grandparents were farmers.

My parents growing up were farmers So for them, success was their daughters going to college getting an office job or career and living in the city versus the country.

Even though Working in the fields, it’s my parents have taught me the value of having a strong work ethic and working hard so that you could become successful and be able to provide for your family So, Veronica, what about you?

What are your relationships that you have, to farming and gardening, and, you know, you mentioned a little bit about your parents and your grandparents and even your great grandparents, which is amazing Have you experienced challenges or desire to distance from farming or the associations with farming, like that come with farming My peer is being my grant farm workers Many times when Cesar Chavez would come to Grand Rapids, they would go see him because they were also fighting for clean water and good working conditions But then also, I feel like right now my my father he He works in landscaping.

And so he’s always wearing long sleeve shirts and long pants to work instead of wearing short sleeve shirts or shorts.s.

And his coworkers make fun of him, but he understands that the color of our skin it’s already dark And even if it gets darker, we understand that that’s going to have negative consequences for us If your hands are full of dirt, that means that you have a low paying job in your lower class.

If you’re darker in skin, that also has a negative connotation with society.

Even though it implies that you are working outside Working outside, yeah My father was, you know, lived to be 92.

And his mother lived to be 102, and so It doesn’t take many generations back for me to, you know, connect to my enslaved ancestors, but also to have heard their stories and seen the world, you know, heard how the world was for them.

While spending time observing the interconnectedness of these plants and animals, I’m reminded of a quote by American anthropologist David Abram I learned of the intelligence that lurks in non human nature Leaving one open to a world all alive, awake, and aware It was in small beings that my senses first learned of the countless worlds within worlds that spin in the depths of this world that we commonly inhabit And from them that I learned that my body could with practice enter sensorially into these dimensions.

Our time sharing stories with one another has shown me how healthy food systems and healthy relationships to food cultivation can be deeply connected to exploring the roots of our ancestral and cultural tithes to the land and to understanding the interconnected roles