Earth Day Walk & Talk, Women’s Summit and More
As we have mentioned before, every day is Earth Day for us at DNP. However, with last week’s Earth day came a lot of exciting talks and events that we got to participate in or experience and we would like to share them with you!
Last Thursday, Jean Devine lead a 90 minute educational walk organized by Cambridge Neighbors. As Chief Seed Sower, Jean led a group of eager plant enthusiasts through Jerry’s Pond, and Cornerstone Co-Housing. She shared her knowledge of building small pollinator gardens and habitats with native plants and showed participants her own examples as part of the tour. The walk and talk ended with some great questions from participants and of course Jean had plenty of handouts for them to take home. This Spring think about adding some native plants to your garden to make it pop and help declining pollinators and birds at the same time!
Sunday was the Jerry’s Pondfest Earth Day cleanup, and among the many other contributors Devine Native Plantings participated in weeding and raking with the help of volunteers!
Also surrounding Earth Day was the “Women Working for the Earth” Summit hosted by the Organization of Nature Evolutionaries (O.N.E). DNP’s staff member Skye was able to spend four days learning (via zoom) from some amazing women in the environmental field. The four days included key notes speakers Winona LaDuke, Rosemary Gladstar, Leah Penniman, and Linda Black Elk. It was a magical time knowing so many other people were tuning in from all over the world to hear about apprenticing with trees, treating mother earth as a family member, carbon sequestration, the magic of hemp, food apartheid, corporate land grabs, ecological humility, invasive plants used for medicine, good plant medicine, soil restoration, caring for your community, food as a human right, pollinator-plant relationships and so much more. Below we have attached some of the hard work and organizations you can learn from. Other amazing speakers Skye was able to listen to included Deseree Fontenot, Tammi Sweet, Giuliana Furci, Heather Jo Flores, Kate Gilday, Deb Soule, and Lavinia Currier.
IAMO-”protecting the rainforest and preserving the interaction between indigenous people and plants”- founder Dr Rocio Alarcon
Soul Fire Farm- “an Afro-Indigenous centered community farm committed to uprooting racism and seeding sovereignty in the food system”- founder Leah Penniman
Queer EcoJustice Project- “organizes at the intersection of ecological justice and queer liberation” -founder Deseree Fontenot. Deseree is also a member of Movement Generation- “communities of color committed to transformative action towards the liberation and restoration of land, labor, and culture”
Free Permaculture Classes (donations welcome!) courtesy of Heather Jo-Flores
The Intertribal Agriculture Council’s American Indian Foods Producer Directory - “a comprehensive directory to increase awareness and enhance market access”
Linda Black Elk, Ethnobotonist preserving food as medicine
Heartstone Center for Eath Essentials / Heartstone Herbal School- “providing learning and healing…to nourish our essential human natures…intimately connected and interdependent with all life on the Earth”- founder Tammi Sweet
Winona’s Hemp- “working with the Anishinaabe Agricultural Institute to restore foodways, rematriate seeds, and make a new economy; one based on local food, energy and fiber.” - founder Winona LaDuke
The Science and Art of Herbalism- “herbal home study course” with founder and teacher Rosemary Gladstar
Fungi Foundation - “working for the Fungi, their habitats and the people who depend on them” - founder Giuliana Furci
