A 25-Year Journey of Healing, Purpose and Legacy

There is something unmistakably Southern about Bonita Dianne Clemons. It is in the warmth of her smile, the wide-brimmed hats, the easy laughter and the way a conversation can move effortlessly from collard greens to holistic health, Black history, farming and the importance of knowing where your food comes from.

Beneath that Southern grace is a woman whose life has been shaped by loss, survival, healing and an unwavering belief in the power of community. For 25 years, Clemons has been planting seeds—sometimes literally, sometimes in the lives of women, families and farmers across South Carolina. And it all began with a woman named Dianne.

A Mother’s Legacy

Clemons’ mother, Dianne, died from a stroke at just 42 years old. The loss was devastating, but over time grief began to ask something of her daughter: What if another woman could have more time? What if families had greater knowledge about their health? What if food, wellness and community could help change someone’s story?

Those questions became even more personal after Clemons survived three life-threatening surgeries of her own. Her body became one of her greatest teachers. She began looking beyond simply treating illness and exploring nutrition, movement, meditation, self-care and the relationship between what we eat and how we live.

Eventually, she developed S.P.I.C.E. Nutrition, a whole-person approach rooted in the understanding that physical health cannot be separated from emotional, cultural, intellectual and spiritual well-being. For Clemons, wellness was never simply about eating better. It was about living differently.

In 2001, she turned that belief—and the love she carried for her mother—into Dianne’s Call. What began as a grassroots effort grew into a long-running commitment to connecting families with fresh food, health education and community resources. Yet Clemons never wanted the work to stop with handing someone a bag of vegetables. She wanted people to know how to grow them. That distinction has shaped nearly everything that followed.

Returning to the Soil

In 2016, Clemons founded FarmaSis with a bold vision of reconnecting Black women with agriculture, wellness and one another. Its foundation is simple: Collaborate. Cultivate. Create.

But those words reach far beyond farming. Women cultivate vegetables, but they also cultivate confidence. They collaborate in gardens and fields, but they also rebuild sisterhood. They grow food while creating new possibilities for health, entrepreneurship and independence.

And they do not have to leave their femininity at the garden gate. There can be dirt beneath the fingernails and earrings beneath the straw hat. There can be hard work followed by laughter. Strength and softness can occupy the same space.

Agriculture carries a complicated history for many Black Americans—a history that includes exploitation and land loss, but also extraordinary stories of knowledge, stewardship, ownership and survival. FarmaSis offers women another way to approach the soil: not because we have to work this land, but because this land can help us heal; not because someone else controls our food, but because we can grow something for ourselves.

From the Garden to the Bigger Table

Over the years, Clemons’ work expanded from community wellness into the larger systems that determine whether farmers and communities thrive. Through Bonita Global LLC, she has worked in agricultural consulting, farmer development, food aggregation, technical assistance and market access, particularly with historically underserved producers.

Her work has helped move substantial resources directly into farmers’ hands while helping locally grown food reach underserved communities. She has also helped producers understand and navigate USDA programs and opportunities that can often feel complicated or out of reach.

It is here that one of Clemons’ greatest strengths becomes clear: She knows how to move between worlds. She can sit with a woman growing her first tomato, listen to a farmer wondering whether there will be a buyer for next season’s crop, talk with a family trying to put healthier food on the table, and sit at a table with agricultural leaders discussing policy, funding, logistics and market access.

Her work has earned recognition, including being named the 2023 South Carolina Woman Farmer of the Year and receiving formal recognition from the South Carolina House of Representatives in 2024. Yet spend time with Clemons and the accomplishments quickly give way to stories about people—the farmers, the women, the children tasting something freshly grown, the meals shared around tables and, always, her mother.

Two Legacies. One Harvest.

This year marks a rare intersection in Clemons’ journey: 25 years of Dianne’s Call and 10 years of FarmaSis. “When I look back, I don’t just see programs. I see women. I see meals shared around tables. I see women walking through nature. I see hands in soil. I see farmers. I see children tasting fresh vegetables. I see sisters laughing. I see healing. And I see my mother,” Clemons reflects.

Perhaps that is the clearest explanation of Clemons’ legacy. The pain of losing her mother became a call to help other women live. Her own health challenges became an invitation to understand the body differently. A garden became a classroom. Food became a pathway to health. Agriculture became a vehicle for economic opportunity.

Sometimes healing looks like sunlight. Sometimes it looks like a fresh tomato. Sometimes it is women laughing together in a field. And sometimes it is simply remembering that we still have the power to nourish ourselves and one another.

Twenty-Five Years Later, the Call Continues

On Saturday, September 26, from 2 to 6 p.m. at Lebbs Farm, in Gilbert, the community will gather to celebrate 25 years of Dianne’s Call and 10 years of FarmaSis. But Clemons does not envision a formal anniversary banquet. She wants it to feel like coming home.

Come experience the land. Celebrate the women. Honor the farmers. Eat good food. Laugh. Breathe. Reconnect. Even if you have never been part of Dianne’s Call or FarmaSis, there is still a place for you. Because this celebration is not simply about where the journey has been. It is about what will be planted next.

Twenty-five years later, Clemons is still collaborating. Still cultivating. Still creating. Still answering Dianne’s call. What began as one daughter’s response to loss has become a legacy of helping others choose health, reclaim the soil and remember the power already in their own hands.

Bonita Dianne Clemons, MPH, is the founder of Dianne’s Call and FarmaSis, an agricultural systems consultant, wellness educator, and advocate for food access and community health. Her work is rooted in a simple but powerful belief: Food is medicine, and healthy communities begin when people have the knowledge, resources and power to nourish themselves. For more information, visit DiannesCall.org or TheFarmaSis.com.