POLLINATE! 2022 COHORT

Tray Brown (they/them)

Tray Brown is a Black, Queer non-binary Farmer/youth educator with roots in the African diaspora and Geechee Gullah ancestry.

They are a calm, steadfast oak tree. They’ve come to this planet to exalt Mother Earth, the flora and fauna, their ancestors, and grow sustainable/accessible food and community. They have a deep belief that we will need more like minded, heart centered folks to heal the food system and the planet. Tray is passionate about food justice/sovereignty and creating healing, joyful spaces that feed community and dismantle food apartheid.

At a young age Tray spent summers with their granny and extended family on James Island in South Carolina and saw the power of community reciprocity and living in harmony with the land which left a lasting impression on them. Later on in life they reconnected with this spirit as a Soul FIRE Immersion participant and alum. And volunteering at the Hattie Carthan Community Garden and Community Market. They are also a participating alum of Farm School NYC .

Sara Mae Williams (they/them)

As a student in the University of Arizona, Indigenous Teacher Education Project (ITEP), I’m excited to graduate this December 2022 with my Elementary Education degree. It has always been a dream of mine to teach in my tribal nation. In ITEP we talk about “reclamation of land as pedagogy” the nurturing of new generations of Indigenous peoples to have the skills, knowledge, and values to rebuild their own nations. I can’t wait to have my own classroom soon, where I incorporate my tribal lands into my teaching which will also include a heavy dose of farming. I am so excited to begin this internship, and I look forward to taking the knowledge I gain at Rock Steady Farms back to the Tohono O’odham Nation. One day I hope to have my own community farm, where we can create jobs and provide food to nourish our people, and an outdoor classroom where we are learning and growing from the land, together.

Brittany LEvers (all pronouns)

Hi there! I'm Brittany. When I'm not working, I'm tapping into my ancestral intuition and connecting to the land through beekeeping, mycology, and volunteering at NYC farms or Soul Fire Farm. My goal is to acquire acreage to challenge hetero colonial norms of living by starting a queer BIPOC centered commune with a community farm and wellness space. I look forward to forming a community and connection with other land stewards, giving back to the land, and coming up with ways to support folks' aspirations.

Kelli “KD” Randle (They/Them/KD)

Peace, my name is Kelli “KD” Randle. My pronouns are they/them, and you can also refer to me as just KD. I am a Black queer genderfluid person from the south, who, shortly before “lockdown”, became interested in the history of Black farming and land stewardship. This curiosity inspired me to tap in and rediscover the roots of my own family. The pandemic allotted me time to visit and explore the familial land of both of my mother and father. This experience, along with observing the lack of access to fresh food for myself and those around me, pushed me to reconnect with land and food work. I am currently living in Jackson, MS and doing agricultural work with local farmers here in the city and in the surrounding rural communities, and I intend to transfer these practices to the land that I have been blessed to purchase. My goals for this program is to sharpen and gain more confidence in my farming skills, and to support the work of Rock Steady. I am looking forward to this experience, and I’m excited to see what inspiration I will acquire for my future farm endeavors!

Cielo Flores (They / He)

Greetings ~ Saludos, My name is Cielo Flores. I'm a 2 Spirit Salvadorian by way of Occupied Ohlone Territory (Oakland, California). For the past 2 years I have been focusing my energy towards reconnecting with ancestral ways of medicine making and regenerative land practices to one day pass on the knowledge to younger generations. I am super excited for this moment to gain more knowledge around land stewardship and experience the process of running a CSA program with RSF. I know my time in the Pollinate program will help me grow my roots and expand my envisioning for more community land based projects in my hometown. Currently I am wrapping up my first year teaching a high school garden program and also receiving my first PDC certificate. Gratitude to the ancestors!

Shola "Cole" Cole aka Pirate Jenny (they/she)

Artist, time traveling pirate, adult learner, neurodivergent, queer, immigrant, youthfully mature, Black Lesbian. I am a CPSTD/Burnout/Narcississm Abuse survivor proudly contending with my non-conforming edges. Currently, I’m relishing low-to-no social media with unapologetic hyper-focusings on companion pot gardening, bonzai (avocados), garlic majic and Bokashi.  

I explore an art life practice layering justice in QT/BIPOC farming; integrating newly acquired skills in the green trades and redigesting self care as resistance. Despite traumatizing foundations in classical music and the performing arts, I claim my band nerd roots; using those frameworks to navigate a multi-sectored background and support myself in the performance art/life continuum as Pirate Jenny (PJ). Ongoing inquiry of how the othered form navigates capitalism centers my praxis; unpacking embodied resistance within service sectors. 

 POLLINATE! Supports my expansive interest in farming infrastructure, natural building and mechanical operations. In centering QT/LGBTQIA+POC farmers, I can develop art programming, scale a micro CSA or create learning & neurodiverse inclusive spaces encompassing technical systems for BIPOC queer/trans farmers.

 Time at UCONN and MICA brings me through EmergeNYC, Soul Fire Farm, Farm School NYC, Down Bottom Farms, Earthwood Building School and to 48/50 states and 3 continents. Ongoing time-travel through Art/Life Institute and Three Phase Space lets me  perform near and far with amazing friends who I miss sweetly. 

Tamarya Sims (they/them)

I'm NC born and raised and reside on the ancestral land of the Cherokee and Yuchi peoples (Asheville, NC), where I focus on reclaiming my roots of healing, growing, and caring for the land. I have a passion for sharing knowledge of growing food and medicine and creating healthy sustainable ecosystems with Black and Brown communities. I hope to create a 60-acre educational farm one day that offers a healing space for trauma and grief and Black, Brown, queer, and neurodivergent communities to feel comfort. I'm here to hold space for the Black non-binary farmer, educators, herbalists, and land caretakers and continue to re-learn farming techniques [and decolonize them] and share with my communities.

Diana Hou (she/her, they/them)

Throughout the pandemic I’ve been learning what it means to care for myself and the people I love. I want to nourish an alternative food system in which we take back the means of production from the conglomerates that exploit and poison us, actualize our agency to disrupt scarcity conditions, and give back to the land instead of just taking. I am currently setting up decentralized farm operations of microgreens and mushrooms as part of We Are Earth (WAE), a BIPOC-owned urban agriculture collective focused on food sovereignty. We are looking to capture urban waste streams such as coffee grounds in our mushrooms growing and reduce the reliance on financially inaccessible equipment. I hope that learning about Rock Steady’s model will shed light on how to run a self-sustaining farm while staying true to community. I’m interested to see how queer networks of care show up in community partnerships, sliding scale, and CSA distribution. I hope to understand the rhythm of my labor contributing to a collective project that I as an individual have agency to help create. I’m also very excited to gain experience on land outside of the city, which will supplement my learnings in Farm School this year, and feed dreams of future land stewardship.