Growing Together: Reflections from Our Farm Brigade at Upendo Estate Farms

July 10, 11, and 12, 2026

There's a particular kind of quiet that settles over a farm early in the morning, before the work begins, when the dew is still on the leaves and everyone is just arriving, tools in hand, unsure yet of exactly how the day will unfold. That's how our farm brigade weekend at Upendo Estate Farms started. By the time we left, that quiet had turned into something else entirely: the easy, tired satisfaction of a community that had shown up for the land, and for each other.

This weekend was, at its heart, simple. Upendo Estates, Black Sustainability, Inc., OurSpace World, Eco-PARADIGM, and the Federation of Southern Cooperatives came together to support local growers and land owners, share resources, and strengthen our farming community. Note: simple doesn't mean small. Every helping hand, every conversation, every smile exchanged between people who'd just met, it all added up to something we felt in our chests by the end of the day. Meaningful change doesn't happen in isolation. It happens exactly like this: hands in the soil, side by side!

Rooted in AfroEcology

This weekend was also a living expression of our AfroEcology work WITH community, the part of our mission dedicated to reconnecting Black and Afrikan communities with the land through indigenous, regenerative practices. AfroEcology isn't to growing techniques; it's a way of remembering. It's Reparative Agriculture & Land Management in practice, the belief that healing our relationship with the land is inseparable from healing ourselves and our communities.

At Upendo Estate Farms, that looked like real, physical work: supporting growers with the tasks that keep a farm running, building skills alongside people who've been stewarding this land for years, and passing knowledge back and forth the way it's always been done in Afrikan and Indigenous farming traditions, each one teaching one, each one learning from one. It's a reminder that sustainable agriculture, for us, has never been about starting something new. It's about returning to what our ancestors already knew.

OUR HOST: Upendo Estates Farm

Headquarters of the Baddie Farmer™

Home of the Fluffy Butt Hut™ and the Original Magic Beans™

What we LOVED: At Upendo Estates Farm, everything is grown, harvested, and created by hand on their six acre private property outside Atlanta.

The ENTIRE FAMILY practices regenerative agriculture, permaculture, and soil first growing. Their land is pesticide free and their children learned the land before they learned the world.

We experienced intentional living with intentional beings. Our partners, attendees and hosts were ALL aligned.

Learnings

Forestry with Freddie, Avery & JB to safely remove trees and manage the lush forest full of food and medicine

Eco-Building with Avery, Charles, Jah, Kenny, & Osaze to create an outdoor classroom in the trees!

Seed Packing for Sovereignty

First time camping with OurSpace

Thank You To Our Partners

None of this happens without a village, and this weekend, our village showed up in full. Our deepest thanks go to our incredible host, Upendo Estate Farms, for opening your land and your community to us.

Thank you to our partners who made this farm brigade weekend possible:

• OurSpace World's

  • This would not have been possible without Sis Eshe and our partnership. Her planning and adjustments for all of our schedules to align was crucial. Not to mention how she showed up!

  • OurSpace supports the work of Black cooperators and educates+trains those of the Black Diaspora in the skills of growing food, basic ecological building and community organizing. Our work upends existing systems upholding capitalism, white supremacy and exploitation by taking a holistic intergenerational approach to creating health and building community. We create new narratives around thriving and abundance by spreading knowledge and skills around land stewardship, growing food for ourselves and working cooperatively with each other.

• Eco-PARADIGM

  • Joined at the hip, we love our EP Crew and how our alignment ensures practical agricultural education and resource support is transformed into impactful results for our land partners

  • ECO-PARADIGM, LLC  specializes in helping people and communities grow by providing a variety of agricultural services. We work directly with clients to achieve their goals in ways that are economically viable and ecologically sound. We believe healthy communities are those that honor natural processes  and conserve and protect natural resources. ECO-PARADIGM is about tapping in to the inherent value of the Earth itself. Search our menu and fill out a service request form to get started on your project today!

• Federation of Southern Cooperatives

  • Freddie and their Alabama and Mississippi Federation crew represent every time we get together!

  • The Federation was born out of the Civil Rights movement and exists to save Black-owned farms and land. To assist in land retention and development, especially for African Americans, but essentially for all family farmers.

And a special thank you to WCSHC for their sponsorship, support like this is what allows us to keep showing up for farming communities across our network.

Finally, to everyone who volunteered, participated, and simply showed up to serve: thank you. Your dedication is the reason weekends like this work at all, and it continues to inspire us long after the tools are put away.

Gratitude to WCSHC & NRCS

We also want to take a moment to specifically recognize and thank the Winston County Self Help Cooperative and their support via USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). Their commitment to shared critical resources and technical knowledge with the growers and land owners is evident. Although everything isn't for everyone, the kind of hands-on, practical support that helps farmers plan for the long term, protect their soil and water, and build resilience into their operations for years to come was a consistent conversation.

Partnerships like this one matter enormously to us. They represent exactly the kind of bridge-building between government resources and grassroots, Black-led agricultural communities that our network exists to strengthen.

One Community at a Time

Days like these remind us why we do this work. Not because it's easy, and not because the challenges facing Black growers and land owners are small, they aren't. But because when we come together like we did at Upendo Estate Farms, we get a glimpse of what's possible when a community decides to grow, literally and figuratively, together.

We can't wait to keep building on our partnerships one community at a time.

Interested in joining us to learn at the next farm assistance day or learning more about our AfroEcology Series? Join the Black Sustainability Network to stay connected!