Ep. 50 Big Green DAO 2024 Annual - Power Plant Podcast: Mohammed Schools

SSG Lacy "Mc" McDonald is joined by Sister Terri Ali and Sister Tazar Gissentanner. They are part of Mohammed Schools of Atlanta, which sits on four acres of urban land located in the inner city of Atlanta, Georgia. The school's quarter-acre garden is managed by Sister Terri Ali, along with 18 volunteers and the student body.

Transcript

SPEAKER_05 0:01

Hey, we are back at it again. We are at the annual with Big Green. Unstoppable Growth is the theme. And I'm sitting down. This is uh uh the Power Plant podcast that Triple P. I got Steve Lucky in here, my co-host. He ain't on the mic though. He had to sit down, okay? Unfortunately, he's working too hard, he's all over the place, and I'm trying to get that man to take a chill pill. But again, I have two great guests with me today. Uh, you know, we spoke yesterday, but unfortunately, due to technical issues, we're back up here again. Would you mind introducing yourselves?

SPEAKER_02 0:42

I'm Sister Terry Ali. I'm the farmer and garden teacher at the Ferdos Community Garden located at Mohammed Schools of Atlanta.

SPEAKER_04 0:52

I'm Tezar Gissenter. I'm the middle school science teacher at Mohammed Schools of Atlanta as well.

SPEAKER_02 0:59

And together, we are quite a team.

SPEAKER_05 1:02

Hey!

SPEAKER_04 1:04

In all things green.

SPEAKER_05 1:06

ATL in the house. ATL. You know what? I gotta say, I gotta say this about your city. I've never had biscuits and honey quite like it. Uh uh Atlanta. Uh, you know, Steve, maybe you remember what was the name of the spot? It wasn't it called Biscuits and Honey over there in college station?

SPEAKER_04 1:26

Flying Biscuit? Was it the flying biscuit?

SPEAKER_05 1:28

It wasn't flying biscuit, was it? It was no, it was, yes. They have that little mural of the Delta Airlines or whatever up in there.

SPEAKER_04 1:34

It's more than one. So in Atlanta, we brunch.

SPEAKER_05 1:38

Yeah, you know what?

SPEAKER_04 1:40

We didn't.

SPEAKER_05 1:41

I did notice that. I was like, yo, how are all these people out here right now? Don't y'all work? Who works in Atlanta?

SPEAKER_04 1:46

They work from home.

SPEAKER_05 1:47

I was like, this is crazy. Everybody's over here enjoying the day. It was like a Wednesday. And I was like, uh-uh, it's cracking out here. It ain't supposed to be like this. It ain't like that in Denver, I can tell you that much. But uh I love the South. Every time I go down there, it's like I'm going home. And just like the the culture, and just like I feel like when I walk off the plane, I'm walking it out into Wakanda, you know, the American version. But uh today we got some we got some questions today for you, okay? Okay. One of them is tell us a little bit about your organization. Um, this year, you know, you got you got things planned this year. Like, what would you like to see, you know, yourself in a year from now? Um, we'll start off with that.

SPEAKER_02 2:33

Well, you know, let me share first that uh we are located in an inner city school, black school. It's been there over 40 years, has great relationships with so many people uh in Atlanta, not only uh surrounding the school but politically and so forth and so on. I can't pretend that we're the first ones that started growing food there because there's always been someone growing food everywhere in America and especially in the South. It is an agricultural state. And of course, it has a history of enslavement for African Americans. So we have always worked with the land. But I think what we've been able to do over the last 10 years is to create a consistent, weekly, mandatory agriculture education that we do in linking with the school, the garden, and the community together. And it has had uh ever it has had lasting effects that we did not anticipate. It also means we've had to grow every year into more and more and bigger and bigger and better. But uh, there's a lot of things that we've learned along the way, and we'll be glad to share some of that.

SPEAKER_04 3:43

What was the question?

SPEAKER_05 3:46

That was about the organization. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. What do you what's your what is your expectation for this upcoming year? Of uh what would you like to see done? What is your goals for this year, whether it be individual or it be collective?

SPEAKER_04 4:00

We have a farm to table uh farm to cafeteria program in our school. I would like to see us um grow more in in our farming techniques so we can support that more. Okay so our children can get more fresh food. Um I would like to see um us get more into hydroponics and see how that works. And um, I want chickens.

