Zoom Conference: #Wabanaki #FoodSovereignty
Monday, September 1, 2025
9am - 10am
NiweskokEvents | Niweskok
#foodsovereignty
5 posts3 participants0 posts today
#Wabanaki group restoring 245-acre farm in #SwanvilleME as food hub
#Niweskok, a Wabanaki-led #FoodSovereignty organization, recently bought the farm to aid its work reinvigorating traditional crops and land management.
by Gillian Graham, May 8, 2025
"A Wabanaki-led food sovereignty organization recently acquired a 245-acre farm in Swanville, marking the return of Wabanaki stewardship to ancestral lands in the Penobscot Bay region.
"Niweskok: From the #StarsToSeeds, a collaboration of Wabanaki #FoodAndMedicine providers, has focused for years on reinvigorating #TraditionalCrops and #LandManagement strategies, distributing #TraditionalFoods and hosting workshops. But they did not have a permanent land base until buying the farm.
" 'Now, with this land, we have permanency of place — and the ability to continue this work for generations to come,' said #AliviaMoore, a #PenobscotNation citizen and Niweskok co-director.
"Niweskok (which translates to 'dried seeds for planting' in the Penobscot language) raised more than $1.8 million in just three months to buy the farm, which had been used to raise cattle and board horses. The group continues to raise money toward its $3 million capital campaign goal.
"Acquiring the land in January was a major step toward restoring the #PenobscotBay region as a Wabanaki food hub and allows Indigenous communities to reconnect with #TraditionalFoodways, #medicines and #ecological #stewardship. Niweskok sees the land as an intergenerational center where Wabanaki values of care, reciprocity and sustainability can flourish.
Moore said the land will allow Niweskok to go much deeper in its food production work. The group’s plans for the land include educational programming, #SeedSaving, #WildHarvesting and cultural camps.
"Moore said the land itself would determine the name of the farm. The farm was selected because it is close to the ocean and Penobscot territory.
'Penobscot people have been, through the process of #colonization and #genocide, thoroughly removed from coastal access,' Moore said. 'So for us to truly have healthful economies, healthful social structures and political systems, we need to be able to engage in our coastal ecology.'
"The land, with access to the #GooseRiver, includes agricultural #fields, 140 acres of #forest, #wetlands and ponds. There are miles of riding trails through the woods, which Niweskok staff will map and decide which to maintain and whether more are needed for waterway access.
"Niweskok staff members have been preparing the soil for future planting and harvesting. Moore has been working on a 1-acre welcome garden that includes #perennials, #FruitTrees, #SweetGrass, #blueberries and other plants. Last week, she planted 70 #asparagus seedlings and 35 #rhubarb plants.
"Plans also are underway to spruce up a #farmstand where Niweskok will share #FreeProduce with neighbors.
"Moore has also been focused on working to restore the forests as #FoodForests — a process that will take years — and has started selective cutting to support existing #hazelnut groves and #BlackCherries.
"Niweskok will also create outdoor classrooms for community members to engage with the land, including demonstrations on plantings and #agroforestry techniques.
" 'An outdoor kitchen is one of our high-priority areas because so much of our time and how we want to support our community is being with our foods and outside as much as possible,' Moore said. 'Cooking over open fire is not only a way we want to engage with folks, but an important, culturally significant and really beautiful way to be together.'
"Niweskok this month was awarded the #EspyHeritageAward from the #MaineCoastHeritageTrust, an annual award that recognizes those who make outstanding contributions to #LandConservation while inspiring others. It was the first time the award was given to an #Indigenous-led group.
"Angela Twitchell, director of partnerships and public policy for Maine Coast Heritage Trust, said Niweskok’s work to restore the Penobscot Bay region as a Wabanaki food hub is 'an inspiring example of how land conservation is evolving.'
"For decades starting in the 1950s, land conservation was centered on ecological and species protection and protecting lands from people and development. It has since evolved to center its work in community, Twitchell said.
