7 Directions of Service, Yésa Nédéwahe Saponi-Tutelo Indigenous Community

People have lost their farming culture to feed themselves (10 farms in Pleasant Grove from the 1950s to the 1980s, now one farm in 2020). I have lived on the land in my family for the last 200 years.  

My indigenous people in Virginia and North Carolina are mostly invisible to the general public, and where there is some semblance of awareness, there is implicit bias. [For] most people/public, most of what they know is what they were taught in school. Generally, Indians are examined in one of two ways: that they are either relics of the past (lived in tipis, hunted buffalo, and were either savages or at one with nature, the mythical Indian), or that the study of them is like a tourist visiting a culture. When people die, leave the community, and don’t speak the language, they forget their culture and tie to the community. During the 1800s to 1950, in the current tribal society, the number of small and family farms in the Pleasant Grove area dropped from over 20 farms; now, it's one farm in 2023, Enoch Farms. The generation of the 1940s to now has slowly left the community due to the white supremacy agriculture policy, which has pushed all the districts of color out, and economic opportunity is at an all-time low. 

Many people in our communities are being overrun with pollution, no longer have a tie with the land, and have experienced a loss and it is passed down through the generations. 

Since 2015, there has been a revitalization to relearn the culture and language.  Developing our Yésa Gardens as a model learning center and resource will have ripple effects on Indigenous-led stewardship, leadership, and resilience in our community and region. Yésa Gardens aims to be a living, tangible example. This embodiment will inspire our majority Occaneechi-Saponi-Tutelo and other (YESAH) communities and other tribal groups in the Southeast to re-engage in Native land practices and agricultural wisdom.

According to the Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool, our community qualifies as disadvantaged. We also believe that generative solutions must be locally led. It is time to heal from a history of oppression that has disconnected our communities from land. A history of land-based oppression and forced migration has led to a concentration of people of color in urban environments, often devoid of the psycho-spiritual and bodily benefits of connection to the earth. “Nature deficit disorder” can lead to ADHD, anxiety, depression, poor eyesight, and lower achievement in school. Lack of access to quality food and outdoor play is putting youth at higher risk for early onset diabetes and learning challenges, and later in life, heart disease, sleep apnea, psychological challenges, stroke, and cancer.

Yésa Nédéwahe Saponi-Tutelo (YNST) Indigenous is mobilizing the public to create a racially just food system. We collaborate with regional, national, and international food sovereignty coalitions to advance reparations, establish action platforms, and work on campaigns for farmer survival and dignity.

YNST envisions mounds of corn and other traditional foods restored to the Yesa and surrounding nations, who once grew them in abundance. As corn and other plant and animal relations flourish again, so will the countries carrying out these sacred responsibilities. We seek to strengthen old trade routes and the building and reconnecting of all southeastern tribal communities on the East Coast and eventually all over Turtle Island. 

We desire to connect Indigenous and BIPOC farmers to land to grow healthy foods and medicines for our communities. We plan to accomplish this by acquiring and returning land to Indigenous communities and letting land stewards lead while centering and respecting Indigenous sovereignty. The second objective is to help build pride in the community again; people have lost hope. Since 2015, there has been a revitalization to relearn the culture and language.  Developing Yésa Gardens as a model learning center and resource will have ripple effects on Indigenous-led stewardship, leadership, and resilience in our community and region. Yésa Gardens aims to be a living, tangible example. This embodiment will inspire our majority Occaneechi-Saponi-Tutelo (YESAH) communities and other tribal groups in the Southeast to re-engage in Native land practices and agricultural wisdom.

Yésa Nédéwahe Saponi-Tutelo (YNST) Indigenous is mobilizing the public to create a racially just food system. We collaborate with regional, national, and international food sovereignty coalitions to advance reparations, establish action platforms, and work on campaigns for farmer survival and dignity. Each year, we inspire thousands of community members through speaking at conferences, publishing articles/book chapters, and facilitating workshops for activists to share tangible methods for dismantling racism in the food system and increasing community food sovereignty.

