"We drove up on two women making Sweetgrass baskets sitting on the roadside, the elder told us she taught her (the youth) just like her grandma taught her and so on and so on through the generations of basket makers!" Pam Goncalves President Black Coral Inc.
Most of the Gullah/Geechee still live in rural communities of low-level, vernacular buildings along the Low Country mainland coast and on the barrier islands. Artist slash Climate activist Pamella Goncalves went with to St Helena Island in the low country with Planting With Spirit a group of women artists, business owners and agriculturalists of all ages to learn and experience the ancient knowledge that the Gullah people have to give to the world that could make the difference in survival in a climate changed planet! Planting with Spirit Boston is a 6-month program that serves as a Sacred space for BIPOC to reconnect to land by dispelling and unpacking land aversion due to the trauma of our enslaved ancestors, by reclaiming green spaces, and becoming more aware and connected to the plant life in our Urban setting.
The Gullah Geechee people are the descendants of West and Central Africans who were enslaved and bought to the lower Atlantic states of North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, and Georgia to work on the coastal rice, Sea Island cotton and indigo plantations. So what is a Gullah or a Geechee? Over time, the names have been combined and have become interchangeable. In the technical sense, the sea island slaves from North Carolina or South Carolina, were Gullah. From Georgia to Florida, the slaves were considered to be the Geechee. The Gullah had some autonomy from the slavers during the hot summers when malaria would take the lives of Europeans who dared stay long in the hot swamplands and coastlines. Many of the Africans were immune to malaria and thus were able to keep their African traditions and languages.
Gullah known as an Afro Seminole Creole language developed in rice fields during the 18th century as a result of contact between colonial English, Native Americans and the languages of the African enslaved. These Africans and their descendants created the new language in response to their own linguistic diversity. Gullah resembles other African-based English influenced creole languages spoken in West Africa and the Caribbean Basin, including Krio of Sierra Leone, Bahamian Creole, Jamaican Patois, Bajan Creole, Trinidadian Creole, Tobagonian Creole, Sranan Tongo, Guyanese Creole, and Belizean Creole.
Planting with Spirt had lunch to at the renown restaurant Gullah Grub, "...best greens, potato salad and BBQ made us want to slap your mama, this joint was featured on High on the Hog, last year on Netflix" stated Pam. Planting with Spirit is a 6 Month hybrid course that was created to provide the participant with an experience that delves into connecting with the earth through 3 specific perspectives, agriculturally, spiritually, and medicinally. This course provides hands-on urban agricultural experiences along with introductory-level education on the elements of urban agriculture and planting, Tapping into the energy of the earth for healing and ritual
Introductory level knowledge of the Historical uses and applications of plant medicines, part of the trip to the Low Country includes a visit to a slave Plantation and a night spent in the former cabins of the enslaved. Planting With Spirit students learn to farm in alignment with the ways of our African ancestors honoring the earth and plant spirits as living beings that we are privileged to be in relationship with.The Gullah people believe the spirit of their ancestors participates in their daily affairs and protects and guides them using spiritual forces. Other traditions practiced by Christian Gullahs include Praise Houses (Pray's Houses) and Shouting or Ring Shouts.
Participants gain a deeper understanding of the purpose and relationship of the practitioner within the conjure garden. This excursion is hands-on mixed with learning-intensive deep dives into the curriculum, community Urban farming rituals. The signification of planting, is to regenerate, for regeneration is circumstanced like planting. For when a tree is planted, it grows into branches, leaves, and fruits, and from the seeds of the fruits it grows into new trees; and so on. Currently there is a war against farmers and growing things naturally from seeds. Corporations would have us believe that eating insects is the key to a better greener future instead of respecting the land and taking care of it without harmful chemicals, and pesticides, or other harmful practices that increase short term profits at the expense of healthy arable land. if you are opposed to a future of lab grown meat from irradiated cancer cells, or genetically modified veggies and fruits without seeds or making pasta from insect flower support Black Coral Inc and organizations like Planting With Spirit!
Contact Planting With Spirit at: https://www.sabrinas-garden.com/contact
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