Featured Leader: Amyrose Foll
FSLN member Amyrose Foll is the founder of The Virginia Free Farm, which works to provide free nutrient dense food assistance to those in need. We first met Amyrose when she presented on Seed Rematriation & Vital Pathways of the Garden with A Growing Culture and are so glad we did! Read more about Amyrose and The Virginia Free Farm in this Featured Leader piece.
You and your journey
Who are you? (The bio you’d like to share)
Amyrose is the founder of The Virginia Free Farm, which works to provide free nutrient dense food assistance to those in need. The organization also provides free-of charge plants and seeds to community gardens, schools, and community-based organizations, as well as educates young people in the Richmond metro area about indigenous agriculture & lifeways. Amyrose’s strong background in healthcare and her native heritage (Penobscot/Abenaki) is what prompted her to begin advocating for food sovereignty, security, and preservation of indigenous food culture through seed saving & distribution. She is focusing on teaching Indigenous lifeways and ethnobotanical knowledge to the region’s children, preserving heritage seed, and feeding the community in order to cultivate the next generation of land and water protectors.
AmyRose is a U.S. Army veteran, former fire fighter paramedic, and nurse. She has a background in Biology & Healthcare, in addition to a Master’s in Health Information Management, and digital marketing. She holds certificates in viticulture & fruit tree production, poultry production, and well as woodlot management from Cornell University.
And now, who are you? (Beyond the job title!)
Mother, Seedkeeper, Farmer, Roller Derby Girl, Pig Lover
What inspired you to get involved in food systems work?
Making sure my heritage & traditional foodways were passed down to my children spawned the adventure of Virginia Free Farm. Teaching children traditional ecological knowledge, foraging, and self sufficiency slowly morphed into beginning to build an alternative food system within our local community focusing on grassroots community growing, and seed saving.
Can you name a person who has had a tremendous impact on you as a leader? Maybe someone who has been a mentor to you, or someone you look up to. Why and how has this person impacted your life?
My father. He instilled in me a love of the outdoors, and cultivated in me a reverence & responsibility to protect the land, and be responsible with the soil beneath our feet. He taught me all the basic skills I needed to pass this along to subsequent generations. It’s a beautiful thing that in a way he is still alive through my work teaching others the things he taught me.
What’s something about you (a fun fact) that not many of your colleagues know or that we wouldn’t expect from you?
I was a figure skater & in the early 90’s actually placed in the top ten in the nation 3 years in a row. Also, I can’t dance to save my life haha.
Leadership and learnings
What does food systems leadership mean to you?
It means equipping others with the necessary skills, and information to make them able to be totally independent and not need me. It means working myself out of a job so that they can go on to lead the work in their own way, with their own missions. Fostering true leadership in others so that when people come to see us, or work with us they are also empowered to do the same.
What is your greatest leadership challenge now, and what are you looking for support for?
Creative ways to fundraise in the time of covid. We’ve seen a need increase & donations drop because of the economy. Introduce us to your wealthy & motivated friends.
What are you most excited about in your work?
I’m most excited about our tribal projects working with the Rappahannock & Monacan to reclaim their sacred seeds & traditional foodways.
Reflections on 2020
A lot happened in 2020. What is one lesson or takeaway that you’ll carry with you from this past year?
Practice radical kindness. I promise you that you will get more out of it than those in the receiving end of your intentional gentleness.
COVID is impacting the food system in a number of ways, and in some cases, one can argue that more attention is being paid to the value and resiliency of local and regional food systems. What is one change you’re hoping to see to the US food system as we move into a “new normal,” and how do you think we can get there?
I hope this empowers or motivates more communities to create free food gardens, and
individuals to take up their gloves & trowel and plant a seed.
Also in 2020 – discussions around and acknowledgement of America’s past and present-day systemic racism. How might those involved in the movement for equitable food systems ride this momentum to create a more equitable and explicitly anti-racist food system?
Keep pressure on the administration. Just because we’ve had a change in power doesn’t mean we can let up now, demand accountability, and become complacent now that the threat level has changed. We need to work hard to create an alternative model and endeavor to make the current system obsolete. The system in place now was not meant to serve and benefit everyone. It was created by laws and decisions makers who are in many cases still in their positions of power. The system is not going to change itself, so we need to persevere in creating our own.
Speaking of… when you imagine an equitable and anti-racist food system, what do you envision?
I envision Land Back being a thing, I envision vacant lots being revitalized by folks who desperately want to create and grow instead of sitting idle, I envision the government supporting healthy foods, and ending the subsidies for foods that are chronically over produced, then processed into everything that is making us sick. Ending government support for “industrial” farming needs to happen for equity because a food system that doesn’t include the intersectional aspects of environmental justice, greater access in order to end food apartheid, and redistributing funding to smaller environmentally responsible farming operations in order to allow them to more effectively compete. The current race to the bottom to compete with subsidized massive operations has destroyed small farms before they even get a chance. It makes access to their higher quality products a new form of conspicuous consumption for the upper class who can afford it.
Let’s Get Real — under the iceberg:
Burn out. It’s a thing, and social change is a long game. Have you found ways to balance taking care of yourself with your commitment to creating more equitable food and social systems?
I’m trying, not always succeeding.
What is one change would you like to see that might encourage more folks to enter and stay in this work for the long haul?
It doesn’t need to be perfect, it’s going to change, things will fail, but don’t give up. Build a team of folks who can work alongside you & hang on to those people. Together we are more powerful than alone. The medicine for any struggle or difficult situation is community.
Any words of encouragement or advice to share with your fellow food systems leaders?
Work hard to cultivate REAL relationships with others working in the same areas. They will be a great network to have when things get hard or you need some support.
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