The elders that held the community close, my parents’ generation just wanted to get away, and now my generation is dying of disease and substance abuse problems, and the younger generation is dying of suicide and opioid addictions. Tribal community values are essential in today’s American Indian agriculture and business.

Our team below is made up of several leads spread across the region. We are a team of rural and urban American Indians. To help address the issues laid out internationally, we use the United Nations to implement culturally appropriate policies and actions for Indigenous peoples. 

Dr. Crystal Cavalier-Keck is a citizen of the Occaneechi Band of the Saponi Nation and is an Adjunct Professor in the Social Sciences department at Salem College in Winston Salem. Crystal has dedicated the past 5+ years to defending her homelands against the Mountain Valley Pipeline and Mountain Valley Pipeline Southgate Extension. She is leading a campaign to bring Rights of Nature laws to NC to protect the waterways and communities in the pipeline's path. 

Seth is a New River Catawba Nation citizen who hails from the foothills of northwestern North Carolina. He spent 24 years working for local government as a Planner, helping write ordinances and policies that promoted sustainable growth and development.

Aminah is an integrative researcher, activist for Indigenous and Black issues, and advocates fighting violence against women and children. Aminah grew up in Pembroke, North Carolina, and is a member of the Lumbee Tribe. Aminah has also channeled her energies into her education, studying Biology at East Carolina University and completing a master's in Physiology and Biophysics with a concentration in Integrative Medicine from Georgetown University. .

Coda Cavalier is a citizen of the Occaneechi Band of the Saponi Nation and an undergraduate at Unity Environmental University. They are majoring in Marine Biology and Sustainable Aquaculture and extend their academic research to advocate for marine and freshwater conservation across North Carolina, as well as land conservation and protection. 

Jason Campos Keck is from East Oakland. He found the freedom to choose another lifestyle and context for his life, ultimately becoming the VP of Outreach for an international men's organization focused on successful families, careers, and communities. With a multi-racial heritage of Native American (Choctaw-Apache), and French-African Creole from Louisiana and European, he is also a ceremonial dancer. 

Ramona Moore Big Eagle, M. Ed. (Tuscarora/Cherokee) is an internationally renowned TEDx speaker, storyteller, oral historian, and legend keeper. In addition, she is also an Environmental Educator and Master Naturalist.

Kasey Kinsella spent most of her early adult life as a student and facilitator of spiritually rooted, experiential leadership training in Southeast Asia in a 5-month sustainability course in Thailand. Kasey is fascinated by the power of performance art to express social issues and has tapped into my highest pleasure through clown and movement collaborations with my Headlong Performance Institute cohort in Philadelphia.

We are in Phase 1 of our plan, building up our local communities to tie into the larger Yesah Community. Our traditional farming practices build topsoil, sequester soil carbon, and increase biodiversity. The buildings on the land were hand-constructed, using local wood, adobe, straw bales, solar heat, and reclaimed materials.

We already have strong, tended relationships with leaders and activists from diverse tribal communities. We currently provide opportunities for relationship-building and collaboration throughout the year through ceremonial contexts as well as skill-sharing and educational gatherings. We have seen new partnerships and projects grow as a result. By investing additional resources into our learning hub, we can strengthen our land-based programming, address inequitable access through employment opportunities, and provide stipends for attendees.

Each annual gathering takes its form, but they all include two essential elements: a communal activity and the rematriation of seeds. The solutions we seek for our communities as we transition toward healthy, regenerative economies already exist within the foundation of Indigenous cultures. International law protects the right to food.

The reason we are applying is that because of how racist policies have been in the past, such as redlining and low prices at the market, our people have been restricted to giving up their livelihood and losing a sense of pride in the community. Our tribal communities also have barriers or limitations that hamper businesspeople from taking advantage of all potential agribusiness opportunities. Common barriers or constraints can include a lack of access to credit, usable land, technical assistance, markets, etc.

