MOTHER EARTH NEWS is happy to announce the 2023 Voices Initiative participants: April Jones, Amyrose Foll, Karena Poke, Kashava Holt, Nicky Schauder, and lead consultant Pork Rhyne! The 2023 Voices are experts in various fields of self-sufficiency and sustainable living and are creating a path to build equality among historically marginalized populations within their respective fields.
In the coming year, the Voices will share their knowledge and advocacy through MOTHER EARTH NEWS online, in print, in-person at FAIR events, and more. Congratulations to the 2023 Voices! We look forward to a year of community building and education. Learn more about the Voices below and meet them at the 2023 FAIRs to come along on this journey of learning!
Pork Rhyne, Lead Consultant
Pork Rhyne is “The Pork Evangelist,” an international livestock educator and farm marketing coach. He has been featured in Homesteaders of America, ABC’s Localish, and PBS’s Resilient Agriculture. Pork Rhyne has trained over 5,000 full-time farmers and homesteaders in scaling profitable farm enterprises by helping them overcome their fears of pricing and marketing their story. He is passionate about developing farmers as servant leaders on their farm, in their home, and within their community.
Amyrose Foll
Founder of Virginia Free Farm Amyrose Foll is a fervent advocate for food sovereignty, earth care, people care, and resource share. She works to live out the values of collectivism and community in order to ensure those around her are fed. She is a veteran of the U.S. Army, a former nurse, and continues her duty to protect and care for others through the farm.
April Jones
April Jones is the founder of the Pinehurst Farmers Market. She is originally from Akron, Ohio. April advocates for her community as part of the food justice and food sovereignty movement. She is a writer, photographer, blogger, YouTuber, recipe developer, and book reviewer who is passionate about community, gardens, and farmers markets.
Karena Poke
Karena Poke is an eco-entrepreneur, garden educator, and farmer. She is known for her pioneering work in translating edible gardens into a viable business model for transforming communities while also reducing chronic diseases in underserved food desert neighborhoods. After becoming a Master Gardener through Texas A&M AgriLife Extension in 2014, and with a passion for building healthy communities across the world, she launched Lettuce Live, an edible garden firm that builds and manages vegetable gardens and facilitates team-building exercises and workshops for individuals and corporations.
Kashava Holt
Kashava Holt currently studies Construction Engineering and Fire Protection Technology at the University of Akron. He received the Choose Ohio First STEM scholar award in 2014. In 2018 he started working on the Akron High Tunnel Initiative with the Federation of Southern Cooperatives and USDA in the Akron/Cleveland communities to further agriculture, conservation, education, and sustainability projects to help gardeners, elderly, people with disabilities, people experiencing homelessness, minorities, urban farmers, veterans, and youth. Finally, he manages the non-profit Akron Urban Agriculture and they focus on bee farms, composting, food forests, high tunnels, microgreens, sprouts, soil regeneration, and various projects to provide healthier foods to communities in urban areas like Akron and Cleveland.
Nicky Schauder
Nicky Schauder is passionate about helping families grow their own food. With her husband Dave, she runs Permaculture Gardens at growmyownfood.com, a website filled with garden resources such as free webinars, educational blogs and Grow-It-Yourself (GIY) – a garden mentoring program to help families grow abundantly! Permaculture Gardens has received the “Most Sustainable Brand” award at the Green Festivals and Nicky and Dave’s work has been featured in the Huffington Post, Permaculture Research Institute – Australia and Green America.org.
