Earthen Heart
Farmland Commons
The Farmers Land Trust is partnered with Julian Lauzzana and the community-centered Earthen Heart initiative to create a community management and stewardship framework. This project supports a multi-generational community land and food model through a more just and equitable deed holding and sharing structure in southwestern Michigan under the Earthen Heart Farmland Commons 501(c)(25).
A Transformative Legacy For the Future
The Earthen Heart Farmland Commons 501(c)(25) is being created to facilitate and hold:
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Farm transitions from private ownership to community nonprofit commons holding.
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Lease conveyance and management plan agreements to support access, use, management and stewardship of land, natural, and human ecosystems of community.
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The coming together and collaboration of people and organizations to create and steward the Earthen Heart Farmland Commons in Southwestern Michigan.
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To create an actual on-the-ground example of commons held land for regenerative agriculture, eco-social enterprise economics, affordable housing, and a deepening respect for all life that will also serve as a prototypical model to replicate and expand onto other properties in the region and beyond.
An Amazing Gift of Land
A place to sow, harvest and live in accordance with values and ideals.
This converted single family rural home has been transformed into eco-habitats of permaculture, food trails, gardens, eco-cabins and wilderness used for hunting, camping, recreation and connection to Mother Earth and reverence to all creation.
This is a place to collectively reclaim skills and ways of being, to learn about the medicinal and nutritional value of Yarrow, Mullein, Dandelion, Nettles, Amaranth and Plantain with plentiful Blueberry in August and pruning in late February-mid March.
A Heritage Worth Honoring
The land that is now becoming the Earthen Heart Farmland Commons carries a powerful, often untold story. Located in Bangor, Michigan—just down the road from Covert, a town once heralded for its early Black-led governance and racial integration—this land was home to generations of African American farmers, including the Parker family, direct relatives of Emmett Till. Elbert Parker raised hogs and blueberries here while raising a large family, working at the local piano factory, and building a legacy of resilience and self-reliance.
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This land is more than soil and trees—it is a living archive of agrarian life in the Midwest. By bringing it into the Farmland Commons, we honor its heritage and ensure it remains a site of nourishment, belonging, and connection for future generations, and begin to write a new chapter of collective care, rooted in justice.
A Life in Service to Land and Community
A visionary leader, Julian Lauzzana is gifting the farm and donating capital to cover project costs and the establishment of an endowment fund to seed and sustain the future.
With a professional background as a chef, many years working in the entertainment business, experience as an organizational consultant, graduate research related to farm to schools, a year living and working in an urban design community and over 12 years raising children, Lauzzana now focuses most of his energy on Community Homesteading and the Earthen Heart initiative, which offers a comprehensive lifestyle change for rural Americans that is affordable and sustainable. His passion is co-creating and co-managing land in easily replicable ways that preserves rural integrity, health and resiliency.
This seed of generosity needs community support
Please support this Bangor, Michigan farm opportunity and the future of land stewardship, food cultivation and agrarian self sufficiency.
