ATFE 2022 Seed & Tree Giveaway

AKWESASNE - The Akwesasne Task Force on the Environment (ATFE) held their annual Seed & Tree Giveaway on Saturday, April 23, at the former Bingo Palace parking lot. ATFE members handed out tree saplings and non-gmo seeds at 9am and ended around 11am.

A variety of vegetable seeds and trees were available to Akwesasronon for free. Seed varieties included Red Seed Potatoes, White Seed Potatoes, Green Beans, True Cranberry Pole Bean, Yellow Beans, Kidney Beans, Zucchinis, Field Pumpkin, Baby Pam Pumpkin, Buttercup Squash, Sweet Corn, Traditional Short-nose (Stuffed-nose) White Corn, Slicing Cucumbers, Pickling Cucumbers, Sweet Peas, Snow Peas, Onion sets, Beets, Rutabagas, Radishes, Carrots, White Beans, Haudenosaunee Crooked Neck Squash, Spaghetti Squash, and Sunflower

They also had Sugar Maple, Black Walnut, and Elderberry trees.

The Akwesasne Task Force on the Environment (ATFE) is a community based, grassroots organization formed in 1987 to address the environmental problems facing the Mohawk Nation community of Akwesasne. The mission of ATFE is to protect and restore natural and cultural resources within Akwesasne to promote the health of the sacred web of life for future generations. ATFE projects support traditional agricultural practices such as planting gardens; maintaining fruit and nut trees; tapping maple trees; canning and drying produce; giving away traditional seeds and trees; restoring Black Ash trees and basketmaking; cleaning roadsides; and advocating for environmental clean-up.

Saving seeds is an essential activity and part of Haudenosaunee tradition that goes all the way back to the creation story. For the past several years, ATFE has run out of seeds very early during the seed giveaway and has been unable to meet the community's demand for seed. Fedco Seeds generously provide ATFE with some seeds at cost, and Ralph Child, from Childstock Farms, donated red and white potatoes for the community giveaway since its inception. Haudenosaunee Seed Keepers from around the Confederacy have also generously shared traditional varieties of seed, which have been grown out by farmers in Akwesasne and shared with the community.

Mary Arquette said, "ATFE would like to thank Katsi Cook and the Indigenous Preservation Networking Center (IPNC) and the work of many Haudenosaunee elders and indigenous scientists who improved the white corn seed. Stephen McComber was the source of the original Haudenosaunee Crooked Neck variety of squash that ATFE gave away on Saturday."

She added, "It's estimated that more than 550 pounds of garden seeds, onions, and potatoes were given out. These seeds were packaged by ATFE volunteers the week before the event."

Arquette was asked how many people would 550 pounds of seeds feed?

"That is an excellent question. ATFE gave away 60 pounds of seed for green and yellow wax beans, with about 1,600 seeds in a pound. If every one of these seeds is planted and cared for, that would be 96,000 bean plants. Each of these plants could produce 3 to 4 pounds of green or yellow beans throughout the summer. If every bean seed given out on Saturday is planted, the seeds will yield 300,000 to 400,000 pounds of fresh green and yellow wax beans! Seeds are powerful."

And, how big of a garden does each family have to grow to sustain themselves?

"This is another great question. One study found that to sustain one person on a strictly vegetarian diet for a year, their garden would need to be 4000 square feet. Since most people in Akwesasne are not vegetarians, a conservative estimate is that 200 square feet of garden space is required per person. In addition to eating the delicious produce and canning/drying/freezing some for-winter use, ATFE encourages everyone to plant enough to save seeds for next year and to trade with friends and neighbors."