Dec 22, 2021
Episode 20: Rasheed Hislop talks vermicomposting, cooperative farming and more
Listen as Rasheed Hislop, a Master Composter, offers you his best tips for small-scale vermicomposting. Get your worm bins ready!
Hear about how this Brooklyn-raised farmer’s grandparents, in the Hudson Valley and in Trinidad and Tobago, instilled in him an interest in food production by way of gardening, fishing and cooking from scratch.
Rasheed talks about his work supporting farmers, first with urban farmers and community gardeners through NYC Parks GreenThumb and now with farmers in California’s Central Valley, particularly Black, indigenous and farmers of color, through Community Alliance with Family Farmers and African American Farmers of California. He also gets into the racial equity and planning work being done behind the scenes at nonprofits like CAFF. (Plus, this is your chance to make plans to attend, virtually or in person, the CAFF conference, coming up Feb. 27 to March 3, 2022!)
Learn about the Black Zocalo cooperative’s efforts to teach about growing food, planting native plants and fostering farm-related businesses, including Rosalba Lopez Ramirez’s (Rasheed’s wife’s) Dau Butter skincare line and Rasheed’s seed production for Truelove Seeds. All of this is ultimately to create a movement toward a Black and Indigenous-owned land-based learning center.
Also put in your listening queue Rasheed’s Farming in Color podcast, highlighting the work of his BIPOC farming friends and creating an archive for Black Zocalo’s work.
Farming in Color podcast
Black Zocalo on Instagram
Black Zocalo website
California Alliance with Family Farmers website
2022 CAFF Conference