Join us for a conversation with Kanchan Dawn Hunter about the trajectory of her decades of social justice work, raising children, and specifically the ways mental health, racial justice and urban agriculture are all intertwined. Kanchan talks with us about her work to support black and brown women in farming and herbalism, and her efforts to lift up black boys and men in the face of increased targeting of their lives. We had this conversation a few months ago, while sitting around a table in Kanchan’s beautiful tiny house with a view of the San Francisco Bay, as her puppy was running around our feet.
About Kanchan:
Kanchan Dawn Hunter is a parent, an educator, and the Director of Community Outreach at Spiral Gardens Community Food Security Project. For more than 30 years she has been engaged in work at the intersection of community building and racial and environmental justice. Kanchan has worked with Hand in Hand Parenting, the Berkeley Ecology Center, World Trust, and Spiral Gardens, as well as helping to develop the breakthrough curriculum “Healing the Hurts of Racism” and the film “Making Whiteness Visible.” Her deep commitment to healing her own internalized oppression made it possible for her to intentionally reach out to black and brown men and boys in her community as a way to actively show support for them in the face of increased targeting of their lives. Since transitioning into environmental justice work, Kanchan co-founded Soil Sistahs with Doria Robinson, a gathering of black and brown women that meets at Spiral Gardens monthly. Through this gathering, women of color are able to meet in a safe space connecting with the soil through meditations, garden projects, and plant study. The purpose of this gathering is to ensure that we have equal access to local soil and growing our food together in it, as a way to deepen our connection to the planet, ourselves….. and each other. Soil Sistahs inspired her to co-create the 1st and 2nd Annual California Women of Color Herbal Symposium, an event that spanned an entire weekend sharing and learning from multiple teachers and each other on the beautiful Navarro River.
Find Kanchan online:
On the web: http://www.spiralgardens.org/
On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kanchandawnhunter
On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mamakanchan/
Links to resources that were mentioned:
Spiral Gardens Food Security Project: http://www.spiralgardens.org/
Soil Sistahs: https://www.facebook.com/soilsistahs/
California Women of Color Herbal Symposium: https://www.facebook.com/CWOCHS
Links to So Many Wings’ social media and website
On the web: https://somanywings.org
On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/somanywingspodcast
On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/somanywingspodcast
On Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/join/somanywingspodcast
