Kitty & Sea
Facilitators
Kitty and Sea are committed to saving the environment one seed or student at a time. They are co-facilitators at FSNYC who both entered this work from ancestral traditions. They now teach several classes together as they figure out pathways to long-term land access for their project, Iridescent Earth Collective. Read both of their stories and how they joined forces to start this incredible venture here!
Weirdos Welcome!
“If you come from marginalized communities and want to hang out with weirdos, nerds, this is the community for you.”
Kitty is a farmer and farm educator. A large portion of their upbringing took place on the Taqwa Community Farm, which was started by Kitty's family, lead by their grandfather Abu Talib, a founder of FSNYC. Kitty grew up at Taqwa as the values and ideas that shaped FSNYC were emerging (and participated in early training programs). One of the main Farm School values that stuck for Kitty was the Training of Trainers model. Training of Trainers was a remarkable development in the early 2000s, which empowered Kitty as a young educator. This model supplies FSNYC students with the educational tools they need to engage others, share knowledge, and eventually step into leadership positions.
It was in part due to the Training of Trainers model that Kitty felt confident to teach FSNYC with Ursula Chanse at Bronx Green-Up and later with Sea. This pathway to facilitation often happens at FSNYC where the elders can trust their students to carry on the legacy and bring new aspects to the work. As Kitty and Sea’s teaching progressed, the chemistry and curriculum they built was based largely on contributions from various community members.
Kitty continues to shape the community in FSNYC and beyond. The loving and welcoming energy they bring to spaces helps us to continue to foster a community built on inclusivity and connection.
Following in the footsteps of Family
“This was the type of work I wanted to do. I found my answers in the soil and the trees because plants heal and the earth heals us.”
Sea grows for the village that raised them and for the future. Sea Identifies as a NYrican Queer Latinx educator and farmer from the Bronx. Growing food and land connections started as an ancestral practice for Sea. They now grow to celebrate themself and to become a good ancestor. This work serves their community and builds towards the future they have been fighting for.
Sea started growing food to connect with and honor their grandmother. After losing their grandmother, Sea felt lost and disconnected from their culture, family, and community. Sea remembers their grandmother had so many plants in the house and they admired how she always opened her door, heart, and kitchen to the community. Sea wanted to tap into this plant and communal connection and so they googled, "how can I become more connected with plants?" FSNYC was the first thing that came up.
Sea saw that FSNYC had many compelling components, including racial justice and land sovereignty work. At that time, applications to our city wide course were closed, but a public irrigation offering was open. Sea immediately felt safe walking into our irrigation course at la Finca del Sur and recognized it was one of the first times they felt entirely safe walking into a random place in NYC. Seeing how many QTBIPOCs were present and how excited they were to learn about food education was refreshing. When applications finally opened, Sea applied and was accepted into our citywide course. Less than a year after graduating from FSNYC, Sea was able to join our team as a co-facilitator.
A Visionary Union
Kitty and Sea came together to teach (after briefly working together at Bronx Green Up in spring of 2020. As the pandemic grew they began to collaborate on mutual aid farming with morning Glory Communtiy Garden and Taqwa Community Farm, and worked together to support the South BX food hub. Bronx Green-Up later created the Bx Farm Hub project, coordinating various community gardens in collectively producing and distributing food. In spring of 2021, Kitty and Sea along with 3 others created the Black Yard Farm Collective.) Though the venture could not be completed as envisioned, it was still an important learning experience that led Jess Kitty and Sea to seed a new vision: Iridescent Earth Collective!
Iridescent Earth Collective is a Queer, Black & Latinx-led farm group, that grows food upstate for mutual aid food distribution in the Bronx. Kitty and Sea are in the process of figuring out a pathway to long term land for Iridescent Earth Collective.This process involves acquiring land in an agriculture land trust signed off to BIPOC farmers. This will ensure the land can stay fertile and continue growing food instead of being sold to government contractors with no interest in cultivation. They hope that other BIPOC farmers can replicate this model to have land access.
Iridescent Earth Collective is part of Kitty and Sea’s long-term vision to create stronger urban-rural pathways for FSNYC students to access land and grow food for their communities. They both know increased community capacity and intentional resource sharing have helped their work as well as the food and land justice movement expand, and they advocate strongly for this mutual aid work to continue.