My name is Ashni, and my family comes from St. Vincent and the Grenadines. I co-founded and steward Mumbet’s Freedom Farm in Sheffield, Massachusetts, a sanctuary led by Black and Brown queer women rooted in Afro-Indigenous and biodynamic practices. In a region with limited racial and cultural diversity, creating an inclusive and welcoming space is central to my work. The farm is named after Elizabeth Mumbet Freeman, an enslaved woman who courageously advocated for her own freedom and won a landmark court case in Massachusetts in 1781. Mumbet lived in this area, and her strength and determination continue to inspire the work we do on the land today.
Our farm is about more than growing food; it’s about nurturing community, preserving ancestral knowledge, and creating a space where everyone belongs. I focus on growing vegetables, herbs, and flowers. On the farm, I also cultivate ancestral crops such as brown cotton, a naturally pigmented variety historically grown in the Caribbean and the American South, and tobacco. I also grow medicinal herbs, including tulsi, a sacred herb used to support immunity. As an adaptogen, tulsi helps the body adapt to stress and promotes a sense of calm. It is also used in many cultures to support respiratory health, digestion, and skin health. I share how preserving, trading, and sharing seeds connects us to each other and to the earth. In doing so, we preserve plants and knowledge for future generations, promote abundance, encourage sharing, and strengthen community connections.
Mumbet’s Freedom Farm is open to everyone. People can attend events such as community workdays, potlucks, wellness clinics, help in the gardens, and take home food, flowers, and herbs. Through these shared experiences, we build relationships with each other and with the land, cultivating connection, learning, and belonging.
Our farm is about more than growing food; it’s about nurturing community, preserving ancestral knowledge, and creating a space where everyone belongs. I focus on growing vegetables, herbs, and flowers. On the farm, I also cultivate ancestral crops such as brown cotton, a naturally pigmented variety historically grown in the Caribbean and the American South, and tobacco. I also grow medicinal herbs, including tulsi, a sacred herb used to support immunity. As an adaptogen, tulsi helps the body adapt to stress and promotes a sense of calm. It is also used in many cultures to support respiratory health, digestion, and skin health. I share how preserving, trading, and sharing seeds connects us to each other and to the earth. In doing so, we preserve plants and knowledge for future generations, promote abundance, encourage sharing, and strengthen community connections.
Mumbet’s Freedom Farm is open to everyone. People can attend events such as community workdays, potlucks, wellness clinics, help in the gardens, and take home food, flowers, and herbs. Through these shared experiences, we build relationships with each other and with the land, cultivating connection, learning, and belonging.