SPEAKER_02 4:27

She's been wanting chicken.

SPEAKER_05 4:30

You want chicken chicken, the bees keep eating. See, you want chicken, I want bees.

SPEAKER_02 4:35

Oh, see, honey, honey, honey, and chicken. We'd have it all on the car. So, you know, uh every year uh for the last five years, we continue to add a theme for grade level. So um all of them farm, all of them take care of the garden through this mandatory program. But um at third grade, they also raise and release butterflies. That is so cool. Fourth grade, they're composters, fifth grade, and sixth grade are their beekeepers. And the uh seventh and eighth grade, we're trying to do more around value-added products. Okay. We have not come up, we've come up with many, but we have not as established one as. But I think we have a chance now because of the work that Taysar did over the summer in food preservation.

SPEAKER_05 5:20

Okay, it sounds like there's gonna be a head. It's a lot going on.

SPEAKER_02 5:23

It's a whole lot going on.

SPEAKER_05 5:24

Maybe them six, seventh, and eighth graders can take care of that hen house. We're working on it. We're working on it. So, you know, earlier I had uh a couple of guests, one from Ingledon, Ingoland, Arkansas. And uh in her community, she worked with blighted land, purchased it in her neighborhood, and flipped it. It took about two years for them to get things rocking. And uh she was telling me about how you know the demographics of that neighborhood is you know, you have grandparents, baby boomers, taking care of Gen Zers, right? Yeah, and utilizing that space and trying to, you know, curtail that space for the baby boomers to really take advantage of that space of growing food. But what what put what I pulled out of it was the importance of our elders pouring their wisdom, love, and and just knowledge of land and culture into those Gen Zers as they work on the garden together. And the word on the street is uh Sister Terri Ali, like that is something that you embody as well.

SPEAKER_02 6:41

Yes, well, I actually all of us, you know, and this is the and I say that because everyone is each one teach one. And I think when you set it up where people can come together in different groups, of course, we talked about the school, but uh we also have a volunteer team because that's why we can stay open all year long. We have many people from the community that help us, and so we have several things that will help with that for our listening audience. One is we this the garden is never locked, and that's really critically important. That people there are some people that like to garden at midnight, and it's okay. Uh, the other thing is that we don't have a lot of rules. The rules are don't put any pesticide on the food, but once we get people trained in that way, we don't have a lot of rules. And I think the only third third thing is that when school is in, ask first before you take it, because we are trying to develop our farm to cafeteria program. We're trying to impact transgenerational illnesses, such as high blood pressure, you know, uh sugar diabetes in the inner city. There are so many uh dialysis centers, you know, that we were never there before. And uh we are really wanting children to be able to have the opportunity to raise their food. Once it's so interesting, and let me just say this and I'm gonna uh switch over to your subject matter, but the magic that comes with putting a seed in the ground, that developing into a plant, and then producing vegetables or fruits that also have seeds, let's all of us know there should never be hunger in the world. So just having that experience helps these intergenerational conversations happen around poverty, around uh food sovereignty, around uh third world, uh third world countries and what's going on with them. Why is there so much hunger in the world? And that's what teaching what growing food begins to bring these questions to your mind that I think when you have intergenerational groups together, you can explore that beyond just your thinking or your age group, how you might look at it, it's a larger picture today. And so Soteri and I worked to w together well.

SPEAKER_04 8:52

And um when we started out, Sister Terry, I tell this story all the time, Sister Terry likes to teach children how to garden. Uh, I like to say I broke her in. So she would she she would invite like the students to come on Saturday to teach them how to garden. And I kept coming without my children on Saturdays. And finally she she would look around me like in an exaggerated manner. Where are the kids? Where and I was like, Oh, they're home. And then finally, one Saturday, she goes, Well, I really like to teach children how to grow food. And I said, Okay, uh, where does this go? I never stopped coming. So she put me to use, and I'm grateful for that because that's when I really got into growing and talking about that intergenerational relationship and teaching each other from generation to generation how to grow food and how to reconnect with the earth.

