On Oct 3, New Roots Communtiy Farm in Jackson Heights will be hosting Colombian farmers and community leaders Yura Sapi and Yowar Mosquera of Protectores de la Tierra.
All are welcome to come and meet them, learn about their project and farming practices, see how you can support their work, and share some food!
Yura and Yowar are farmers, artists and community builders who are working hard to manifest a vision of Black and indigenous land and food sovereignty on Colombia's Pacific coast. The couple have spent the past four years building up a diversified agroforest on 40 acres of land in the rainforest that Yowar's grandmother once stewarded in Nuqui, Colombia. After her generation, more access to motorboats and planes linked the isolated, majority Black and indigenous region with the rest of Colombia, shifting local agriculture from self-sustenance to export, and shifting diets from mostly local to mostly imported.
Yura and Yowar want their land work to sustain and reconnect their community - especially young folks - with their own local food, culture, medicine, and ecosystems. They're building lodging at the farm (which is only accessible by a 20-minute boat ride upriver from Nuqui) to host visitors from near and far. It's already becoming a space of regeneration, retreat, and repair.
Check out their GoFundMe in their IG bio.
Their land work is part of a larger nonprofit they run called @liberarte_inc, based in Jackson Heights (where Yura grew up).
This fall, LiberArte has organized an extensive tour for a fantastic folkloric music group from Nuqui called @tambacum (who Yowar plays with). Check out their tour schedule on their IG.
Come by New Roots Queens (adjacent to 41-38 69th St, Woodside, NY) 5-7pm! We'll have some snacks to share and you are encouraged to bring some bites to share as well. (You can also check out a thriving yuca/cassava plant grown from a cutting brought from their farm in Nuqui!)