The Official Website for:
Kindred
Creative Residence + Agro-ForesT
Mission Statement
Kindred Creative Residence + Agro-Forest (Kindred CRAFT) is a BIPOC led, LGBTQ+ welcoming space for creatives, educators, and activists committed to teaching sustainable living through regenerative agriculture, community outreach, and arts education. We recognize the power of education and action to transform our current relationship to our natural world. We are learning about the sustainable practices of our Afro-Indigenous ancestors and agro-ecology, while incorporating a more balanced approach into our daily lives. Our goal is to build an ecologically sustainable village, acknowledging our responsibility to steward the land collectively, to protect and preserve it for future generations of Black-Indigenous-People-of-Color, so that we may live, create, and work in peace, safety, and freedom.
We are a multi-racial, multi-ethnic, multi-generational cooperative of artists, learners, and farmers with a common mission to create a community based on shared values and democratic principles. We believe in sustainable living through regenerative agriculture, community outreach, arts education, and inclusivity. As we face the growing challenges of racial and economic equality, combined with the threat of climate change, we see the need for thoughtful and progressive change in how we have functioned as a community. We acknowledge how difficult it is to create a truly equal and democratic society based on honesty, trust, and integrity.
We seek to create an inclusive community based on democratic principles and sustainability, integrating the creative arts, and regenerative agricultural science through project/place based education. Bringing together children and families, from local and regional urban communities, that have historically been underserved and marginalized, to rural Vermont for experiential learning that centers a connection to land and our creative potential as human beings. With a focus on community and relationship building, we seek to guide young people to find their creative passions, take responsibility for themselves and our environment, learn conflict resolution and communication skills, and become critical thinkers and lifelong learners.
Land Recognition
Kindred lives on the homeland of the Abenaki people of the Wabanaki Confederacy. We are individuals of African, South American and European descent. None of us are Abenaki, nor Indigenous to this bioregion or to Turtle Island. We recognize that we are guests here, and as guests we commit to live in a healing way with the land and the waters, and with all those, human and more-than-human beings, who have and still call this place home.
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We are grateful to be here. From this place of gratitude we are charged to challenge and undermine patterns of settler colonialism that continue to exploit bodies and extract resources from the Earth. We recognize that we have a shared interest in healing these wounds, in dismantling the oppressor within us and around us, and in helping bring into life ways of being that honor the sacredness of all creation.
In order to move in this direction, we will:
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reach out to the local/regional Tribal Government to introduce ourselves and share our mission
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build relationships with Indigenous individuals and Indigenous-led groups in the area
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directly support local and regional Indigenous-led struggles for land return, rematriation and climate healing
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make the land of Kindred available and accessible to Indigenous, Black and People of Color for cultural use (ie ceremony, food gathering, etc.)
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extend invitation for Indigenous people to join Kindred Collective and/or the Board of Kindred
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move toward returning the land that Kindred currently lives on
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learn the Treaties established on this land and uphold them
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tend to the thriving of the plants, animals and other beings of this place
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take the lessons learned within Kindred out into the broader world
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We commit to:
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Learn how to live more closely with nature:
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By reducing our consumption and dependence on fossil fuels and its related products.
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Centering sustainability and land stewardship as a guiding value.
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For example: Lowering our carbon footprint by being responsible for our waste through composting and limiting/eliminating our consumption of single use plastics; up-cycling what we cannot make ourselves; growing our own food and plant medicine; building natural structures from responsibly harvested local resources, etc.
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Repair our relationship to each other and our natural world by centering gratitude and responsibility.
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Localize our food sources, grow our own produce, strengthen the sharing economy.
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Address food insecurity and lack of access to fresh healthy food options for the local and regional BIPOC and new citizen communities.
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Create a system of equal exchange outside of the late stage capitalist (extractive) economic model.
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Consider the impact of our decisions/choices on future generations. (Seven generations after we have gone)
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Creating a safe space for children and families.
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Educate the community about our ancestral connection to the land.
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Create hands-on learning opportunities across all age groups.
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Create a thriving community based on honesty, trust, integrity, equity and democratic principles.​
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Create a democratic, multi-racial, multi-generational, community of artists, educators, and land stewards working in collaboration to build a food forest and educational space.
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Reconnect to the land and thus reconnect to our health.
Our Purpose
Several years ago we stopped mowing our lawn and chose to cultivate native plant and animal life instead of growing grass. We wanted to teach our children to grow food, understand the natural systems at work around them, and become good citizens of this planet.
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Each year our work builds upon itself and each year we see more pollinators, frogs, birds, and even the occasional turtle visiting the garden. As we continue to learn, explore, and make mistakes, we are also promoting biodiversity, building soil, and lowering our carbon footprint.
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We encourage our children to explore their natural world and their relationship to Pacha Mama; Mother Earth. Learning gratitude and appreciation for everything our Mother provides and finding purpose in our connection to every living thing.
Backyard Transformation
Now is the time for dramatic change and transformation. It can start as simply as letting your yard grow, without mowing, or the use of pesticides and herbicides. When we encourage biodiversity, nature returns to balance, and maintains herself.
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Plant fruit and nut bearing trees, edible flowers, medicinal herbs, self-seeding and perennial fruits and vegetables, then, sit back and watch it grow! Create a playground for your children to explore.
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Share, with those who do not have land access, the bounty that your food forest will produce, and play a part in creating equity for all of our diverse communities.