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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.

Freedom Farm Community
Freedom Farm Community is a faith-based nonprofit, dedicating to growing healthy, pesticide-free food. We foster an intentional community focused on cultivating a deeper relationship with the earth, each other and God.
Freedom Farm Community
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Under the Ginkgo Tree is a project of the Deignan Institute for Earth and Spirit. Rooted at Iona University, our aim is to cultivate conversations with eco-justice minded scholars and faith-based activists who are engaged in embodying integral ecology.

In each episode, co-hosts Jim Robinson and Liam Myers facilitate reflection on our place in the wider web of life through conversations with guest speakers, embodied spiritual practices, and by identifying a particular plant on campus. Join us, Under the Ginkgo Tree!

About the Guests

Edgar Hayes is one of  Freedom Farm’s co-founders.  He loves the farming aspect of all the many tasks that need to be done.  “I can do this all day.”  I think he coined that phrase before Captain America, if you ask me.  Edgar loves re-connecting with creation.  He spends lots of his time outdoors listening to the birds singing,  growing food, homesteading, cutting the grass, watching and feeling the life around him, and hugging trees.  Yes, he is a tree hugger!  He also loves making his own granola too. :)

Ann Rader co-founded Freedom Farm Community after dreaming about it since she was in her teens. Ann and Edgar moved full time to the farm from the Bronx in 2005, with 2 year-old Josiah and pregnant with Micah. Ann’s work at Freedom Farm Community is informed by many experiences, including her education at Earlham College and Wesley Theological Seminary, and previous job at Youth Ministries for Peace and Justice in the Bronx.

Interactive Transcript

Note: This transcript was generated by machine and may contain errors. It’s shared here in an interactive, searchable format to make the conversation easier to explore and revisit.