The 196th recipient is Angie Comeaux of Hummingbird Springs Farm @hummingbirdsprings_farm in Florala, Alabama (Mvskoke Land).
Angie writes, “I am Mvskoke, Chahta and Aniyvwiya, farming in my ancestral Mvskoke homelands, at Hvrvnrvcukwv Ueki-honecv Farm: a 31-acre, fallow 120-year-old peanut farm that I, my partner, and community are transitioning into an Indigenous food forest. The goal at Hvrvnrvcukwv Ueki-honecv Farm is to fully reclaim and resurrect Indigenous agricultural practices that have been sleeping and to welcome those practices back to their homelands. For me, farming is also being responsible to multiple deeply interdependent communities committed to collective liberation and is rooted in the principles of Indigenous sovereignty, Black liberation, resilience against climate abuse, and resisting the toxic force of capitalism.
The mission of Hvrvnrvcukwv Ueki-honecv is to show what Indigenous sovereignty truly looks like, to be a living example of what prioritizing community care and the needs of the land can achieve, to show that when we listen to the land and the land's original stewards we can not only heal our communities but thrive. Some of our goals include building an intentional community centering Southeastern Indigenous and BIPOC folks where housing and food are secure, building and implementing a timeshare model to support systems of living outside of capitalism, calling home and protecting endangered and at-risk species, and resurrecting traditional lifeways that have long been sleeping for our people and for the land. It is necessary that we bring the songs, the language, and the lifeways back home. It is vital that we build our future in right relationship with the land and with one another. In that respect, Hvrvnrvcukwv Ueki-honecv is committed to radical ancestral lifeways rooted in collective liberation, working towards a world free of capitalism, colonialism, racism, anti-Blackness, gendered and sexuality-based oppression, and all forms of exploitation against any living beings. Our goals stop short of nothing but radical joy, freedom from all oppression, and deep healing of the natural world.
Support to me looks like folx putting Indigenous voices first in relation to land, land stewardship, the ecosystem and being in right relationship with the Earth, Indigenous sovereignty, and land back. Self care, community care and mental health as a priority as a farmer is of the utmost importance. We are nothing without our communities. How can we care for the land and each other if we don't care for ourselves?”