Sharing Our Way (SOW) Seeds, New Mexico - Workshop Series for Tribal Serving AG Professionals

Commodities

Practices

• Crop Production: beekeeping, nurseries, pollinator health, seed saving
• Education and Training: networking, workshop
• Sustainable Communities: food sovereignty

Sharing Our Way (SOW) Seeds, New Mexico is a three-day workshop series intended to build knowledge, skills, and network support amongst tribal-serving agricultural professionals in the areas of sustainable crop production and seed storage. This workshop will be hosted in partnership with the Traditional Native American Farmers Association (TNAFA), Flowering Tree Permaculture Institute and Zia Queenbees Farm. Participants will tour the Tesuque Pueblo Seed Bank - a unique, underground and off-grid tribally managed seed storage facility built with natural and recycled materials. They will learn about ecological farming techniques and how to support pollinator health for the sustainable production of traditional and regionally adapted crops while having the opportunity to share their current and desired farm projects for collective feedback and support. Lastly, participants will gain hand-on experience through a day-long workshop on how to use natural materials to build affordable, energy-efficient seed storage structures. By targeting tribal-serving agricultural professionals of the Southwest, this educational opportunity stands to be of great benefit to each of the Indigenous communities served by the participants. The topics covered to include - ecological farming techniques, natural building for seed banks, and on-farm bee-keeping for pollinator health and farm diversification will equip participants with the knowledge to make their respective communities more socially, economically and environmentally sustainable.

Objective 1: Knowledge Enhancement

Enhance the knowledge of 20 Indigenous agricultural professionals from Arizona and New Mexico to include farm managers and staff of tribally-affiliated farms or organizations, as well as tribal government natural resource and agricultural staff. Participants will gain knowledge in ecological farming techniques for producing traditionally important and regionally-adapted food and crop seeds. They will also gain knowledge in how to promote healthy pollinator habitat for successful seed and crop production and learn about bee-keeping for crop health and entrepreneurial enterprise diversification. Lastly, they will gain knowledge in natural building techniques for creating sustainable seed storage facilities. Progress towards this objective will be measured through post-conference surveys and assessments, evaluating participants' understanding of the acquired knowledge.

Objective 2: Network Growth

Strengthen the network of partnerships and support amongst Southwestern Indigenous agricultural professionals and the farmers they serve. During the workshop, participants will have the opportunity to share current and prospective agricultural projects for collective feedback and collaboration. Progress on network growth will be measured through follow-up correspondence with workshop participants once every three months over a year after the workshop series. Post-workshop follow-up and resource sharing to be conducted by Project PI and Co-PI.

Objective 3: Capacity Building

Strengthen the capacity of Native organizations and institutions to sustainably grow, store, and share food and seeds for their respective communities. This will be achieved through knowledge enhancement (Objective 1) and skills building, specifically the hands-on workshop on natural building methods for seed banks/ seed storage. Participants will also be provided with Native Seed/Search "Community Seed Banking and Distribution Guidebook" as a technical resource. Additionally, the PI and Co-PI will provide three post-workshop technical support and resource sharing follow-up calls/emails with project participants over the six months following the workshop.