Spring 2025 Ujima Collective Work Days

Longtime community member, Mama Tchiya, helps harvest cool weather crops like spinach.

This year at Mama Moore, our goal was to get our community more involved in  the cultivation and development of the garden while teaching tangible skills such as site carpentry, artmaking, and site maintenance. We achieved this goal through our Pre-Season Ujima Collective Work series which took place in April and May. At each event, we worked collectively to uplift the garden and gathered afterward to share a seed-to-table meal. 

Community volunteers working together to construct additional garden beds for the 2025 grow season.

April Ujima Collective Work Day

During our April Ujima Collective Work Day, we taught our community to build a 4x6 raised garden bed. We also filled our 4 newly constructed garden beds with soil and topped off the others for the upcoming season. The purpose of this project was to create a sense of collaboration and honor within our local community.

Afterward, we shared a seed-to-table meal of Curry Cow Pea Stew– made from cow peas we grew the previous summer at Mama Moore, and warmed ourselves around the fire. 

Volunteers gather for our May Ujima Collective Work Day.

May Ujima Collective Work Day 

During our May Ujima Collective Work Day, we incorporated Ujima with some Kuumba– doing what we can to leave our communities better than we found them– by teaching the art of relief printing.

We used PVC tubing, adhesive foam pads, and paint rollers to create Adinkra symbol stamps which now adorn our garden beds. This was a beautiful moment of intergenerational connection that gathered our community in celebration of art and African cultural philosophy. 

After painting the garden beds, we shared a seed-to-table meal of Berbere Spiced Falafel plates topped with hand-picked lettuce from the garden and paired with some late-season Oatmeal Dandelion Cookies a la Mama Afua!

June Ujima Collective Work Day

Our June Ujima Collective work day was a bit more laid back. A couple community members who live on the block stopped by the garden to harvest produce while our team conducted regular maintenance. These more casual interactions introduced community members to produce some had never heard of or eaten before and let folks know that Mama Moore is an abundant resource within our community– thereby promoting food agency and access within conditions of food apartheid.