“Native American families are 400 percent more likely than other U.S. households to report not having enough to eat, largely as a result of living in remote, isolated locations where food supplies and jobs are scarce.”
The Partnership with Native Americans
Rita Pitka Blumenstein Memorial Garden
Alaska Village Initiatives is partnering with the Anchorage Community Development Authority to support food security in space allocated for the Rita Pitka Blumenstein Memorial Garden. Rita (Yup’ik) was born in Tununak, Nelson Island, and was Alaska’s first certified traditional doctor in Alaska working for the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium. Rita was a member of the International Council of 13 Indigenous Grandmothers until her passing in 2021.
The timing of the project coincides with AVI’s development of an educational plan specifically designed to address rural food needs through incubator farms, apprenticeships, and hands-on educational opportunities.
Alaska Farming Curriculum Series
The Amazing Traveling Ag-in-a-Box Roadshow program produced the Ultimate Alaska Farming Guide: Southcental. A sample of the book can be found at:
https://adobe.ly/403pgt0
Production of the Southeast and Interior versions of the guide are currently in production with a Q1 2024 delivery.
Essentially, all life depends upon the soil … There can be no life without soil and no soil without life; they have evolved together.
AVI is working with the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service and the National Association of Conservation Districts to deliver agriculture services to village producers with technical assistance and soil testing to increase agriculture yields and processing abilities.