We claim our sovereignty and call for reparations of land and resources so that we can grow nourishing food and distribute it in our communities. The specific projects and resource needs of indigenous projects and actions are listed in this plan. To hold an interest meeting in the immediate neighborhood, socially distance, at the local community center. We will discuss how not building back into the community affects their children, grandchildren, food rights, and health. We can measure how
many invitations that were hand delivered and how many people showed up. 

We would plan for this meeting to be in a month, so give people four weeks’ notice. Also, send them reminders a week before the event. Encourage them that all these rights go hand in hand: voter education, food sovereignty, land rights, and social justice. These cultural activities represented specific tribal values that helped ensure the survival and prosperity of tribal society. For example, harvest celebrations encouraged tribal values such as
generosity and an appreciation of hard work. 

By securing a safe space for intertribal gathering and exchanging traditional plant knowledge, our land has positively affected the American Indian Yesah community's cohesion, health, and place-based well-being across the Piedmont regions of NC and VA.  Cultural practices may have determined how agricultural surpluses were stored and distributed among the tribe.

Crystal was born and raised in the Pleasant Grove community. This community was settled in the late 1700s in what is now known as Alamance County.  Her grandparents raised her and educated her in the ways of community service. Crystal has ties to the community. 

Crystal moved home about nine years ago to raise her children out of the fast-paced DC life to provide a more cultural and sound way of life. Crystal is becoming a certified practitioner in the Mind-Body Medicine Program.

Through the certification program, Crystal will enhance her facilitation skills, increase her understanding of the model, and incorporate self-care skills into her own life in a much deeper way. Upon completion, she will be thoroughly prepared to lead Mind Body Groups within her own indigenous and BIPOC communities and integrate mind-body medicine into her organization of 7 Directions of Service and Tribal communities across
North Carolina. 

Our solution is innovative because we know that when Indigenous people were disconnected from their traditional foods, lands, culture, and language, the transmission of ancestral knowledge about those foods was also disrupted. With this philosophy in mind, the Yesah community culture and language will be an integral part of the pedagogy in collaboration with community participants in the project.

We desire to connect indigenous farmers to land to grow healthy foods and medicines for our communities, and we plan to accomplish this by acquiring and returning land to Indigenous nations and letting land stewards lead while centering and respecting Indigenous sovereignty. The second objective is to help build a pride in the community again, people have lost hope. The elders that held the community close, my parent's generation, just wanted to get away, and now my generation, the people are dying of disease and substance abuse problems, and the younger generation are dying of suicide and opioid addictions.

Most of the studies we researched showed high levels of holistic and systems thinking by incorporating the perspectives and skills of indigenous stakeholders from the indigenous community, indigenous schools, or indigenous health professionals. 

Evidence of community engagement related to establishing links with Elders or community members who had an existing garden or who wanted to start a garden, using community-based participatory research methods, having longstanding relationships with the community, selling off excess vegetables in the market, organizing a harvest festival, sharing harvested food and engaging local Indigenous expertise. 

We hope to use the surveys of community garden interventions, which will be evaluated using a randomized control design and a pre–post design. In addition to survey measures such as fruit and vegetable intake and fruit and vegetable self-efficacy, motivations, or preferences, these studies also used surveys to assess nutrition-related knowledge/activities, gardening knowledge, and gardening self-efficacy or motivation. 

1. Semi-structured interviews; reflective journal; event log; activity sheets (‘My Healthy Dinner Plate Activity’ and ‘The Pyramid Activity’)
2. A fruit and vegetable-adaptedmQuestionnaire 
3. Surveys; focus groups on research designs and curriculum; interviews on the effectiveness of the gardening project, healthy eating /exercise

We are using modern and ancestral technology in our YSNT programs.  First, we are incorporating Smart plant monitors into our fields and gardens. There are many plant monitors available to introduce technology to the beginning gardener. Many of these are inserted into the soil and can take measurements of moisture levels, track light and humidity, and even analyze soil. Many can even determine the nutrients in the soil. 

