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Written and transcribed by Daphne Hines, Committee on Racial Equity in the Food System (CORE) Creative Communications Consultant, in collaboration with WNC EarthMates Co-Founders Cleaster Cotton and Cynde Allen.
WNC EarthMates, a partner of CEFS’ Committee on Racial Equity in the Food System (CORE), is a collective vision created and orchestrated with the health and wellbeing of the Asheville community in mind. We celebrate co-founders Cleaster Cotton (Cultural Conservationist, ALNUGE Codes Inventor, Educator, Farmer, Author, and Artist) and Cynde Allen (Herbalist, Farmer, Educator, and Artist). Their work is fixed in reinvigorating communal interdependence and is a soulful call to reclaim indigenous practices and recall cultural traditions within food systems through art and agriculture.
With personal legacies rooted in empowering underrepresented communities, Cotton and Allen’s work is rooted in nurturing budding minds in Asheville through art and immersive experiences that celebrate the natural, cultural legacy of agricultural interdependence. As BIPOC food system practitioners, Cotton and Allen see indigenous practices, relationships cultivated in community, and agricultural spaces as symbiotic in nature.
With a key focus on youth development, WNC EarthMates collaborates with Youth Artists Empowered (YAE), an Asheville youth initiative that utilizes art, education and nature as the umbrella under which to teach life skills to better understand the interdependency between humans and nature, and economically empower youth.
Oftentimes, the resources needed to support youth are underestimated, but YAE and WNC EarthMates Creative Workshop Series is an excellent example of supporting personal and professional growth for youth. In 2022, the Asheville Art Museum exhibited YAE students’ photographic and film documentary entitled, “The Faces of Change,” which was a culmination of a seven month long youth-led photojournalism project that focused on the immediate and disproportionate effects of climate change on BIPOC and low income neighborhoods. WNC Earthmates has found that, “a major part of being able to create these experiences is being able to have the resources to hire people that can work with youth and give them all that they need.”
From 2020 – 2022, many saw social interaction restrictions hinder well-meaning community engagement, but WNC EarthMates saw it as an opportunity to get back into nature, leading youth art workshops in natural environments such as along the river and at Southside Community Farm. These experiences provided many youth with much needed interaction, resources, and space to expand creatively. WNC EarthMates believes that gardens provide a canvas where “freedom, joy, ease, and a sense of place and belonging” can be found.
WNC EarthMates partners with several BIPOC farmers, growers, Earth stewards, and creatives, based in Asheville’s historically Black Southside Community where Southside Community Farm is a hub for community-based and BIPOC-led outreach. This community strengthens connections, supports collective wellness, hosts local workshops, a seasonal BIPOC Farmer’s Market, and other events.
What is most important for Cotton and Allen is that their work addresses the disparities in our food systems and needs of the community. From Allen’s perspective, “our work with arts, education, and economic empowerment meets food access, land stewardship, and racial equity – we’re merging those pieces in an intentional way that inspires our communities.”
Focused on healing, equity, and empowerment, WNC EarthMates is a multigenerational collaboration with a foundation built on education and trust. As Cotton explains, “trust is what helps us build the relationships and communication needed to support our community. At WNC EarthMates we use our similarities and experiences being ‘Earth’s students’ to respect the planet. Our culture, traditions, and heritage of walking the planet in a respectful way are inspired by our Ancestors and The Creator.” A responsibility not taken lightly, their commitment to nurturing the social and collaborative bonds in their community mirrors how they cultivate an eclectic mix of indigenously rooted seeds, produce, and herbs year round. By shifting to supporting and cultivating local food systems, many are rediscovering the joy, accessibility, and diversity of native crops and traditional methods of farming. Their team, including Farm Manager Chloe Moore, guides youth and community members through farmtasting tours, sharing its offerings to help others experience multi-sensory healing that also revitalizes participants’ connections to the land.
With a deep love for community that fosters and inspires action, Cotton and Allen’s efforts to engage their community empowers farmers, agricultural workers, and community members to make local food systems possible. For example, they have hosted “Feed The Farmers” – farmer-specific produce tastings including gourmet prepared meals and artisan tea blends delivered to farmers – offering farmers a delightful experience of the fruits of their labor. The organization has also offered impromptu “Gardenside Salads” for Asheville natives who may not have the means or opportunity to try garden-fresh produce, while celebrating the beauty we can cultivate when we collaborate with the Earth. From WNC EarthMates perspective, “As caretakers and Earth stewards, we’re being trusted by these plants to do the right thing. There is an emotional connection, a relationship, and a responsibility. That ‘Three Sisters’ garden bed with the towering Cherokee bean plant, squash, and corn… we are responsible for what it needs… the love, the water, the harvest… – everything.” For WNC EarthMates, the responsibility to the Earth and nourishing her people is also highlighted in maintaining and stocking the Southside Community “Free Fresh Food Fridge” where donations of local produce and food are made and people may take what they need without money being exchanged.
If you would like to support WNC EarthMates and the local farmers and artisans of the Asheville community, be sure to visit the BIPOC Farmers’ Market opening for the 2024 season on May 5, 2024. View the full 2024 schedule here.
WNC EarthMates and Youth Artists Empowered are grateful to receive support in any form: monetary, resource sharing, volunteers at the farm, art and garden supplies, seed and story sharing, or any other way you would like to contribute or collaborate. They are fiscally sponsored to receive donations. To get in touch or donate they can be found on Instagram at @WNCEarthMates, @YouthArtistsEmpowered or through email at wncearthmates@gmail.com or youthartistsempowered@gmail.com.