SPEAKER_02 9:50

And you know, and I think, and then just to bring this full forward, she was at that time, I think you were the president at the PTA. I don't think you were even teaching then at that school, but um now that marriage has happened between education and you know, education technology and agriculture. And because that marriage has happened, all the teachers, and especially Sister Tezar, are already thinking about project-based learning. How do we take every year and turn it into something that the children own, that they really own that experience, you know? And I only wanted to do children because you know, adults got to give you, you know, you tell tell adults what to do. They got all the questions. They, my mama didn't do it that way. Well, okay, boy, you go ask your mama. I'm just gonna teach these babies.

SPEAKER_05 10:39

You go ask your mama. That is cool. So I you know, word on the street is you have dirt talk. And you that definitely correlates that garden. Can can you dive into that a little? What does that mean?

SPEAKER_04 10:55

We have something that we call dirt therapy.

SPEAKER_05 10:59

Dirt therapy.

SPEAKER_04 11:00

So uh is Sister Terry's previous career. She was a social worker.

SPEAKER_00 11:05

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 11:06

And sometimes we as volunteers come together in the garden and we just talk it out, we work it out, we give each other advice, or we just listen, we have tea. And in our garden group, we have a garden group chat when everybody's coming over or whatever. We'll drop it in there. I'm going to the garden. I need to go to the garden. And we'll go, well, I'll meet you over there. And we often joke, we need some dirt therapy. I need some dirt therapy, is what we call it. And we go put it into the soil and make something beautiful out of it.

SPEAKER_02 11:38

You know, I think some of that came about to uh anything during the pandemic. It did actually, where everything was closing down, we actually did pandemic planting so that whole families could come out and not necessarily run across each other, but could find what they were looking for in a garden. But what was amazing, and I don't think we were ready for, we had people from the community who were physicians, who worked for EPA, who worked for CDC. These were community people that were there. Hey, they felt a need to come and get rid of some of all that anxiety they were dealing with, and it has continued that we uh you never know where your volunteers are coming from. We don't want to think it's just this group or just that group. Yeah, it's interesting how um very professional people can come and get lost in the soil. Yeah, if it's uh if it's open, if you're if you allow them to, they can come and dive right in.

SPEAKER_05 12:36

I think that's really important. Look at this. I've first off, I feel good already, just listening. Okay. It reminds me uh of the times with my grandmother. She would uh she was from Carthage, Mississippi.

SPEAKER_03 12:49

Oh, you're a country boy. Yeah, okay, okay.

SPEAKER_05 12:52

And uh she would always say January as January, baby. And I was like, okay. Uh and the last few words that I got to share with her before she passed on was uh was just to be thankful and enjoy. Like no matter where I find myself, uh, and this is in correlation to like whether it be COVID or any troubled times that we have in our lives, it could be a conflict with someone, or it could be an internal conflict with yourself, or maybe your dream didn't unfold like you really wanted it to, or you're coming up against some type of adversity. You know, I I really want to get that from both of you. Like, how how does it it doesn't even have to relate to the garden and like this is a human thing, just like eating food and growing food, like emotions are are a part of us all. And you know, sometimes we seem to lose that, especially when we're lost in the laptop or we're you know uh working that day-to-day grind, you're juggling kids and community. Like, what centers y'all? How do you deal with that part of uh uh of difficulty and adversity?

SPEAKER_04 14:06

I think um Sysentery and I share, along with the people that volunteer and our community at large, a sense that it is vitally important for us to reconnect with Earth and to teach generations upon generations how to grow food and be able to feed and sustain ourselves. And we have a common goal. And when we need that emotional support that we we come together in our space in that garden. And it's not always we're not always working, sometimes we just come happy.

