Carter Farms Offers a “Taste of Africa”
Agriculturalists from across the eastern United States traveled to Carter Farms on Saturday, Aug. 26, for the farm’s “Taste of Africa” event. During the all-day workshop, farmers of all skill levels learned about sustainable farming through the lens of Africulture, a nonprofit committed to the study and implementation of agricultural practices contributed by farmers of African descent throughout history.
Carter Farms is a multigenerational legacy farm owned and operated by Michael Carter Jr., whose experiences living in Ghana inspired him to bring the flavors and wisdom of African farming to his current property in Unionville. After coming back to the United States, Carter wasn’t finding many of his favorite ingredients in local markets, and he decided to turn the challenge into an opportunity by specializing in organic crops traditionally found in West Africa.
“It definitely created another level of curiosity, which really made me want to dive into it more, grow more, and do a lot more research,” he shared. “And I'm a big health nut, so it fits. If I'm wrong then I'm wrong, but I want to prove myself right by having a nice, long life filled with a lot of these plants.”
As the founder of Africulture, Carter provides outreach programs based on the principles of African agriculture and helps farmers to run profitable, sustainable businesses. At the event on Saturday, attendees enjoyed dishes like jollof rice, red red and palava sauce, a stewed mixture of spices, greens, palm oil and most often meat. Gathered on the lawn, farmers asked questions and shared their own experiences during a roundtable discussion led by Carter and a presentation by permaculture expert Patrick Johnson.
During the roundtable, Carter explained that while building a sustainable farm that minimizes waste, tolerates environmental challenges like drought and exists in harmony with the surrounding ecosystem is a big undertaking, it’s okay to start small with steps like simply taking an intentional walk to familiarize oneself with the land.
“Our way of living has really excommunicated us from nature, and getting back to nature is one of those things that’s going to take time,” he said.
Anthony Coghill of Waymon Lynch Insurance Agency was also on site to discuss the importance of building generational wealth and the challenges that Black Americans have experienced in doing so in the aftermath of slavery and ongoing racial discrimination.
“In the history of America, African-Americans have lost a lot of land, farms, houses and things like that,” Coghill explained. “Today, you can protect those things with life insurance, by putting it in a trust, and that will allow you to pass those properties down through the generations instead of losing them.”
Ultimately, Carter hopes that the event will empower farmers with the skills and confidence to bring what they learned back into their own communities and build a more sustainable future for themselves, their loved ones and their neighbors.
“I want us to make sure we're starting to prepare our families with a target,” Carter said. “I want my family to be here based upon the foundation I set — based upon the foundation we set as a family. And stop waiting on the future to happen, but create a future for yourself that's guaranteed to happen because you've already planned it out.”
From the sound of it, many of the workshop’s attendees will be doing just that. Ebony Johnson traveled to the farm from Delaware with Future Harvest, a sustainable agriculture nonprofit based in the Chesapeake region. Right now, Johnson is growing a standard vegetable garden — tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers — but in the future, she hopes to expand her enterprise into a larger market farm that includes educational opportunities for at-risk children. Johnson said that the knowledge she has gained and the community she has met through events like “Taste of Africa” are helping her to get closer to that goal.
“It's just good to get more Black farmers out there,” she said. “Once upon a time, there were a lot of us and now it's rare. So it’s important to try to continue that, build generational wealth and let other people see us in that aspect as farmers. And we can do it.”
For more information about Carter Farms, including upcoming programs and events, visit www.thecarterfarms.com or call (804) 301-9114.