Around the world, churches own millions of acres of land. Globally, the Catholic Church owns an estimated 200 million acres of land, making it one of the largest non-government landowners in the world. This reminds us of the glaring inequalities when it comes to land ownership, especially in a country like the United States where settlers own the majority of the land, descendants of enslaved people lost over 15 million acres of land due to the USDA’s discriminatory practices, we’re currently witnessing the burgeoning gentrification of rural communities, and an estimate of 60% of organic farms today don’t have a succession plan in place to ensure the small areas that have been dedicated to localized and organic food production remain as such in the future. 

This week on the podcast we explore what land redistribution could look like and how land can be emancipated from the commodity structure with guest Severine von Tscharner Fleming. How do we navigate the settler desire to own land? How can our understanding of the commons invite us into collective commitment to caring for the land and staving of speculative land privatization? In response to these questions, Severine shares the messiness and opportunity of living amongst the prosperity of extraction in the spaces we inhabit while dedicating ourselves to a land-based livelihood that awakens the call to live inside of accountability to people and place.

Severine is a farmer, activist, and organizer based in Downeast Maine. She runs Smithereen Farm, a MOFGA certified organic wild blueberry, seaweed, and orchard operation which hosts summer camps, camping, and educational workshops. She is a founder and board member of Agrarian Trust and current director of the Greenhorns, a 13 year old grassroots organization whose mission is to recruit, promote, and support the incoming generation of farmers in America. They are best known for The New Farmer’s Almanac, now in its fourth edition, their documentary film, “The Greenhorns,” and the raucous young farmer mixers they’ve thrown in 37 states and 14 grange halls. Severine is co-founder and board secretary of Farm Hack, an online, open-source platform for appropriate and affordable farm tools and technologies, as well as a founder of the National Young Farmers Coalition, which now boasts 23 state and regional coalitions. 

♫ Music featured in this episode is "Picking Moths" by John Newton, "Little Girl", "Coffee, Chocolate, Earth", "Night and Day", and "See Dick Run" by Handmade Moments.

Episode References

Greenhorns
Seaweed Commons
Smithereen Farm
Agrarian Trust
EARTHLIFE Podcast
Greenhorns Guidebook
The Movement to Turn Church Land into Farmland
The Tragedy of the Commons: How Elinor Ostrom Solved One of Life’s Greatest Dilemmas

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