Welcome to The Blackroad Collective!

I am Vincent Vendell Head of Adventure. Fisherman. Hunter. Explorer. My roots in the outdoors began in a small town in the Mississippi Delta. I am from Anguilla, MS. Anguilla is the place where my love of connecting to nature started to take form.

  My father's dad was a pig farmer who raised up to 450 heads of hogs at a time. My grandmother also used to garden, and they both loved fishing. My grandmother and grandfather taught my aunts and uncles fishing essentials.  My grandfather and other male elders of the community taught my dad and uncles the traditions of farming and hunting. Even today some of my uncles are still farmers in the Delta. We also as a family hunt many of the same forests they did 60 years ago, and now my uncles and father are passing down knowledge to me and my cousins. 

  My mother's dad was a catfish farmer, and his wife was a cook, housekeeper, and caterer. He would bring home fresh catfish, and he'd gather my uncles to clean the fish. My grandmother would prep the Spaghetti, hot grease in a cast iron skillet, cornmeal, Louisiana Hot Sauce, and white bread. Though this may sound like a simple meal, it is much deeper. These meals were born out of necessity. Our traditions have an impression on our culture and the world around us. If we allow those traditions to die, a part of us dies with it.

  In the Delta, during those times Black people worked many jobs to get things done and provide for their families. Regardless of your work, your connection to the land was essential. Both sets of my grandparents raised families that sharecropped, hunted, fished, and raised animals. There was also a culture of community bartering that allowed people to lean on their skills connected to the natural environment. Sadly we are starting to lose that culture in our community, and we are losing our skills to survive based on the land we inhabit. In our journey down the Blackroad, we will be rediscovering our roots, learning how to leverage our natural resources, and getting hands-on with nature. I hope you're braced for the ride because we're taking the dirt road!

See you on the Blackroad.

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Instagram: @blackroadcollective