Black Women’s Blueprint bought 300 acres of land in Ava, Oneida County, NY to establish the Restore Forward community. This land was ceded government property, used for Air Force, radar, and drone testing, and has significant compressed soil, waste dump sites, and other environmental hazards that need restoration before farming can begin. Restoration of this land, and the building on it, is perfect for Restore Forward as a way to heal both participants and the land from the harmful impacts of U.S. governmental and societal systems.
The restorations, coupled with logistical legal setbacks and town codes have delayed the farming until this spring when they will break ground for the first time. The goal of the coming growing season is to integrate community partners and clarify more logistics of the land usage and stewardship. This time has allowed for lots of planning about thoughtful farming practices to remain sustainable and promote growing healthy food, outside of the genetic monopoly of farming seeds. – Essentially, plants have been bred to produce and grow as well as possible, and a few corporations, including Monsanto and Dupont, own the majority of the seed patents, monopolizing the wealth and severely limiting what can be done with the seeds (The Guardian). The Restore Forward Farm will be using indigenously owned, non genetically engineered (GMO), and heirloom seeds (An heirloom variety of vegetable, fruit, or flower must be open-pollinated—or pollinated by insects, birds, wind, or other natural means—and “breed true,” or retain its original traits from one generation to the next).
Eventually, 25 acres of land will be a transitional, exploratory farm. This will include vegetables and micro fields for indigenous agricultural practices like a Three Sisters Garden. The Three Sisters Garden has corn, beans, and squash planted together. The corn grows high, the squash is low, and the beans can thrive in the middle. It’s a layered garden that produces three crops for the space of one. There will be a series of greenhouses for warmer plants and to extend the growing season. Medicinal herbs and plants will also be grown on the farm, and agroforestry will line the fields, which involve planting fruit-bearing trees along the natural edges of the forests. This natural transition from forest to fields increases production provides wildlife habitat and increases the sustainability of forest and field ecosystems.
Restore Forward’s farm, managed by Alicia Luhrssen-Zombek, will not be a traditional farm. Not only will it include nontraditional practices like agroforestry, but it will also be a space for healing and land sovereignty for groups like the Mohawk Nation. The restoration of the land will last many years after the initial clean-up, creating a space for sustainable, exploratory farming and land stewardship.
