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Crabtree Farms Community Book Club – Soil: The Story of a Black Mother’s Garden
5:30 pm - 7:30 pm
Overview
The Crabtree Farms Community Book Club is a monthly gathering designed to foster thoughtful conversation around food, land, sustainability, health, and community. This program will expand Crabtree’s educational offerings by creating a reflective and relational space that complements hands-on workshops and farm-based growing and learning.
The book club will provide an accessible, welcoming environment for participants to engage with meaningful literature while connecting more deeply to the mission and work of the farm.
July 01: Soil: The Story of a Black Mother’s Garden
In Soil: The Story of a Black Mother’s Garden, poet and scholar Camille T. Dungy recounts the seven-year odyssey to diversify her garden in Fort Collins, Colorado. When she moved there in 2013 with her husband and daughter, the community held restrictions about what residents could and could not plant in their gardens. In resistance to the homogenous policies that limited the possibility and wonder that grows from the earth, Dungy employs the various plants, herbs, vegetables, and flowers she grows in her garden as metaphor and treatise for how homogeneity threatens the future of our planet, and why cultivating a diverse perspective about the environment is the best means of protecting it.
Schedule
Frequency: Once per month
Start Date: May 2026
Meeting Time: First Wednesday of each month, 5:30-7:30 PM
Format (2 Hours)
• 5 minutes – Arrival & light refreshments (optional tea or seasonal farm sampling)
• 90 minutes – Guided discussion
• 15 minutes – Reflection activity or connection to the farm
• 10 minutes – Closing and preview of next month’s book
Participants must register monthly up to a week before the start date of the book club. For example, if the first book club is on Wednesday, May 6, the registration deadline is Wednesday, April 29.
Themes & Reading Plan:
The club will rotate themes to maintain variety and seasonal relevance.
Books available via the Chattanooga Public Library: https://catalog.chattlibrary.org/GroupedWork/24596cdb-7756-013f-7cb5-4b3574fde7e5-eng/HomesearchId=8304868&recordIndex=1&page=1&searchSource=local&referred=resultIndex.
For book purchases, we refer you to local bookstore Book & Cover: thebookandcover.com
Crabtree Farms Community Book Club members receive 15% off their order at Book & Cover by using the discount code CURIOUSCRB on their website: https://thebookandcover.com/. Books purchased are for in-store pickup.
About the Facilitator
Rogelio Cerezo serves as Director of Development and Administration at Crabtree Farms, where he supports the organization’s growth, partnerships, and community engagement. Rogelio has a passion for bringing people together through conversation and shared learning. An avid reader, he enjoys books that explore food, nature, culture, and community. Some of his happiest memories involve time spent in his family’s farm and in the gardens of different relatives, these experiences continue to shape his appreciation for the land and the stories that connect us to it. He’s excited to create a welcoming space for thoughtful discussion and connection through the Crabtree Farms Community Book Club.