World Soil Day | Planting Dreams with Grown in Haiti
Listen to the interview audio here (6:47)
Celebrating World Soil Day with Grown in Haiti
This World Soil Day, we honor the extraordinary magic of soil–the foundation of life–and the people who dedicate themselves to its care. Grown in Haiti (GiH), a grassroots initiative based in Jacmel (a commune in the southern part of the country) is working to restore the soil through regenerative farming, community empowerment, and fostering a deep love both at home and abroad for the natural beauty of the island of Ayiti.
Last week, we interviewed Sidney Max Etienne, the founder of GiH, to learn more about his journey back to Haiti to start this reforestation and biodiversity project, a story as compelling as the forest he and his community are growing there.
To truly connect with and appreciate the shared mission of GiH and SOIL, it’s essential to understand Haiti’s broader environmental challenges. Once blanketed in vibrant forests, the island suffered extensive deforestation that was driven by colonial exploitation and the crushing burden of the "freedom debt" Haiti was forced to pay to France after gaining independence. These injustices have left the country’s soil vulnerable to erosion and its people increasingly exposed to climate shocks. Initiatives like Grown in Haiti—and SOIL Haiti’s efforts in ecological sanitation and composting aim to reverse this trend by restoring the soil’s ability to nurture life in Haiti.
How Grown in Haiti Began
For Sidney, it began with a flicker—a quiet, persistent light in his dreams. Night after night, the pulse grew brighter, revealing visions of verdant forests . At the time, Sidney, who had grown up in Haiti, was a young man in his early thirties, navigating life in New York City as a communications professional.
“I didn’t fully understand it at the time,” Sidney recalls, “but this recurring dream made me feel like something needed to happen. The land was calling me home to do what I can .”
Growing a Forest
When Sidney arrived in Jacmel in 2014, what he found was not soil. His acquired plot of land was unyielding, barren—a cracked canvas of bedrock. Nonetheless, Sidney got to work on reforesting the area. He learned very quickly that soil isn’t merely dirt; it’s a living organism, humming with microbes and fungi that sustain life. Sidney says while Zoom-ing us in the rain from his thriving garden in Jacmel:
“We are not farming trees and plants, we are farming the microbes and supporting the life cycle that’s in the soil.”
Restoring the land began with buying and spreading compost and allowing wild weeds to grow and decompose, slowly enriching and building up the soil. Over time, the once parched bedrock began to teem with life and sprout seedling trees.
From Garden to Community
Sidney’s vision to grow and nurture trees eventually extended beyond his own garden. Children in the nearby area would often come and peek at Sidney growing plants, giggling with curiosity about what he was doing and jumping in to help. Despite an eagerness from the youth to engage in his reforestation efforts, Sidney faced skepticism from older community members, who didn’t immediately see value in his methods.
“Sometimes people don’t want to take the time and effort to plant anything that is not useful to them because they don’t think they’ll live to see the benefits,” he says.
And understandably so. With the constant challenges that we face as human beings, it’s hard to take a moment to look around and consider the history of our surroundings. It’s difficult to grasp that the food and fruits of trees we enjoy today were planted by our grandparents decades ago—or, more commonly, by strangers we may never cross paths with.
To bridge the gap, Sidney shared fruits and vegetables from his garden with neighbors, allowing the results of his efforts to speak for themselves. Over time, the seeds from those gifted harvests found new homes, sprouting into micro-nurseries in backyards across the community.
Once interest was piqued amongst adult community members, Sidney saw that there was a need for better access to the tools required for building nurseries and managing the land. In response to this, he started a community tool shed, and stockpiled it the best he could with shovels, pickaxes, and seed bags that neighbors could use and borrow.
Fast forward to today, and GiH’s efforts have grown exponentially. They now function as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit with organized tree plantings, local community workshops, and a soon to be constructed environmental learning center in Jacmel. Committed to transforming landscapes, 12,000 fruit bearing trees have been planted and cared for by GiH to date.
Green Initiatives Across Haiti
SOIL has previously collaborated with GrowninHaiti on the shared vision of soil regeneration, years ago sending SOIL team members to Jacmel to trade and share knowledge on composting techniques, community gardening, and soil regeneration.
“As an ecologist drawn to sanitation by my love of the soil, I am deeply inspired by the work of Grown in Haiti and moved by their commitment to building community from the ground up by nurturing all of the living things that make up the soil ecosystem," says Sasha Kramer, "By amplifying each other’s missions, we hope to create a unified voice that advocates for environmental justice and restoration.”
If there is one thing that SOIL has learned from working with soil, it is that soil connects us all. Whether you live in an urban apartment or a rural town, we all depend on the soil for our food, sustenance, and survival.
“It’s time to do the work to take care of the Earth however you can,” Sidney says, “even if you start in your own backyard.”
On this World Soil Day, take a moment to honor the ground beneath your feet. Compost your scraps, reduce household chemical and pesticide use, and/or support and spread the word about organizations like SOIL Haiti and GrowninHaiti. Sidney’s story reminds us that change begins with us—by leading through example and offering support wherever we can.
“I never imagined this is where I’d end up,” Sidney says with a laugh. “But sometimes, you just have to follow that little light and listen to your dreams.”
To learn more about Grown in Haiti, visit: https://www.growninhaiti.com/