Mama May Have...

Women farmers have been holding it down, making groceries as it were, since goddess knows when...Got tired of all that foraging and moving about from from place to place. These days most of us don't even know how food gets on the table and depend on supermarkets and huge warehouses to get our grub on. I come from a long line of women farmers and in summer 07 passed this knowledge on to the young girls in my family. Me, my grandaughter Imani, her friend Rachel and Niara my grandniece pictured here clearing brush as we reclaim some of our land that's been overgrown by Cedars and Multiple Rose. I wrote about our experience--a short story titled "Makin' Groceries" which will be published in the Hunger and Thirst anthology ( forthcoming 2008 City Works Press). The tale I wove is layered...stories within stories-The Ant and the Grasshopper rmxd which my daddy, Chapman Custine Johnson, used to tell us all the time when he had us out in the field pickin' rocks and preparing the ground before planting. It also contains an Anansi story, which is a remix of Anansi and Grandfather Thunder. The moral of the story (there's always a moral) is about the consequenses of greed. In the end Anansi is shamed and runs away. The old ones say that he's been seen where the bush ghosts hakilele on the famished road. I saw some of the harvest, but had to leave as it piqued and return to Cali and teaching. Carole took over distributing food...we had so much after giving it to family and friends in the surrounding area she took veggies to the food bank and her church in Philly. The harvest kept coming and coming until finally the first frost hit the pumpkins and peppers, tomatoes and zucchini. In the story "Nan" who is a
matriarchal character based on none other than yours truly tells the girls that zucchini are magical cuz when you pick em the next day there's a giant one hanging on the vine. Billie Holiday (Strange Fruit) sings, "Mama may have, Papa may have...but God Bless the Child Who has his own." True dat, 'specially in these days and times when we seem to have forgotten the lessons that help us survive in a world focused on greed and consumption rather than preparing for prosperity. There is enough for everyone... there is no need for war. We can tap the sun's energy, change our lifestyles, recycle--if only we remember the cycle of planting and the ensuing harvest that will surely come. Here's a pumpkin for Niara!