SPEAKER_02 14:41

Yeah, yeah, I think that's really important. I think we never uh you know negate the presence of prayer. You know, uh something very simple. It's all around you. There's so many examples around of us, around of us. So many examples around us of uh examples of uh being humble, being patient, uh being uh you know, methodical and determined, all these things, insects share it, it's so many different things. We just gave an assignment on Monday where the children took out the yoga mats and they were supposed to draw the picture of uh imagine and believe and achieve, but they had to see it reflected in the garden so they could pick ant heels. That's one little boy did an anthill, and his whole thing was they have a right to exist. They will show you if you step on them that they are going, they are determined to uh survive. But I do want to share this. Um a garden is not only a place for you to grow food and to work, and just as Taser said, it's a place to rest. One of the things that Big Green did early on was they offered uh schools that had gardens, outdoor classrooms. That was during the pandemic. And those classrooms have really paid off because people come there to have lunch, they'll just sit under the uh the uh shelters and eat their their their lunch or they'll come there and play music. We have a lot of, and I'm encouraging all of our homegrowers who are in our listening audience, put a chair next to your garden. Take your music out there, take something, uh, do art in the garden. You know, write read in the garden, do some poetry in the garden. All those things center us because that's really who we are. We're a very dynamic uh entity. Each human being has so much that we're bringing. So the garden is a reflection and a continuation that because you're gonna get hungry. And if you if if you are growing things and you get hungry, you're gonna eat something from the garden. You ought to see the kids standing around the hibiscus bush, y'all.

SPEAKER_05 16:52

Picking it.

SPEAKER_02 16:53

Picking the lemony leaves and eating them. They will just stand there and eat all the lemony leaves, and everybody else knows hibiscus is red. Yeah. Because it's the flowers, but the kids are learning. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 17:03

That's so interesting that you say that. So in uh the seventh grade science class uh at Lake, we have we grow stuff from soil and from the hydroponic systems there. And in the morning now, students come to me and they're like, Yo, can I can I have some of that? Can I can I have some of that lettuce? And I was like, What? You want to try some of this arugula, some of this kale? Go on ahead, man. And like now it's like it's become almost habit. So I'm like, yo, just make sure that on that plant I need at least four leaves so we can keep on coming back. But like they they it there is a connection there, and even in a classroom space, like it it the visual, the the color, the the smells, you know, like we it is not natural for our children to sit in boxes all day to learn. Like, I think it's vitally important that we create green spaces like that as they learn. So, like, I I'm so encouraged and inspired. You know, I got to stick my hands in the soil over there in your garden, broke bread in your garden too. Uh which brings me to if you had a garden sign in your garden, what would it say? Touch the earth, touch the earth, okay, and believe. And believe. Believe, yes. Okay, and again, you know, I know we had technical difficulties last time, but being in your garden, I saw so many quotes and words from Dr. Myangelou uh uh throughout your garden. And one of them was like, Love liberates. And uh there's another one, I believe, uh, about courage.

SPEAKER_02 18:43

One says uh uh it's a sponge, Bob, when it says about laugh, laugh like nobody's watching, right? But can I can I just add this one last thing? Uh, you know, I think partnerships are critically important to survival of gardens. And we talked about the teacher and the uh garden and everyone working together, but we're also connected with like 50 other growers. We buy seedlings together, we fight bugs together. It's so many good people out here. And I just, anyone out here who is into a garden, don't count anyone out. And if you can connect with existing groups, you don't have to be the one that you know made those groups happen. Just become a part of someone else's reality. And you never know what gifts that God will bless all of us with. And I know I brought that part in, but I'm just saying it's you just never know what gifts are out here if you don't include more people in your circle.

SPEAKER_05 19:36

You know, that brings up a good point. And maybe you can follow up on this particular question. Y'all are part of the DAO. Yeah, and it was one of our focuses, and lucky you can back me up on this one, was that collaboration and understanding like just what we can do with the DAO. Yeah, so instead of us going off into the world and trying to tackle these huge issues by ourselves, we have a vehicle and a tool now that you know, instead of it being one org, it could be 180 orgs coming together to unite, whether it be for funding or land acquisition or like let's do workforce development stuff to collectively, because a lot of us that are in the garden also center around education. So, like, how can we empower our our youth in that manner?

SPEAKER_02 20:28

Well, you know, uh one of the things that Diana and I were talking about, because we understand that, and we're that the Dow has been an amazing vehicle for many reasons. That, you know, even the whole thing about philanthropic uh understanding, you know, turning that on its head. And even the work that Kimball's doing, we have to make sure we give him credit because he's working with his own group of people in order to give them consciousness about how important it is about uh foods, food uh sovereignty. This is it's a critical dynamic that's happening at Big Green Dow. But you know, I was sharing with Diane, if we could take a if we could take three months out of the year that all of us uh add up how much food is uh being produced, how many people are receiving that food, and where uh how many people different paces this food is going. Even though it's a snapshot, it's a snapshot that could be multiplied by four, thinking about the four seasons of the year. Um, and we could really get an idea of how much we really are producing because it's a lot.

