Ashokan Center Food Forests & Indigenous Leadership

Indigenous peoples have been providing significant leadership in the development of food forests in the United States and many areas of the world. Join Indigenous leaders Sachem Hawk Storm (US) and Sara Yawanawa (Brazil) and mycologist and permaculture designer William-Padilla Brown (PA) for an exciting multi-continental conversation on food forests: ecologically designed areas with perennial and annual plants that produce food and herbal medicine, enhance nutrition, promote food literacy, and provide a useful and safe place to gather and work together.

By developing these spaces, people are stating that ecologically healthy green spaces and sustainable local food production are valued, especially in the face of global population growth and over consumption of natural resources. One such food forest project located deep in the Amazon will be featured during this inspiring panel presentation.

Our Panelists:

Sachem HawkStorm is hereditary sachem (chief) of the Schaghticoke People. His work focuses on cultural heritage, education, environmental justice, and the rights of indigenous peoples in the New York region and beyond.

Sara Yawanawá of the Yawanawá Indigenous Peoples of the Brazilian Amazon focuses on sustainable livelihood strategies, environmental safeguarding, and women-led cultural decision-making.

William Padilla-Brown is a social entrepreneur, urban shaman, innovative mycologist, and a certified permaculture designer. He was the first person to commercially grow the cordyceps mushroom in the United States.

Learn more and register here.