I hate to use the word “fan” but there are only three female singers that I will proudly fan girl over and Kelis is one. How many of us used to quote and sing Milkshake around our school yards?
Well forget about milkshakes, these days, Kelis can teach us all a thing or two about cooking and farming!
I can’t forget when Kelis released her album entitled, “Food” and a sauce line, “Bounty and Full.” I thought, “whoaaa, where is she taking us all?” This was an album created for the purpose of listening and eating. It was during this time that her fans learned of her profound love for food and cooking. She’s a chef of chefs who knows how to cook up a mouth watering, great tasting dish with fresh and wholesome ingredients. We’ve seen how far city girl, Kelis has come in her journey. From ex wife to rapper Nas to now being a Cordon Bleu trained chef, farm lady and mom of two.
Can city girls survive on a farm?
Absolutely and Kelis is a prime example.
On her transition to farm life:
K: I felt unsettled for a while. Now, we get up in the morning and I have my own personal routine. I pray, take some time to myself, and then the kids get up and I make breakfast.
What prompted Kelis to make such a huge change from the glamorous life to the simple life?
Kelis had a desire to grow her own food and make family meals that are more sustainable and healthier. In a Ssense interview, she also touched slightly on statistics regarding black farmers who were more prominent in past decades. she began her farming journey in Columbia with Bounty Farms and recently purchased a 24 acre farm in California.
K: When I started to do research, in the 1920s, black-owned farms in the United States were at 25, almost 30 percent. We are now under two percent, because we were bamboozled into giving up this land.
It would appear that Kelis also has a strong desire to return to a field which has been largely occupied by non-minority individuals and reclaim some of the land that our forefathers gave up. Kelis and her husband, Mike Mora should be commended for taking on the challenge of becoming full time farmers and completing their goals of creating a more sustainable life for themselves.
Of today’s farmers, only about 45,000 are black. They own a lot less acreage and they also only make about half as much as their non black peers. Many of these black farmers have been discriminated against and have fought to keep their pride and joy: their lands! they've also fought for access to the same resources as their non-black peers.
In 1997, John Boyd, founder of the National Black Farmer’s Association and 400 other farmers sued the USDA for discriminatory practices.
The surviving black farmers of today have had to go through many tribulations just to be able to keep their land. For black farmers, their power is in their land.
Kelis is certainly heading in the right direction where sustainability is concerned. Understanding and knowing where your food comes from and how it’s being grown is an important step one can take in preserving health and life for generations to come.
You can find Kelis on her instagram speaking about and showing her freshly grown produce and herbs. I'm totally loving the evolution of Kelis!
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