" '(Niweskok’s) work embodies resilience and a deep commitment to healing and nourishing both the land and the community,' she said. 'The collaborative work between #LandTrusts and Niweskok stands as a model to be replicated.'
"Moore said the award acknowledges the leadership of Niweskok, and added that other incredible Wabanaki-led land work is happening in the region. Moore hopes the award indicates that Maine conservation groups will continue to find ways to support Wabanaki leadership in conservation.
"Having the land has been a 'beautiful invitation' for the #NonWabanaki community 'to support Wabanaki food sovereignty and be in support of our leadership in care of the land,' Moore said."
Archived version:
https://archive.md/Ii0au
#WabanakiConfederacy
#MaineFirstNations #LandBack #FoodSecurity #FoodSovereignty #sovereignty #Wabanakik #WabanakiAlliance #Decolonize #SolarPunkSunday #LandStewards #stewardship #NatureEducation #Foraging #Maine
Replied to Headlines Africa
@africa Boosting for #SolarPunkSunday !
This is great news for small scale producers. Now we need similar in NSW.
ABC News · Red tape cut for farmers looking to build small on-farm abattoirs in Victoria
Africa: Agroecology - a Key to Food Sovereignty in Africa: [263Chat] By Lovejoy Mutongwiza in Addis Ababa http://newsfeed.facilit8.network/TM27Sp #Agroecology #FoodSovereignty #SustainableAgriculture #Africa #FoodSecurity
Continued thread
...also, a bag of potatoes costs $8 now. 
So, like go plant some potatoes and then sell 'em on the black market, that shit is gold now.
...or if we're selling produce on the sly, do we call that the "green market"? 
Anyway, #foodSovereignty yerselves people! Take back the means of potatoes!
Our next newsletter will discuss something that maybe you've been thinking about (but probably not): raising chickens in a dryland environment. What aspects of care are different? How do chickens fit into a regenerative project? What alternatives to chickens are there and what differences are there in the niche they fill?
If your land is not arid or dryland, but you are concerned about increasing temperatures and more frequent droughts, some of the care information in this post may be useful as your environment changes in the near future.
I hope to release this early this week, but don't forget to subscribe so that you don't miss it in your inbox.
And please consider subscribing at our supporter tier for fun gifts twice a year and access to additional information - this month I'll be releasing a delightful recipe for paid subscribers only. We could use your support to keep this space going. Thank you!
Replied in thread
The Mississippi Delta has a rich agricultural history, but today, much of its land is dedicated to commodity crops.
Only recently are growers like Grady reviving the tradition of cultivating edible crops.
Taters! I'm trying an experiment this year, growing some in the ground and some in grow bags. This is the first batch from the grow bags.
We are truly very happy especially me Our organization, Uganda Eco Youths Network, has been recognized by the #Agroecology community, and our logo now stands proudly among other organizations that support #SustainableFarming and #FoodSovereignty
Check out the full list of supporting groups here: https://agroecologymap.org/en/projects_and_groups
This is a big step for us here in #Uganda, and we are committed to continuing the work for #ClimateAction, #YouthInAgroecology, and #EcoFriendly solutions!
I caught this on TV last week...
Saving Seeds: #NorthDakota Tribe Preserves #TraditionalFarming Practices
June 22, 2025
"America’s native population has long faced health disparities. Many tribes rely on government rationed food, which is often highly processed, and have limited access to fresh produce. Researchers say several factors, including food, contribute to a shorter life expectancy for American Indians and #AlaskaNatives. A woman living on the North Dakota’s #FortBerthold Reservation is working to change that. Special correspondent Joie Chen meets Dr. Ruth De La Cruz and learns how she’s helping lead a program that’s teaching a new generation to live off the land and preserving traditional farming practices."
Source:
https://www.matteroffact.tv/saving-seeds-north-dakota-tribe-preserves-traditional-farming-practices/
#NorthDakota tribe goes back to its roots with a massive greenhouse operation
By The Associated Press
Published: Jul. 6, 2024 at 2:17 PM EDT
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — "A #NativeAmerican tribe in North Dakota will soon grow lettuce in a giant greenhouse complex that when fully completed will be among the country’s largest, enabling the tribe to grow much of its own food decades after a federal #dam flooded the land where they had cultivated corn, beans and other crops for millennia.