SPEAKER_05 21:31

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 21:32

It's a whole lot.

SPEAKER_05 21:33

Collectively, we've got some serious numbers.

SPEAKER_02 21:36

We are impacting hunger in America. We are impacting hopes and dreams of a people to survive. This stuff is deep, man. When you start growing food, you are hitting the very core of what motivates us to even get out of bed. We're hungry. We got to get out of that bed. That bug got to get up. He got to go at that little animal, got to get up. And when you make that a For people, and they don't have to, you know, struggle and do without because you can afford it and they can. And you know, it's amazing. And it's I use the word magical a lot because I don't know another word that would define it as much as I have been. Just you know, I've been amazed at what can come from the earth if we give back to the earth, we massage the earth in a gentle way, it will just continue to give us more and yields more and more to us.

SPEAKER_04 22:31

And I'd say uh in terms of collaboration and partnership, I think one of the things that we do well and can do better with is showing up for your fellow farmer uh in the Atlanta area. If your fellow farmer needs something, because we all work in our silos, as we like to say.

SPEAKER_05 22:49

We all out in our own farm, on our island.

SPEAKER_04 22:53

So sometimes just showing up for your fellow farmer if they have an event, they need to put some cabbage in, they need to do whatever, show up, you know, just live it, you know, and then they come visit you and show up for you. Yeah, uh, so we we try to practice that showing up for our fellow farmer and empowering our children to know that they can grow and feed themselves. You don't have to depend on it. That gives you a certain type of power, recognition, yes.

SPEAKER_02 23:23

I mean, just think how many children run run through uh run through the garden and say, Oh, my mommy's sick, I gotta go get some lemon bombs. Oh, and I need some holy basil because my grandpa don't feel good. Yes, we have elder bear. And once they get it, I mean we we harvested the uh leaves off of the banana plant. And you know, the banana stem is that juice is used all over the world. We didn't know that. But by raising the food, it makes you more curious. Goes back to that whole project-based learning. Yes. The kids had them and were they were doing all sorts of things with them. So I'm looking forward to what comes out of that.

SPEAKER_05 23:58

So we be we touch base on um on the academia, we touch base on like community building, we touch base on um just even the emotional spiritual aspect of being in the garden. Now I want to talk about that economic side because it's extremely important. Um, especially, you know, I'm gonna quote a day, I always quote a day, because uh she said it best, man. It's like, yo, it in the philanthropic world, you know, give us the money and get out of the way. And and let us get to work. Like and then you'll have funders that are, well, I need to see this, I need to see that, and I want to have a little bit more control. And it's like, nah, dude, like you if you know we're doing the work, just it fund us, get out of the way.

SPEAKER_02 24:42

Yeah, you know, like you uh we talked at someone else mentioned earlier, even at this conference, all money is not good money for you. And that's not an easy decision to make. And I think you have to massage it and try to have transparency and courage just gonna talk it up because you can get people thinking like you want them to think sometimes, and sometimes you can't. But I think anyone who uh is trying to do this work, you have to develop more skills on how you articulate your message, help people to understand what's in it for them. What's in it for you to be a part of this with me? And um, and I think you have to uh Taser knows we are robbing Peter to PayPal all the time. That's a terminology. But um I know that terminology quite well. I know that part is quite well. But but we are actually trying to come up with a value-added product that can bring us money. And I think uh Abby of Gangsters to Growers talked about that. She came up with a hot sauce, yeah. And uh Tasar this summer came up with a uh a couple of teas that we are naming, and we're trying to make those available. Shout out to Jaida Shea in Atlanta, Georgia.

SPEAKER_04 25:49

The Atlanta tea workshop, and they're right there in Atlanta. You can have tea there.

SPEAKER_05 25:54

That's fresh. Well, I mean, but along with the biscuits and honey I'm gonna get it.

SPEAKER_04 25:58

There are some biscuits and honey.

SPEAKER_05 26:00

Hopefully, there's gonna be some chicken over there too.

SPEAKER_04 26:02

Oh, yes, yes, yes.

