For the past few years, I’ve been deeply invested in fooding and living systems, ways of being, and rituals that support our needs while also being kind and loving to people and planet.

I’ve visited countless farms across the US and abroad, interviewing farmers, documenting their everyday moments, and sharing their noble stories of what it truly takes to feed people without compromise.

I often cringe with the term “regenerative agriculture” because of the complexities this term holds. Sooo, I attempted something through the culmination of all my research and experiences…

I wanted to provide a digital experience of clarity - a journey where people can think for themselves, challenge their conceptions, and have a more holistic understanding of what regenerative agriculture really means.

Regeneration can’t be fit in a box; there’s not a single definition that wouldn’t limit its richness. So, I invite you to explore “A Journey Into Regen Ag”! Illustrated by the talented Britty Colors, web dev by Bjorn Minde and Eduardo Reyes. Concept, copy, and creative direction by yours truly.

What can we learn from a single moment during the Civil Rights Movement in shifting structures and igniting change?

On February 1, 1960, a significant event happened in Greensboro, NC, catalyzing profound changes for Americans today.

And it all started in a restaurant…

Four Black college freshmen from North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University @ncatsuaggies sat down at the Woolworth lunch counter in the “whites-only” section. They peacefully, quietly, and politely ordered food. The waiter refused to serve them and called the police.

When the police came, they declared there was nothing to be done as the men were paying customers of the Woolworth General Store and were not partaking in provocative action.

“We didn’t want to set the world on fire, we just wanted to eat,” said Khazan, one of the ‘Greensboro Four.’

In the following days and months, other students joined in peacefully sitting and doing schoolwork in the “whites-only” lunch counter.

This single event by courageous youth sparked a nonviolent movement throughout many states where segregation in public places, especially dining halls, was still prevalent. Within 6 months, Woolworth was serving the Black community at its lunch counters, and in the first week, 300 Black individuals were fed there. Soon, other establishments in various states were changing their segregation policies.

Access to food is undeniably a fundamental human right; and as human beings, we have an intrinsic, deeply rooted impulse to gather around food and feed one another.

The lunch counter symbolized the power to foster resiliency among a people. It demonstrated how a small group self-organized to catalyze a larger network of individuals to eventually shift culture.

It’s important to note, racism is still a reality today and the fight for equality is a multi-generational effort toward a unified aim for liberation.

The evolution of our food system, which includes equity and justice, is like a river flowing through time. We may not fully resolve the issues in our lifetime, but we do have the responsibility to do what we can to keep progressing for the next generation.

Sit in. Rise up. Take the next step.

Regeneration begins within each of us.

When we consider the journey of regeneration, it’s easy to put the emphasis on the farmer, yet of equal weight and value to this pulsating movement is our role - you and me. Every single day we make choices that either support life, or exploit it; the same way a farmer makes causes on their farm that either encourage life or deplete it.

Ancestral wisdom reminds us of a simple yet profound message; life is sacred and the world is wildly alive. This reverence for the natural world is imperative when we aim to regenerate; if we hold to this belief, then no life shall be disregarded or taken for granted.

Yet, we exist in a time where reverence for life is not universal, and war exists… - both on the farm field through the killing of animals, plants, and microbes,and on the war field through the killing of innocent lives (and animals, plants, and microbes too). This is why we cannot be silent in times of war; regeneration does not just encompass soil, it includes political, economic, social, and cultural aspects of life too.

Regeneration is harmony.
Regeneration is compassion.
Regeneration is reverence.
Regeneration is relationship.

Soil health is important and central to the act of regeneration, but can not exist in isolation.. A farmer can have perfect, nutrient dense soil, but if they are overworked, don’t have rights to their land, can’t afford the food they grow, underpay their workers, and imbalance the water table, for example, then what good does soil health offer the larger systems the farm is nested within? Soil is a catalyst, not the end-goal. Harmony between all parts of the whole needs to exist for regeneration to occur.

So, when we advocate for regeneration, we advocate for the dignity and harmony of all life and the end to war. We advocate for sovereignty over ancestral lands.

We are regeneration, and regeneration calls for peace.

Let it start with us, today.