Agraria_Journal_Summer_2022

blue bird, owl, bat and hawk while I’m farming reminds me of the changing seasons as they eat, rest, nourish and bless my place, Lady Buggs Sanctuary. I initially started to farm because I wanted to save my mind and offer my daughter fresher, delicious foods. When I discovered that my daughter was allergic to most of the foods that I was offering, I taught myself how to make meals and medicines from scratch. A mother can go potentially into a deep depression when she’s challenged with meeting all the needs of her child without balanced finances and family support. Yes, we have family— but it’s my plant family that saved, encouraged and made me feel a part of this magical reality we call life. Restoring land through plant diversity, edible landscapes, and land stewardship is my personal journey of food sovereignty and wholeness. Just as the land is diverse and vast, so should our everyday relations be. Many of us still have ancestral memories of this kind of wholeness. Mother nature is the “technology” we can use to access all that we need to be one with our ancestors, bioregional ecosystems, and each other. Through intentional agricultural designs I will continue greening Black Indigenous spaces and diversifying my relations with all living beings, known and unknown. Sophia Buggs is coordinator of Mahoning Food Access for the City of Youngstown, Ohio, director of Environmental and Food Justice, and a member of the Intentional Development Group. Thistle, purple coneflower, and black raspberries are just a few of the plants growing on Lady Buggs Farm. SOPHIA BUGGS AGRARIA JOURNAL 2022 21