We like to use an old technology called traditional ecological knowledge.  This year, we are using the GKH Gardening Companion Garden app to help with design, plant ID, and placement of irrigation; we hope to use this to solve problem areas that may arise. Finally, we use vertical, aeroponic garden systems that allow you to grow with less space. 

We are able to grow greens and herbs year-round and enjoy a wide variety of fruits, vegetables, herbs, and flowers. Each model takes up less than 5 square feet. How we are bridging that gap, we do not replace the Elders. Elders are seen as natural role models who share conventional ecological knowledge and have an increased community awareness. 

We operate in North Carolina and Virginia currently. 

We hope to expand to South Carolina and Georgia next year.

We have five contractors and about 30 volunteers who work on our team as well as community members from our indigenous areas. 

We have been working on this program for the last 3 years. 

Our team encompasses many diverse people from all walks of life. Ramona, Kasey, Seth, Aminah, Jason, Coda, and Crystal, and an entire movement of friends and allies jump in to lend a hand. We help empower and boost confidence in our indigenous leaders (community, grassroots, and elected) communities for transformational change. We embrace this century's ever-changing, fluid communities by amplifying how contemporary Native peoples are part of every community. We celebrate the diversity of Black, Jewish, Asian, Latine/x, White-presenting, Two Spirit, and LGBTQ+ Natives and present a more accurate narrative of who we are today. 

This attests to the diversity within our communities on the East Coast as first-contract tribes.  We work hard to get rid of toxic narratives and stereotypes that have conveyed Indigenous peoples as anything but multidimensional and monolithic. We understand that Native identity is complex with many layers. 

Yésa Nédéwahe Saponi-Tutelo plans to create an Indigenous Food Hub, which will build on and enhance the capacity of existing Indigenous food systems , traditional herbs, and and the intentional efforts that surrounding tribal communities already utilize. 

Through a community-guided approach led by Indigenous leadership, Yesa Nedewhae will continue revitalizing our Yesah (Siouan language, culture, and customs) tied to land-based and agricultural experiences. Renew traditional ecological and farming practices while developing modern-day business and marketing plans that build farmer prosperity and facilitate Indigenous food access and sovereignty with tribal communities. As an agricultural, water, and land defender training facility and production enterprise, it will incubate and create a network of prosperous and sustainable farm operations dedicated to food access and economic opportunities serving Indigenous communities. The network of farms will succeed in providing healthy, locally grown foods while strengthening language culture and economic opportunity. With tribal communities, the Indigenous Food Hub defines the standard for sustainable and prosperous agricultural practices and access points, disrupting the current landscape of food inequity and the entrenched structures that interrupt Indigenous people from achieving food sovereignty.

YNST is recruiting, identifying, selecting, and supporting Fellows to participate in a two-year program that culminates in the launch of
community-responsive farms in their home communities. During year one, Farm Hub Fellows work full-time on the training center farm while engaging in learning experiences that will build on their experiences. The Fellowship curricula cover traditional Indigenous food systems, historical context, diverse planting and growing techniques, sustainable agricultural practices, ties with language and culture, food justice and sovereignty, land reclamation, business planning and viability, and community activism and involvement.

We are working with other indigenous communities to connect us to funders; however, we started with funders through our activism and how we use traditional seeds, corn, and Ponca Corn. The initial red Ponca corn seeds were recovered from a Lakota family living near Craig, Nebraska, who had raised them for several generations. Ponca gray and blue corn have also been planted near Kearney and Oklahoma to keep the varieties alive. In the same way, this sacred corn has endured the test of time and still stands strong for the land and the people, and so shall the Ponca people.

We have met several funders along this activist path to transition into a sustainable model and use the practice of cultural sovereignty.