Our year of Yes! …and no! As Black women, mothers, daughters, sisters, friends, business owners, aunts, and partners we find ourselves often in competing and complementary roles. Yet, the roles one occupy does not have to come at a cost to the most important one - you! Identifying and balancing your wants, needs, and desires with your responsibilities requires boundary setting. Set boundaries, unapologetically. Say yes when it feels right, and no when it feels wrong (or right!). Having clarity creates balance.

Within the Costa Rican mountains lives an indigenous community led by women, called the Bribri. A core Bribri belief is that the earth is a woman, specifically, a goddess of fertility. It is Pachamama who has the creative force to bring life - human and plant! She presides over harvests and causes earthquakes (one of life and destruction). She is sometimes referred to as the, “good mother”.

Do you follow us on Instagram? It is interesting that the Black Girls With Green Thumbs origin story began online. Although social media is a powerhouse communication medium, we continue to find that the most impact lies in direct proximity. Meeting, educating, and being in person creates bonds, deepens learning, and inspires stewardship.

It is interesting to consider the images that stick with you from childhood. There was this short on one of the popular children’s programs that featured a child running water while he brushed his teeth and then cut to a lake outdoors that rapidly drained leaving the lone fish floundering (pun intended!). I cannot say this cartoon lives rent free in my head, because it has greatly impacted my stewardship of the planet.

Have you found yourself saying that this week? While the last year has been full of indescribable loss, in that change has also been growth.

All children should learn how to grow their own food. If that sounds radical to you, consider how impactful it could be to a community if every child knew how to grow just one life-sustaining thing that could thrive or adapt to our environment.

The need for peace can come at a time when you do not have the mental space to identify an outlet. You know the vibes. These are not the good ones.

It has been a tumultuous year, have you identified some new ways to ground yourself?

If someone would have told me 5 years ago that Latiaynna and I would be impacting so many members of our community with Black Girls With Green Thumbs, I don’t know if I would have believed it.

Yesterday would have been my great-grandmother’s 97th birthday, she passed away last month.

As I sat to prepare to write, I could not do so without acknowledging and reflecting on her life.