Friday, September 18, 2026 • 9:30am – 5:30pm
For over 120 years, Convocation has gathered people from the American Northeast and beyond for spiritual restoration and meaningful community. We’re proud to carry on this tradition today while we reckon with a climate-changed world.
“I believe that we’re all going to live much more honorably on this great blue Earth if we behave as if we will win.
To keep that hope alive, even knowing that we might not get to the mountain or see beyond it in our lifetimes, we need to think in generational returns rather than quarterly returns.
– Leah Penniman
in an article for Bioneers
The Same Sacred Soil
Food justice and climate justice spring from the same sacred soil. Who gets to eat well, who tends the land, and who bears the weight of a changing climate are questions bound together by history, race, class, and power.
Come explore this living intersection together at The Ecology School at River Bend Farm in Saco, Maine, where beauty, education, and nourishment meet. We’ll ground ideas and values in practice with our hands, our bodies, and the soil beneath our feet.
Keynote Speaker
Leah Penniman is a Black Kreyol farmer, mother, activist, author, scientist, earth-lover, and African Traditional Priest who has been tending the soil and organizing for a racially just food system for 30 years. She serves as Co-Founder and Farm Director at Soul Fire Farm in Grafton, New York, an Afro-Indigenous training farm dedicated to food and land sovereignty.
Leah’s books, Farming While Black: Soul Fire Farm’s Practical Guide to Liberation on the Land (2018), Black Earth Wisdom: Soulful Conversations with Black Environmentalists (2023), and Children of the Land: A Soul Fire Farm Parenting Guide (2027) are love songs for the land and her people.
Leah holds an MA in Science Education and a BA in Environmental Science and International Development from Clark University, and served as a high school biology and environmental science teacher for 17 years. Leah began farming in 1996 and trained at Many Hands Organic Farm, Farm School Mass, and internationally with farmers in Ghana, Haiti, and Mexico. Leah is a West African Traditional Priest (Ifá, Vodun), practitioner of the Dharma (Nipponzan Myohoji Grafton Sangha & Order of Interbeing), and member of Jewish Voice for Peace. The work of Leah and Soul Fire Farm has been recognized by the Soros Racial Justice Fellowship, Fulbright, Heinz Prize, Pritzker Environmental Genius Award, Grist 50, and James Beard Leadership Award, among others.
Leah and the Soul Fire Farm team facilitate powerful food sovereignty programs – including farmer training for Black & Brown people, a no-cost farm food distribution program for communities surviving food apartheid, and domestic and international organizing toward equity in the food system. Leah’s joy-practices include running, African dance, mountain hiking, and folk singing.
We’re pleased to include a copy of Leah Penniman’s book, Black Earth Wisdom, with every Convocation registration.
Musicians
Fendrick & Peck (Madeline Fendrick and Brian Peck) have put together what can only be described as a variety show of songs, poems, and stories. Their music is all harmony…exquisitely crafted lyrics and composition with unbridled delight peppered throughout. Frequent instrument swapping, quirky tales of their exploits, and sudden dives into deep heart stuff will leave you bubbling at the end of a concert! Learn more about Fendrick & Peck and hear their music here.
Immersion Sessions
Permaculture: Remembering How to Human
with Jesse Labbe-Watson
Soft Fascinations: Odes to the (Extra)Ordinary
with Rev. Ash Temin
Working with Essence: The Shift from Transaction to Reciprocity
with Bill Reed
Food Systems & Agroecology
with The Ecology School
Accepting the Gift: Attentive Devotion to the Magic that Feeds Us
with Sherene Maren
Schedule
9:30am • Gathering
10:00am • Welcome & Keynote Presentation by Leah Penniman
12:00pm • Lunch
1:15pm • Immersions, Round I
2:30pm • Break & Optional Song Circle
3:00pm • Immersions, Round II
4:15pm • Break
4:30pm • Closing Message, Songs & Rituals
5:30pm • Parting with Gratitude
The Ecology School
at River Bend Farm
Saco, Maine
River Bend Farm is a historic 313-acre agro-ecology farm located on a scenic bend in the Saco River, just twenty minutes from the Maine coast.
The Farm provides “live what you learn” opportunities through hands-on exploration of Maine’s ecosystems, direct connection to food systems and farming, and by modeling conservation-in-action.
184 Simpson Road,
Saco, ME, 04072
(207) 283-9951
Friday, September 18, 2026 • 9:30am – 5:30pm
Register now! $130 through Friday, September 10. If scholarship would make your attendance possible, please contact Rev. Nicole Diroff at nicole@thebtscenter.org.
Registration includes a light breakfast, lunch, and afternoon snacks, as well as a copy of Leah Penniman’s book, Black Earth Wisdom. Coffee and tea will be available throughout the day.
More information to come!
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