Edgar Hayes and Ann Rader join us to speak about Freedom Farm, the community that they co-founded in 2006. Freedom Farm is “a faith-based organization based in Mount Hope, New York, that grows food to share with people who don’t have access to or can’t afford fresh produce.” They identify as a “gathering place for learning, healing, and reconnecting to this sacred earth, each other, and God.” Throughout our conversation, we get a sense of Edgar and Ann’s journey into this work. We discuss the spiritual and ethical commitments that inspire Freedom Farm. We also discuss the place of Freedom Farm in a wider web of communities and initiatives committed to spirituality, sustainability, and social justice.

Learn more about Freedom Farm at their website: https://www.freedomfarmcommunity.org/

Welcome back to Under the Ginkgo Tree. Today we revisit a panel conversation moderated by Liam at Maryhouse Catholic Worker with Martha Hennessy and Dr. Cornel West on May 1st, 2022. This conversation was a celebration of Mayday, which is known as the "birthday" of the CW movement. On this day in 1933, Dorothy and her friends went to Union Square to hand out the first edition of the newspaper.

In this episode, Jim and Liam frame the conversation by recalling their own shared connections with the Catholic Worker movement. We also lift up prayers for the late Pope Francis.

Join us for another conversation, Under the Ginkgo Tree, this time with Jordan Jones. Jordan is a minister, theologian, and community organizer. After he completes his Masters of Divinity from Union Theological Seminary this spring, he will continue his faith based organizing and his ministry at Metro Hope Church, a congregation in East Harlem.

In this episode, Jordan shares the wisdom of both Harriet Tubman and Howard Thurman. After escaping slavery, Tubman went on to save over 70 enslaved people on her "trips of mercy.” A leader and a mentor in the civil rights movement, Thurman was a visionary theologian, author, minister, and professor. Jordan considers both Tubman and Thurman to be mystics, and reflects on their crucial contributions to the movement for Black liberation. We also discuss the ways that both figures had an intimate relationship with the land, and we ponder how their witness can guide us in our current reality of ecological catastrophe.