Linke Fligl (meaning “left wing” in Yiddish) is a BADASS, Queer, Jewish Chicken farm located on occupied Schagticoke terroritory in Millerton, New York. We are so grateful for all of the beautiful memories that have been created and shared at Linke Fligl throughout the years and to have been able to stop for a visit on our way out to Oregon. We’re also sad to leave our friends during this time when cross-country travel is challenging and look forward to reuniting for a long walk and summer swim.
Linke Fligl Chicken Farm in Millerton, NY
I first met Margot, one of the farm’s co-creators, back in 2018 during a direct action training that the Ruckus Society was hosting at WILDSEED. Dressed in a floral-patterned button-up, suspenders, and a straw fedora, Margot was part of the “tender team”, a group of folx responsible for offering healing and tenderness to participants throughout the week. I had come to the training alone and for being a pretty loud and energetic person, I’m really quite shy and anxious in large groups. I remember Margot approaching me and starting a kind conversation that put me at ease and let me know that I had a friend I could reach out to for chats in the grass, walks on the land, and chicken duties.
During the week of training, I attended a Fermentation Workshop that was held at Linke Fligl and taught by Chana and Nicole (Chana is a part of the Linke Fligl team and Nicole is a part of the Linke Fligl family) I learned so much that day, not only about fermenting, but about Jewish culture. As I sat under the sukkah listening to Chana and Nicole, I began to understand the powerful work that Linke Fligl was doing to reclaim, honor, and celebrate Jewish culture in the diaspora. Not only are they organizing for their own liberation, but they are collaborating and educating for our collective liberation.
My relationship with Linke Fligl and the beautiful folx that steward this project has helped me better identify the ways that Christian hegemony promotes antisemitism (as well as islamophobia and the condemnation of other belief rituals and traditions). I was raised Catholic and despite leaving the church, I needed to examine, question, and undo the antisemitic beliefs that were imposed upon me. This is work that I continue to do and it is work that has helped me come into decolonization work and embrace the rituals and practices of my ancestors. It’s been wonderful to share my relationship with Linke Fligl with my partner, Jihelah, and it brings joy to my heart to see her reclaim her culture in ceremony and song. My hope is that we all find friends like Margot, Chana, and Sol. Friends that courageously embrace their culture. Friends who definitely oppose colonization. Friends who bring ceremony back to land and to everyday life. Friends who help us on our own path to liberation. It truly is a gift to have friends like these, and though the distance is great (2,950 miles to be exact) I know we’ll share laughter, song, and ceremony again.
To check out the amazing work that Linke Fligl is doing, you can head over to their website at linkefligl.com. Be sure to subscribe so that you can stay updated on all of the amazing events they are organizing. You can also find them on Instagram & Facebook at @linkefligl.
- Leilani