A Wabanaki-led group is moving ahead with plans to convert 245 acres in the midcoast into a hub for Indigenous food production, medicine and culture after acquiring the land at the end of January.
The group, called Niweskok: From Stars to Seeds, will convert the land into a permanent hub for its Wabanaki-led food sovereignty efforts. The project is happening on traditional Penobscot territory in what’s now the Waldo County town of Swanville.
The acquisition comes amid a growing effort to restore land across what’s now Maine to the groups that first inhabited it many years before settlers arrived. In other recent cases, lands in Washington County, the Katahdin region and Aroostook County have been returned to the Passamaquoddy, Penobscot and Maliseet tribes, respectively. The effort also comes as the Wabanaki nations are pressing ahead with a push for more tribal sovereignty from the state.
In the case of Niweskok, the former farm property was once used to raise horses and cattle and includes a mix of agricultural fields, mature forests, wetlands ponds, and access to the Goose River. Less than half of the space is currently open fields and pastures. The group raised $1.8 million to complete the acquisition.
Alivia Moore, a member of the Penobscot Nation who co-founded Niweskok, said almost all of its programming will be reserved exclusively for members of Wabanaki communities. The Wabanaki Nations include the Penobscot, Mi’kmaq, Maliseet and Passamaquoddy tribes.
“The necessity of Wabanaki having a community space and a community presence here, in this part of our territory, has been necessary since colonization, since our removal from this area and from this part of our homelands,” Moore said. “It was crucial that we had access to all these different parts of our territory. It was never a thing we thought could be possible.”
Niweskok plans to use the space to offer educational programming including outdoor classroom space, cultural camps and community events. It also plans to cultivate food and medicines on the land.
“If we’re really going to do this work of rematriating and restoring our traditional food ways, we have to have permanency of land,” Moore said. “We need to be able to live our life cycles with the life cycle of the earth. For us, this is about responsibility. We really understand it as a great responsibility to this area.”
Multiple different types of food-producing trees, some wild or naturally occurring, are all over the land, including June berry bushes and black cherry trees. The land also includes maple, pine, and hazel trees, Moore said. This year, the group plans to focus much of its work on adding more fruit trees and perennials, as well as restoring the quality of its soil.
Eventually, it may use the land for raising sheep and goats.
“We’re really excited to connect with other folks who care about the Goose River, who care about other parts of the ecology, what are some of the other priorities in this area for us to link in so that we can be a part of caring for outside of these 245 acres,” Moore said.