Spend a Saturday afternoon with us at Grassrootz Bookstore, Arizona’s only Black-Owned Bookstore, for this in-person storytelling event. Celebrate the spoken word and personal narratives of several Arizona Black Farmers and Food Growers who are nourishing the roots of the past and future while feeding and healing our communities.
ARRIVE EARLY and enjoy a vegan treat! A Special POP UP appearance by Hot Sauce and Pepper, a local food truck that offfers the best vegan Cauliwings you'll find in Arizona!
Order of pick up your book at Grassrootz Books & Juice Bar, Arizona’s only Black-Owned Bookstore. Each purchase from Grassrootz Bookstore helps to fund grassroots activism, education, and economic development efforts in Phoenix. Mention GoodFood10 to get 10% off your online or in-person purchase. Order your book here.
Special thanks to our sponsor: The Global Futures Lab: Food Sovereignty and Global Syndemic Project and the Environmental Humanities Initiative, and the School of Historical, Philosophical, and Religious Studies, based at Arizona State University.
Featured Speakers
Brandon Bates of Tiger Mountain Foundation: Brandon Bates, who goes by B Handsome, is from Tiger Mountain Foundation. His journey begins from breaking out of lower levels of thinking to cultivating positive ways of caring for oneself and creating virtuous cycles with folks near and in his community. He has learned to love and build from a standpoint of exponentiality. Tiger Mountain Foundation is his home and he would love to invite us all into this space.
Nika Forte of ABC Mobile & BaeHive: Chanika or “Nika” Forté is the Queen Bee, wearing all the hats as the urban farm manager at St. Vincent de Paul (SVdP), where she helps unshelted and socially disadvantaged with gardening and growing food, and empowering women and people of color through her beekeeping program, BaeHive. Additionally, she is the founder of ABC Mobile, an educational program that empowers minority and low-income communities with sustainable Agriculture, Beekeeping, and Composting skills as a way to promote food security, environmental awareness, financial sustainability, and to combat systemic health insecurity.
Quincy Smythe of I See Water, LLC: Quincy “Q” Smythe, Owner/CEO of I See Water, LLC, is an Arizona native who discovered his passion for growing in the medical cannabis industry which then exposed his natural ability and love for agriculture. Utilizing his degree in Sustainable Agriculture, he seeks to find innovative ways to solidify the food supply in Arizona. Over the past 8 years, Quincy has been developing his skills in square-foot and backyard gardening, along with water control and irrigation. His goal is to increase local home-growing and guide the people of Arizona to learn and love to grow their own food through aquaponics, backyard, and raised-bed gardening to sustain their families for future generations.
Moderator: Kemya Matthews, Founder of Green Touch Grow Boxes and We Rise participant
This event is part of the Good Food Finder’s Read it & Book Club’s most recent book selection: “We Are Each Other’s Harvest: Celebrating African American Farmers, Land, and Legacy” by Natalie Baszile.
LOCATION: Grassrootz Bookstore
1145 E Washington St Suite #200, Phoenix, AZ 85034