Connecting Through Carlisle
The smell of slightly-burnt parsnips and french onion soup filled the barn as we sat and ate a delicious meal together. If there’s one thing Garden City Harvest staff members do well it is throw a banger potluck.
On Thursday, March 21, Garden City Harvest staff and board members gathered in the Community Barn at the River Road Farmstead for a potluck and Q&A discussion with author Liz Carlisle. Born and raised in Missoula, Liz is the author of three books: Lentil Underground (2015), Grain By Grain (2019 with co-author Bob Quinn), and Healing Grounds: Climate, Justice, and the Deep Roots of Regenerative Farming (2022).
At the end of the 2023 growing season, as the last of our carrots were harvested and our digging forks were put away, Garden City Harvest’s Justice Equity Diversity and Inclusion (JEDI) Committee was busy brainstorming ways to connect staff and raise JEDI awareness and action across all of our different programs. With our farms, community gardens, school gardens, and office sites being so spread out across Missoula, programs within our organization can feel disconnected. So we thought… Why not feed two birds with one scone: increase JEDI awareness and action while also bringing folks together.
Thus launched our first annual Winter Read- staff and board members submitted JEDI-related titles, and the JEDI Committee whittled down the wonderful list, eventually agreeing on Liz’s book, Healing Grounds: Climate, Justice, and Deep Roots of Regenerative Farming by Liz Carlisle.
As folks settled into winter with their new reading assignment, we reached out to Liz, crossing our fingers that she would be coming home for a visit and willing to join us for an event. She graciously accepted our invitation, and that’s how we ended up all together in the barn, happily slurping soup and munching on sourdough.
Wildly articulate and contagiously passionate, Liz answered questions for an hour and a half. In a world of climate chaos fraught with feelings of impending doom, Liz’s knack and passion for positive storytelling brings light and connection into readers’ worlds. Reflecting on the story of one of the farmers in her book, Liz commented “You’re cheering…How can you not?” And it’s true. As I read through the stories of the four incredibly resilient, strong women featured in Healing Grounds, I found myself cheering for them the entire time. Positivity fosters hope, which is essential for action and change.
In response to a question posed by Caroline Stephens, PEAS Farm Lecturer, about how to lead discussions with students in a way that disarms defensiveness and guilt, Liz emphasized the importance of creating a safe place where people can feel uncomfortable. She highlighted the importance of giving people time to digest materials before engaging in challenging discussions. She also talked about how we can use allyship to connect with and get through to others.
In response to a question I asked about building relationships and community across differences, Liz emphasized how critical it is that we move at “the speed of trust,” a phrase used by one of the farmer heroines in her book. She spoke to the inherent contradiction within the fields of social justice and climate change — the sense of urgency paired with the need to move slowly and thoughtfully in order to truly be effective. We must move at this “speed of trust” when repairing and building relationships and landscapes in order to build a just and sustainable future.
We are so incredibly thankful to Liz for an evening full of learning, listening, and connecting. We highly encourage you to read Healing Grounds, (or listen to it on audiobook- Liz reads it herself and it’s wonderful!) and check out our full list of winter read titles here.
Know the ways of the ones who take care of you, so that you may take care of them. Introduce yourself. Be accountable as the one who comes asking for life. Ask permission before taking. Abide by the answer. Never take the first. Never take the last. Take only what you need. Take only that which is given. Never take more than half. Leave some for others. Harvest in a way that minimizes harm. Use it respectfully. Never waste what you have taken. Share. Give thanks for what you have been given. Give a gift, in reciprocity for what you have taken. Sustain the ones who sustain you and the earth will last forever.
-Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass
Braiding Sweetgrass was the runner up for our winter read event, and served as a huge source of inspiration for Liz in the writing of Healing Grounds. If you haven’t read it, it’s a must! I would highly suggest listening to this title on audiobook to hear Kimmerer’s words in her own voice. It was fun to hear that Liz listens to this book when she needs a moment of meditation, because I do the same.