Drinking Gourd is a network of Black LGBTQI land stewards who are building collective infrastructure for holistic earth stewardship, guided by Afro-Indigenous healing traditions and land ways. We support and resource building land-infrastructure to support new systems of: housing, health and healing, food and water sovereignty, art, culture, and education rooted in the values and needs of our communities.

DRINKING GOURD

Our legacy is that of the Underground Railroad and Marronage, the history of Green Books, and Negro Spirituals: ways of guiding our people to peace, healing, safety and collectivity while under threat. Drinking Gourd’s vision of holistic earth stewardship weaves together Afro-Indigenous Ancestral Wisdom, Black queer feminism, trauma-informed healing, anti-capitalism, climate adaptation and mitigation strategies, and abolitionist visions of living in reciprocity and right relationship with land.

 

Drinking Gourd offers:

  • Infrastructure Support – creating collective structures, legal support to interface with federal and state governance structures, models of governance, structure, and process.  
  • Legacy Building – Maintaining land sanctuaries and systems to endow the next generations through covenants, regenerating processes,and building sustainable free-conomies; 
  • Spiritual Support – teaching and support in communicating with ancestors including all land guardians and spirits, spiritual healing to repair and assist in grounding the vision of liberation; 
  • Financial Support – We offer short term grants, Long term funding, and crisis relief funding.
 

Drinking Gourd is modeling how to move from land ownership to land stewardship, weaving in Afro-Indigenous models of collective governance. Climate change is the result of poor land stewardship and an integral part of rebalancing the ecosystem is mobilizing resources directly to support the land stewards that are ready, willing, and capable of doing the work of healing the land.

 

Donate and learn more about some of the Black-led land projects resourced since the 2020 Reparations Summer campaign:

Black Oaks Center

We are a learning center in sustainability, natural building, renewable energy systems, regenerative agriculture and resilience to facilitate future generations to thrive in a post-carbon world.

Earthseed Land Collective

We believe that creating intergenerational relationships and skill sharing promotes and increases resourcefulness, community wellness, financial independence and self-determination for our current past and future generations.

Foxfire Ranch

We are an entertainment and event venue in North Mississippi, centering rest, retreat, deep learning; celebrating 100 years of Black land ownership.

Gangsters to Growers/The Come Up Project Co-op

Our mission is to put into practice a holistic approach providing employment and entrepreneurial opportunities to returning citizens that live in under-served communities.

TKO Farming

TKO Farming is a fully sustainable farm within a larger community not only across Mississippi but connected to Black land-stewards across the South. Our mission is working to improve the social, economic and cultural landscape of black farmers while reconnecting with the land in a deep, enduring, and regenerative manner.

Nature’s Garden for Victory and Peace, Inc.

Our vision is to cultivate land that is preserved and built upon to evoke health, social wellbeing, victory and peace in members of the community.

North Star Farm (Organized by the Black Church Food Security Network)

We are a land-based holistic community development model that includes residential living on a 25-acre land trust.

Operation Spring Plant, Inc./Olusanya LLC

We are a grassroots, non-profit organization, dedicated to promoting self-help, community and economic development programs and initiatives for historically underserved and other small farmers and producers.

Sipp Culture

Sipp Culture is a generational approach to collective community development in rural Utica, MS.

Yisrael Family Urban Farm

Our goal is for community members to develop autonomy by shifting from consumers to producers while connecting their personal growth to community resilience.