Who We Are
Our Purpose |
Our first priority as a food sovereignty program is to provide food to the community! The colonization of American Indians by Europeans has had a detrimental affect on the lives of our people, including our access to our traditional food sources. Before the coming of Europeans, for Native Americans in North America, life was dictated by the seasons. Tribes often traveled to certain areas throughout the year in order to obtain the most abundant food sources. The men of the various bands of Mohicans traveled from the Hudson Valley north to the Green Mountains in Vermont every spring in order to hunt moose, a staple of the Mohican diet. Once Natives Americans [Including the Mohicans] were removed and placed on reservations they were no longer able to gather their seasonal food sources and famine and malnutrition became common place. This is when the government started handing out commodity food rations to tribes, and further impacted the health of Native Americans as their bodies were not used to the new diet. The sudden diet change, or colonization of the traditional diet, has had lasting affects on the health of Native Americans even to this day.
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Our Goals |
Food Sovereignty
Currently the Mohican Nation, located in Bowler, Wisconsin, is primarily dependent on off-reservation food sources. The purpose of food sovereignty is the break this dependence on outside food sources and create a community that is able to be self-sufficient in regards to production, and harvesting of food. Improve Community Health By modern standards areas of the reservation are classified as a food desert, meaning that access to fresh fruits and vegetables at a grocery store are not within walking distance. Because access to healthy food is scarce, people often resort to less-healthy options. The food sovereignty program will create greater access to healthy food in the community, and therefore benefit the health of community members. Passing of Tradition Although the reservation is considered a food desert, by traditional standards the reservation is plentiful. Native Americans still possess the traditional knowledge of how to cultivate, gather, and hunt from nature as we have done for thousands of years. The goal of our program is the pass these important traditions of food cultivation and gathering on to future generations. |
Our Services |
Education
The each spring the food sovereignty program offers counseling on how, and when to plant a traditional Mohican garden. Through out the growing season staff show techniques on how to care for the garden, and harvesting and storage demonstrations are given in the fall which include demonstrations on canning. Garden Tilling If a tribal member wishes to have a garden SMFSP will provide the machinery to till a plot of land up to 1/8th of an acre. Community Nutrition Due to the small scope of our program majority of the food harvested from our gardens goes to supplement the nutrition of community elders. At the end of the growing season food is harvested and bagged and then dispersed among the elders of the community. In future expansions of the program we wish to provide food for all age groups including start a community market where products will be available for purchase and a green house so that fresh produce will be available year-round. |