"Work is ongoing on the #Mandan, #Hidatsa and #Arikara Nation’s 3.3-acre greenhouse that will make up most of the #NativeGreenGrow operation’s initial phase. However, enough of the structure will be completed this summer to start growing leafy greens and other crops such as tomatoes and strawberries.
" 'We’re the first farmers of this land,' Tribal Chairman #MarkFox said. 'We once were part of an aboriginal trade center for thousands and thousands of years because we grew crops — corn, beans, squash, watermelons — all these things at massive levels, so all the tribes depended on us greatly as part of the aboriginal trade system.'
"The tribe will spend roughly $76 million on the initial phase, which also will include a warehouse and other facilities near the tiny town of Parshall. It plans to add to the growing space in the coming years, eventually totaling about 14.5 acres, which officials say would make it one of the world’s largest facilities of its type.
"The initial greenhouse will have enough glass to cover the equivalent of seven football fields.
"The tribe’s fertile land along the #MissouriRiver was inundated in the mid-1950s when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers built the #GarrisonDam, which created #LakeSakakawea.
"Getting fresh produce has long been a challenge in the area of western North Dakota where the tribe is based, on the #FortBerthold Indian Reservation. The rolling, rugged landscape — split by Lake Sakakawea — is a long drive from the state’s biggest cities, Bismarck and Fargo.
"That isolation makes the greenhouses all the more important, as they will enable the tribe to provide food to the roughly 8,300 people on the Fort Berthold reservation and to reservations elsewhere. The tribe also hopes to stock #FoodBanks that serve isolated and impoverished areas in the region, and plans to export its produce.
"Initially, the #MHANation expects to grow nearly 2 million pounds of food a year and for that to eventually increase to 12 to 15 million pounds annually. Fox said the operation’s first phase will create 30 to 35 jobs.
"The effort coincides with a national move to increase #FoodSovereignty among tribes."
KFYR · North Dakota tribe goes back to its roots with a massive greenhouse operation
Today I bought some barley at the market and the farmer gave me a stalk of the plant unprocessed 
So grateful for the work of local producers experimenting with regenerative farming, growing the land and our food culture
Agroecology in Action From Vision to Field
24 Jun 2025
17h CET / 12h GMT-3
Register to join https://forms.ipc.pt/index.php/978824
Zoom Link: https://videoconf-colibri.zoom.us/j/99274337523?pwd=AZ2C5Fsgsk8aWQyZZdtQHWJIUyqsZa.1
How to register an agroecological initiative on the Agroecology Map
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gC0QceXkCs&ab_channel=AgroecologyMap
From Palestine to Panama, Sri Lanka to Senegal, our fisher communities, especially women, Indigenous peoples, and youth, are resisting. We are not here to tick participation boxes—we are here to set the agenda and demand justice.
We are the oceans. We are the waters. We are the peoples.
Saveur magazine did a story about some of my homies. I've attended this imu many times. If you ever visit big island, I'd recommend their imu experience. 
#food #hawaii #culture #cooking #restorativejustice #community #foodsovereignty
https://www.saveur.com/culture/equal-portions-hawaii-nonprofit-men-paa/
Saveur · In Hawai'i, Restorative Justice Takes the Form of an Underground OvenA Hawai‘i mutual aid group called Men of PA‘A uses traditional imu cooking to help men rebuild their lives after incarceration and addiction.
Permaculture Teacher Training for Palestinians
Community leaders advancing regeneration, food sovereignty, land restoration, and community building.
https://justpaste.it/tptp25
WEBINAR | Indigenous Peoples & Agroecology, by Land is Life & Agroecology Coalition.
Join us on 27 May | 9:00–10:00 AM ET | 3:00–4:00 PM CEST
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