Land Based Jawns

On Mama Dawn & Composting Grief...
(Post 3/3)

As and I gathered upstairs at , I felt a soft yet strong urge that my mom wanted to take up space in this room. Not only who she was, but specifically who she was to me. Here, I give my grief permission to be big and loud, recognizing how it intertwines and dances with love. Like the taproot of a burdock plant, my grief and love for my momma run deep.

This poem is dedicated to my mom, Mama Dawn, and to all the Black mommas who could not live their softest sweetest lives.

What does it mean to compost your grief,
To turn the darkest parts of your existence
into a material so rich in nutrients,
warmth,
organic matter,
that it can’t help but birth new life,

To sit with and face your shadows
and your pain;
To have them envelop you
like a seed
buried deep in the earth
until it emerges as abundance realized

Somewhere in a garden by the river
Or in the space between forest and ocean
Grief metabolizes,
it alchemizes,
it changes shape
A seed
Given to the earth,
Carried and transmuted
by beings who walk between worlds
Washed by water
Carving a path for joy’s return.

This room is curated to be that for you. The medicine you need may come through a whispered prayer. Or a card pulled from the Harvest of Survival deck . It may come as an uncontrollable sob. Or a much needed conversation and hug from whomever you’re here with. Regardless of how your medicine arrives, the water and plants in this room are here to help you release what needs to be released and move what needs to move. Let them if you are ready.

Happy Mother’s Day to the woman who made me, Dawn K. Kipkin. I miss you every day.

Happy Mother’s DWREN RENE the mamas. We honor you.

💐💐💐

Photos by 🌻

The books in photo 4 have been powerful supports on my journey. Check them out if you feel called.

Authors are:
r.bird

For us, last year was about coming together to Shape Change. We started the year with an intimate book club co-led by several of our members on Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Talents. We also hosted Sunday Church in the Garden gatherings where we deepened our relationships with Mama Earth and each other over the course of 4 months.

Perhaps the highlight of the year was the Shape Change Gala, co-organized and co-created by 11 of our incredible members: Mieka, Justina, Brittany, Tanisha, Folasshade, Nia, Holli, Erica, Chef Tonii, Tanya, and Chef Dobson. Thank you for the love, spirit, and dedication that you poured into our collective dream. It was all that it was because of each of you 💛

Although the event was a while ago, the joy, nourishment, and medicine of the Shape Change Gala have carried us. To all those who shared that magical space with us, we hope that you also smiled as you remembered the time.

With love.

💐💐💐

Photos by

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🌱Ashley is a grower, healer, herbalist, nurturer, teacher, and scholar. She began her formal agricultural training at Sankofa Community Farm in Southwest Philadelphia with mentorship from Chris Bolden-Newsome. She gained much of her organizing experience as a member of Soil Generation with mentorship and guidance from Kirtrina Baxter. Ashley is also a graduate of Sacred Vibes Spiritual Herbalism Apprenticeship Program under the mentorship of Empress Karen M. Rose. 

Currently, Ashley is an assistant professor at Drexel University’s Dornsife School of Public Health and a faculty member at the Ubuntu Center on Racism, Global Movements, and Population Health Equity. There, she focuses on supporting students and researching the ways we remember, return to, and practice land-based ancestral wisdom.
 
Land Based Jawns was created by Ashley in the summer of 2020 and officially launched on October 14, 2020. The business and organization were established as a result Ashley processing and composting the grief associated with her parents’ deaths and injustices throughout the world. After reading Octavia Butler’s Parables, she felt that OEB left a roadmap for survival and community building in the face of war, genocide, and climate disasters. While first using the novels’ stories to guide her personal practice of safety and survival, Ashley realized that there were many others in her community seeking the same sense of safety, protection, skill-building, and healing. Today, Land Based Jawns has grown to provide healing and educational services in the form of medicines, curated events, skillshares, workshops, and book clubs.