SPEAKER_05 26:03

Y'all know how I feel about that chicken. I ain't gonna get into that.

SPEAKER_03 26:07

You gotta come back to Atlanta real soon. We got tea, we got biscuits, we got bishop.

SPEAKER_05 26:12

Y'all gonna make me move down there, man. It's okay. I'm ready though. I'm down, I'll move down there, I'll take the whole family down there. Y'all ain't ready.

SPEAKER_04 26:18

You need an invitation first because you know, Atlanta's full. So you Oh, Atlanta's full.

SPEAKER_05 26:23

See, look at this. You hear this? I know y'all hear this from the discriminatory practices over there at Muhammad Schools, okay?

SPEAKER_04 26:31

But if you get an invitation, you can come. You're you're invited. I appreciate it. You and family. Thank you. Thank you.

SPEAKER_05 26:38

Thank you. I got a whole clan too.

SPEAKER_02 26:40

That's it.

SPEAKER_05 26:41

Eight of us over there. Oh, wow. I'm all down.

SPEAKER_02 26:44

I think I think the other thing is that you know, don't do anything in a silo, like you mentioned, but even within your own house, like the principal, the board, yeah, everybody knows what we're doing. We've we're bouncing everything off. Everyone. They have them sign off on everything. I don't do anything outside, even our financial officer, I would over talk something because I want to make sure she gets it. Yeah. Because they might know about something I don't know about. They may have got another opportunity somewhere that might blend. Yeah, yeah. Exactly.

SPEAKER_05 27:14

No, that that makes total sense. And uh that that just comes with good practices in business and uh partnership, period, is uh that transparency.

SPEAKER_02 27:25

And the other thing for a farmer, know your worth. It's nothing but make sure you always get some pay for yourself because that will feel that'll get overwhelming to you after a while. You gotta have gas money, you have to have to pay your own rent. Yeah, so it has to be, I mean, of course they have standards, and uh Atlanta's trying to come up with standards. Uh, we're one of the few cities that has a Department of Agriculture within our city hall for Atlanta. Okay. Yeah, we do, but the and so we're asking them to do these big things like come up with a salary base that a laborer can expect if you're a farm laborer.

SPEAKER_05 27:59

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 27:59

Thanks like that.

SPEAKER_05 28:00

Wow, you know what? I just I did not even think about that. Uh and here I am as a uh healthy foods for Denver kids, you know, commissioner, one of my hats. And I'm like, yo, who does do the aggro for Denver? And is that do they have that office in Den, the city and county of Denver? I'm gonna assume that they do. I ain't trying to trash talk Denver. This is my city. I love my city. Even though I'm convinced to go down to Atlanta. Oh, Denver's great. Denver has Urban Gardens, which is everywhere. And I I know for a fact, in fact, James, uh, one of our committee members um uh from Urban Symbiosis fought it for Aurora in particular to uh to make it legal for folks to grow food in their on their lawns because for a while it was a that was an illegal practice for you to grow food on your lawn.

SPEAKER_02 28:53

Wow, isn't that crazy? That don't you all have your salads that are local that come to the schools? Yes, yes, and around the country. Denver's done some fabulous things.

SPEAKER_05 29:07

Yeah, uh in fact, that's been a requirement even from uh from the healthy foods uh department there. Uh we it is a requirement that folks whether you're curating food items or or for whatever project that you're working on, that like you need to go to uh local farmers to get that produce.

SPEAKER_02 29:27

Yes, and so that's a that's a very that's an excellent national model. Yeah, and so in Georgia, we are not there yet. We have farm to cafeteria, but it's usually the uh rural areas farmers that are a part of that. And this is why this whole movement to try to get more and more food grown in the urban area, because that's where the people are.

SPEAKER_05 29:47

You know, I'm gonna try to I'm gonna try to quote Stephen Lucky. It's just gonna be hard because that man has a lot of knowledge and it spews and overflows all the time. He's got all these tidbits of information. And uh in particular for his part of the world in in Texas, he talked about uh um how would they produce a certain percentage of food locally to support, you know, their city. So it's like a lot of the uh food that does come into that part of Texas, San Antonio, I I believe it's like 80% of the food there, like comes from is it 80? Less than 1% of food produced is consumed there.

