“The Apple Does Not Fall Far from the Tree”

This phrase, derived from elders’ sage reflections and sayings, is steeped in down-home kitchen-table-talk and exchanges over country cooking, nimble fingers quilting or repairing worn clothing, while fussing and discussing life’s woes, joys and mysteries.

Rev. Dr. Adelle Smith-Penniman, the fourth Black clergywoman to be ordained as a Unitarian Universalist minister, produced two offspring whose voices and activism have made Mama Adelle proud because their vision has touched so many lives in such extraordinary ways.

Sister Souurce, Inc. salutes Rev. Dr. Adelle’s two amazing daughters, Naima Penniman and Leah Penniman. Both sisters are leaders in the movements for environmental justice and racial, economic and gender equity. They also perform together under the name Climbing PoeTree.

“My people know what it’s like to eat and still be starving. So, we’re turning hardship into harvest, lawns and schoolyards into gardens, homegrown bounty in our palms. We come from soil and stardust. And so, we conjure.” – Naima Penniman

Naima Penniman, Director of Education, invites all pronouns. Naima is a lover of freedom and a justice fighter whose activism is rooted in ancestral courage and perseverance. Naima is a woman married to the land, a powerful griot/storyteller, an artist gifted in multiple genres, community organizer, medicine woman and grower of food, a healer and educator. All these roles and identities catapulted her superhero energy that was destined as a defender of Mother Earth.

Naima has devoted her life’s work to the creative community-building skills necessary to nurture and regenerate humankind in the spirit of communal interdependence. Naima serves as the program director at SOUL FIRE FARM where she teaches and equips Black, Brown and Indigenous farmers with the almost lost skills necessary to reclaim leadership in the food system that repositions them in greater harmony and respect for Mother Earth, as a living breathing entity.

Naima is also the co-founder of WILDSEED, a BIPOC-led, land-based community initiative focused on ecological collaboration, transformative justice, and intergenerational accountability. She is a published author of books that include All We Can Save, We Are Each Other’s Harvest, Farming While Black, and Semillas. Naima is also a mesmerizing poet whose compelling performances, along with her sister, Leah, have inspired countless individuals and movements around the world through their dynamic group performed as Climbing PoeTree. She is an original member of the Black healers collective, HARRIET’S APOTHECARY. She is also founder of the Haitian resilience project, Ayiti Resurrect, a grassroots collective of African-heritage individuals that identify as healers, artists and farmers working with survivors of earthquakes in Haiti. Naima has sought out and fostered collaborative partnerships that promote the healing of Mother Earth, while fostering human growth that emphasizes the love and care for our bodies, the communities that we reside in and beyond, while embracing lineages and descendants, past, present and future.

“Earth has the endless capacity to compost trauma and give us back ourselves, give us back our whole hearts and our whole beings.” – Leah Penniman

Leah Penniman welcomes all pronouns and is a Black Kreyol farmer with multiple identities that include some of the following: mother, farming nerd, author, and food justice activist. She co-founded Soul Fire Farm in Grafton, New York in 2010. It seeks to “end racism in the food system and reclaim our ancestral connection to land.” It presently consists of 80 acres of integrated crops, livestock and buildings.

As co-executive director and farm director, Leah is part of a visionary team that facilitates powerful food justice programs that include farmer training for Black and Brown people, and a subsidized farm food distribution program for marginalized individuals and families living in communities in food deserts. Her goal is to create equity in the food system.

No stranger to farming, Leah has been playing in the soil since 1996. She holds a Master of Arts degree in science education and a Bachelor of Arts degree in environmental science and international development from Clark University. And she is an active clergy member in the West African Indigenous Orisa tradition.

Leah has benefited from extensive training in the United States, including Many Hands Organic Farm, a farm school in Massachusetts. Her expertise is enhanced from the insights and experiences of international farmers that she trained with in Ghana, Haiti, and Mexico. She also served as a high school biology and environmental science teacher for 17 years.

The work of Leah and Soul Fire Farm has been recognized by several organizations including: the Soros Racial Justice Fellowship, Fulbright Program, Pritzker Environmental Genius Award, Grist 50, and James Beard Leadership Award, among others. Her books, Farming While Black: Soul Fire Farm’s Practical Guide to Liberation on the Land (2018) and Black Earth Wisdom: Soulful Conversations with Black Environmentalists (2023) are invaluable resources for anyone interested in food justice.

(Source: The information for this post was adapted from an interview by Cara Benson on August 28, 2024, titled “The Legacy of Seeds: An Interview with Leah Penniman”)

Kudos to Naima Penniman and Leah Penniman for standing in their power, living in their purpose and showing up as defenders and protectors of Mother Earth as they teach and model food justice!

– Elder Rev. Dr. Qiyamah A. Rahman