REI Participant

This past summer, I had the amazing opportunity of joining a community with a mission of cultivating social and ecological healing through attending the Summer Rising Earth Immersion Program at the Eco-Institute at Pickards Mountain. I can honestly say that it was one of the most beautiful and developmental experiences of my life thus far. The permaculture foundations of this program were woven brilliantly through an immersive curriculum around sustainably living, garden care, community living, arts and activism, decolonization work and radical self-care, providing a uniquely wholistic learning experience.
It felt especially significant for me to attend this program during such a difficult but critical time for a Black person in this nation (the U.S.), and to practice taking up space, resting, being cared for and uplifted as a marginalized identity, and living in community with folks who are dedicated to doing anti-racist work and becoming better allies. Additionally, I found the land connection aspect of the program to be one of my greatest sources of healing. Not only did I feel a sense of connection to my ancestors through the acknowledgement of their spirit and labor within the soil, but even just the act of paying attention to nature grounded me. Tending to nature became tending to myself, and I ended up learning so much from nature about how to best interact with change through it’s perfect example of adaptability, interdependence, decentralized power, resilience and transformation.