When Shellie-Ann Kerns left her home in Jamaica to join her husband in Washington State, she wasn’t sure what to expect. They moved to his family farm in Gray’s Harbor and she immediately began imagining ways to make the land productive. Family Roots “Farming for me, it’s in my blood on my mother’s side, and from her great grandmother, all the way down. My father’s family is also agricultural,” she said. “It’s something that I understand how it works. Something that I’ve just always been passionate about. When I came here, it was winter. And I needed to plant something. I did some research and I saw that, ‘hey, you can plant garlic in the middle of winter.’” Her first batch of garlic did so well that Kerns continued to plant garlic every winter. Now she’s taking her farming up a notch and making it a community affair. For her, farming is about supporting her community on a basic level. Decolonizing The Food System “What’s really driving me is the ability to feed the community,”...

Last week, Black Restaurant Week — the annual nationwide culinary movement that celebrates African, African-American and Caribbean cuisine — proudly announced the launch of the Feed The Soul Foundation , a new non-profit designed to help support marginalized entrepreneurs in the culinary industry. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Feed The Soul Foundation (@feedthesoulfoundation) According to a press release , the organization will assist culinary entrepreneurs with their business development plans by offering resources and mentorship support to foster sustainable business growth. Additionally, the Feed The Soul Foundation will create a Restaurant Business Development Fund, designed to boost marginalized businesses by providing workforce training, business development training and consultation services, and increased access to programming, funding, and technology. With help from Maker’s Mark® and other community partners across the country, the goal for the Feed the Soul...