It’s the end of March in New Hampshire and we’re looking forward to seedlings sprouting in gardens throughout our region, at homes and community sites and local farms (but first, we have a few feet of snow that needs to melt…)
Here at the Kearsarge Food Hub (KFH), we’re gearing up to support year three of the Abenaki Seeds Project in partnership with Abenaki Trails, Hopkinton Historical Society, Warner Public Market, and Colby-Sawyer College.
The Abenaki Seeds Project (ASP) is all about building a community of learners and growers grounded in Native American Foodways. The project consists of distributing Abenaki heritage seeds throughout the community to encourage neighbors to learn about Native American crops, and donating the harvest back to the Abenaki Helping Abenkai food pantry in an effort to support food security for tribal neighbors.
Looking back on how the project went last year, there are several notable highlights:
We had a tremendous amount of participation - over 50 different folks signed up to receive heritage Abenaki seeds in 2022.
We created a comprehensive Grower’s Guide that we distributed to all of our growers (see below).
Seed Distribution Day went off without a hitch at three different locations in the Kearsarge Region.
KFH, in partnership with Warner Public Market and the Abenaki Helping Abenaki Food Pantry, created and streamlined an aggregation system to get the fruits of our growers’ harvests back to the food pantry.
We hosted two webinars to bring our community together and discuss how things were going in our gardens.
In October of last year, the Abenaki Seeds project dovetailed beautifully with events held on Indigenous People’s Day in Hopkinton, NH. The event began in ceremony at Riverway Park, speeches were made, and a bas relief sculpture by Carol Lake was unveiled. The day ended with the Abenaki Harvest Food Tasting Event, where Darryl Peasley and Liz Charlebois cooked up some great Abenaki dishes to share with the community.
The Abenaki Seeds Project is all about education and community building. While there was not a remarkably high volume of food produced for the food pantry in years one and two, education of and support for the local Abenaki community has grown and blossomed over the past two years.
We’re so excited to continue supporting this community of growers this year for the 3rd annual Abenaki Seeds Project.
This year we’re looking forward to incorporating more in-person educational and community building events, like visits to community garden sites working with the Three Sisters’.
In addition to distributing seedlings to gardeners, we’re recruiting a couple local farms to help produce a bit more food for the Abenaki Helping Abenaki food pantry.
We welcome Kearsarge Area growers to join this project and give growing Abenaki seeds a try. This year, we’re offering the three core crops that make up the Three Sisters' Garden: True Cranberry Beans, Rose Flint Corn, and Crookneck Squash. These crops not only compliment each other in the garden but also on the plate, providing a complete, balanced meal.
There’s talk of a recipe book being crafted in connection with this project to support utilizing the fruits of our gardens. Stay tuned!
Finally, it’s heartening to note a lovely connection between our farm-based education here at KFH and the Abenaki Seeds Project that includes our young people in this project. Last fall, Bradford Elementary 3rd graders prepped mounds for three sisters gardens that will be planted this spring. In the fall of next year, the then 4th graders will help with harvest and pass the gardens on to the incoming 3rd graders.
We’re excited for another year of learning and growing with the Abenaki Seeds Project here in the Kearsarge Region! Sign up for seeds by April 5th, 2023.