SPEAKER_02 30:36

And this is why Georgia, that's why it, you know, for uh Texas is very similar like Georgia. You know these are agricultural states. So what happened? And why are these contracts being made with so far away? You know, I don't know if you all get the USDA food recall that comes online, you know, comes on your uh on to your uh email. But the main thing they're recalling all the time is lettuce. E. coli. Yep, E. coli, right? We can solve so much of this by just local growing. Local food, clean food being grown is the best way you're gonna get those, you know, those disease-fighting enzymes or the nutrients that are in the food, and it's the best way you can keep down uh diseases, especially waterborne diseases.

SPEAKER_05 31:22

Wow, wow, look at that. We didn't touch everything that you know. We can first off, I'm gonna say, like I say, I said it in an earlier podcast. I could do this all day. Oh you do it well, I can Captain America this all day.

SPEAKER_02 31:33

No, we appreciate it. And and Sergeant Lacey is such a supporter. You know, when he says he came in and put his hands in dirt, he didn't wait on the sidelines waiting to see what I was gonna say. He said, Okay, sister, we can't do some work. So I appreciate you, Sergeant Lacey. I really do. I appreciate the whole team of uh Big Green and Stephen and everybody who's been so supportive of all of us out there growing.

SPEAKER_05 31:55

And I've got that's how we, you know, we're trying to be different. Uh we tried to we already put philanthropy on his head, like that's already happened. So now it's like, where are we gonna take this thing? You know, where is the dial gonna be now? You know what I mean? How can we really leverage and lean on each other and and also leverage the big green dial, man? And you know, props to to Steven Lucky and Jamala and James, man, because they're you know, new leadership means new ideas, new focuses, new relationships being built. And like I feel like with them coming in to take on that mantle, you know, even though you know I'm gonna step down, but my hand's still gonna be on that wheel, just like all of us, which is something that I really wanted to get across. Yeah, that you both have your hand on that wheel of guiding this this thing. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 32:44

And one day, and one day and Catherine and just that whole group, you all have been amazing. But I also want to mention Diana. Diana and Parker and the people that are in the office, you know, they really do turn on a dime constantly, constantly, constantly. And when they bought the big bus and came to Atlanta, that was crazy good. Oh my gosh, they're still talking about that big green bus.

SPEAKER_05 33:06

That is cool. Yeah, that was beautiful. That was be and I wish I would have gone to uh I really wanted to just drive in the bus. I would have drove that thing to tell you the truth. But unfortunately, I have a family and other obligations, you know. But uh uh man, yeah. Family first. I think we have a lot of great things in the future for us collectively. And man, I want us to follow up. Like, let us let this not be the last conversation that we have. I want to I want to hear about all the cool things that are getting ready to go down out there in Atlanta because I know it's coming. Yeah, because y'all are just too dynamic to for there nothing to happen. That that's that's crazy. That's like saying the sun ain't gonna rise tomorrow morning, but it is, okay? Ain't nothing gonna stop that. But uh uh I love having you being in y'all's presence, man. I think that's a good thing. Love being in y'all's presence. And thank you for spending time with me today. How can folks get a hold of y'all again? Can you drop that line again?

SPEAKER_04 34:03

Mohammedschools.org. M-O-H-A-M-M-E-D.org. Click on student life, and you'll find Ferdos Community Garden. And we're there.

SPEAKER_02 34:16

And Ferdos is F-I-R-D-O-U-S. Yes.

SPEAKER_05 34:19

And we can find you on Instagram.

SPEAKER_02 34:20

You can find us on Instagram, Facebook, Facebook. Yeah, we're uh kind of like all over the place.

SPEAKER_05 34:25

Hey, don't let it fool you. They know what they're doing down in Atlanta.

SPEAKER_02 34:28

And you're welcome to come. Well, we thank you. And we use Dr. George Martin and Carver as a guide for us as well. We have all of his bulletins, and we really do use a lot of material from a lot of people that have done well and we want to do well.

SPEAKER_05 34:41

All right on. And uh that you hear it here.

SPEAKER_02 34:44

This is Staff Sergeant Mack, Tasar Gissent, and Sister Terry Ali.

SPEAKER_05 34:48

We'll see you next time.