A Wabanaki-led nonprofit is converting a 245-acre farm in Waldo County into a base for food sovereignty.
Niweskok: From the Stars to Seeds purchased the property for $1.8 million earlier this year. The former horse and cattle farm features wetlands, forest and pasture.
Alivia Moore, a Penobscot Nation citizen and one of the group's co-directors, said the project has been a return home.
"For us (this) was also an invitation for us to broaden our circle of friends and to like have a very specific invitation, a very specific ask of more folks to be in support of our leadership and the work we were doing and what we were envisioning," Moore said.
The organization said the location on the coast is particularly significant, as the Wabanaki people have been pushed out of their territory there.
Located on Goose River, the property is ecologically diverse, with wetlands, forest and pasture. Sikwani Dana, a Penobscot Nation citizen and one of the co-directors, said before now, the group has had to travel to host its programs.
"So if we were doing a blueberry harvest, we would go to the blueberry barrens," Dana said. "If we were doing a clam harvest, we go to the ocean. And whatever sort of project or workshop we were doing, we were traveling to that. Now we have a land base, which means that we have so much more opportunity to do other things."
