Love Philly? So do we. Let’s be friends. Sign up for the Billy Penn newsletter today.
An intergenerational farm and sacred space, Sankofa Community Farm is an African diasporic-centered farm where residents collaborate to provide free urban agriculture workshops and education. Through low-cost community garden plots and its workshops, the 3.5-acre farm is a sacred space that honors the cultural heritage of crops and the deepening of roots, all while connecting youth and elders through common ancestry.
Sankofa, a branch of Bartram’s Garden, gives reverence to humanity and the soil on which we erect our lives. The farm harvests 60 different crops and produces over 15,000 pounds of food each year. The harvest produce is then sold at seasonal farmers’ markets at Clark Park and other locations throughout Philadelphia.
The word “Sankofa” is derived from King Adinkra of the Akan people in present-day Ghana. In the Akan language, sankofa stands for “se wo were fi na wosan kofa a yenkyi,” translated, it means, “It is not taboo to go back and fetch what you forgot.” The shortened aphorism means “go back and get it,” a reminder not to be ashamed of returning home and learning something new.
Bartram’s Garden Director of Development & Communications Caroline Winschel said that Sankofa, over its decade of operations, has become a cornerstone project for the organization.
“A lot of the work is done by high school interns, youth in the neighborhood, neighbors and elders, too,” Winschel said. “And that’s completely free. When there was still the apartment complex next to us, in Merchantville, a lot of the neighbors there were able to come and have their own gardens where they could grow their own food. A lot of Sankofa’s speakers and also youth who have been in Sankofa’s program, who then stayed to volunteer.”
Community intern powered
The Sankofa Community Farm is powered by approximately 20 paid local high school interns annually. But more than 50 local Southwest families are responsible for the upkeep within the community gardens, and then for selling the produce at local markets. In addition, Sankofa members build and maintain 50 local home and school gardens each year.
Furthering its work with its youth members, Sankofa also hosts Culinary Cultures Programs. The programs include youth development classes in winter and summer, as well as cultural cooking classes and seasonal preservation classes for the Southwest community.
Founded in 2010, Chris Bolden-Newsome and Ty Holmberg began Sankofa through a partnership between Bartram’s Garden, the Philadelphia Orchard Project, the Agatston Urban Nutrition Initiative at the University of Pennsylvania, the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, and the City of Philadelphia. The plan was to convert underutilized recreational fields for community agriculture.
‘Like you’re walking into your grandmother’s house’
With great success, the farm was renamed the Sankofa Community Farm in 2016.
Bolden-Newsome, a fourth generation farmer originally from the Mississippi Delta, currently co-directs a three-acre crop field, an orchard, as well as a 60-bed community garden. In 2012, Bolden-Newsome married Owen Smith Taylor, a seed farmer. The two started a cultural preservation and rematriation-focused seed company, Truelove Seeds.
“One thing that one of our colleagues taught me was that if you’re going into the crop field, think about it like you’re walking into your grandmother’s house,” Winschel said. “Take a minute, take a deep breath and know you are to be respectful in [this] space. You hold yourself a little bit differently.”
What distinguishes Sankofa, on top of its restorative farming practices of diasporic teachings and community development, is its food sovereignty. On their website, Sankofa highlights how a majority of the community members who work with the farm are of West African, Caribbean and Southern Black descent.
The work to provide both low-cost garden plots and fresh produce is a direct response to the “food apartheid,” or more commonly known as, “food deserts,” within many of the diasporic communities. Inequitable access to healthy, affordable groceries in Southwest Philly prompts Sankofa to provide nourishing food that feeds mind, body and spirit.
Through the advocacy for food sovereignty, past generations tell their stories of resilience and how they created and preserved food pathways for younger generations to carry and add their ingenuity to – forming a long-lasting unity.
While the garden plots are prohibited from photography, Bartram marketing coordinator Cavhanah B. explained that agriculture is more than the mere consumption of produce.
“When I first came to the farm to visit, they were asking me to just have a thought for myself, or [say] a prayer that resonates with you, or just some type of meaning that you have before you step into this space,” Cavanah B. said. “I think that really reflects how meaningful the farm is.”
Cavanah B. touched on how the transatlatic slave trade and indigenous ecological knowledge directly impacted the founding of Sankofa.
“We would not have the garden if it were not for [the transatlantic slave trade]; we would not have this land if it weren’t for that knowledge being passed down [from past generations]. Sankofa works to connect people with those stories and with their heritage, cultural foodways, and food sovereignty, too. The way that growing your own food and being in [the] community with your neighbors connects you to those things… it’s really wonderful.”
