10 Years Retrospective
Born from a reparations gift in 2015, WILDSEED redistributes resources to those historically denied power, land, and sustenance. We have hosted retreats, residencies, and rites of passage programs, sharing this land and learning as we grow. WILDSEED is a space to actively experience the change we devote our lives to, with each other as co-creators of our present reality. We devote ourselves to cultivating collaborative, reciprocal relationships with each other and this magnificent land as a mechanism of resilience, agency, and intergenerational accountability.
Timeline
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![Four friends laughing outdoors, wearing colorful clothing, with a field and trees in the background.]()
2015
WILDSEED began with a "Core Collective" of Black farmers, healers, artists, and activists, focused on listening to the land, holding community meetings, and strategic planning. This period was marked by deep listening and observation, laying the groundwork for future growth.
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![A group of people sitting in a room, participating in a string exercise, with threads connecting them. They are seated on the floor and couches, engaging in the activity. A musical drum is placed in the center of the room.]()
2016
We improved soil health, planted perennials, established gardens, and spawned our first mushrooms. This year saw the transformation of the garage into a multi-purpose movement studio, and the renovation and construction of essential infrastructure aligned with our values for earth care. We hosted a plethora of community groups, workshops and gatherings and welcomed youth leaders, cultural activists, and families on their way home from visiting loved ones in prison.
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![Group of diverse people clapping and smiling outdoors in a garden setting.]()
2017
WILDSEED expanded its reach, hosting larger gatherings of up to 200 people, and the first Northeast Regional Gathering of BIPOC Farmers and Food Justice Leaders (which would develop into NEFOC). 20 Black and Latinx youth spent a transformational week on the land moving through the Liberation on Land Rites of Passage immersion that built lasting relationships of trust, respect and joy.
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![Group of six people smiling in a field with wildflowers and greenery, holding garden tools and white mushrooms.]()
2018
Regenerative food production took center stage with bountiful harvest of African and Indigenous-heritage foods, mushrooms and medicine. We hosted groundbreaking gatherings including the first Northeast Queer Farmer Alliance meeting and the Ruckus National Direct Action Camp which trained 140 movement leaders on an array of community-based resilience strategies and tactical survival skills. Partnerships with aligned organizations deepened, solidifying WILDSEED’s role in our regional movement ecosystem.
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![Group of young people examining plants in a garden, learning about nature.]()
2019
Regenerative food production took center stage with bountiful harvest of African and Indigenous-heritage foods, mushrooms and medicine. We hosted groundbreaking gatherings including the first Northeast Queer Farmer Alliance meeting and the Ruckus National Direct Action Camp which trained 140 movement leaders on an array of community-based resilience strategies and tactical survival skills. Partnerships with aligned organizations deepened, solidifying WILDSEED’s role in our regional movement ecosystem.
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![Two children playing in a grassy field under a blue sky with scattered clouds. One child is holding a dandelion puff and the other is smiling. Trees and a hill are in the background. A third child in a yellow shirt can be seen further away.]()
2020
In the midst of pandemic and internal challenges, WILDSEED reinforced its dedication to healing, financial stability, mutual aid and community support, including providing affordable housing and hosting the Northeast Farmers of Color Land Trust leadership retreat. This was a year of introspection, ancestral guidance and strengthening internal infrastructure.
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![Group of people practicing outdoor yoga or meditation with raised arms in a forest setting, under a clear blue sky.]()
2021
We collaborated with NuLegacy, Sweet Freedom Farm and Kibilio Community and Farm to extend the resource of the land farther into our communities. System-involved urban youth and LGBTQ+ community members took part in camping trips, healing circles and hands-on experiences on the land, while incarcerated individuals and their families received free fresh farm produce grown at WILDSEED.
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![People sitting in a circle inside a room with a skylight, engaged in a gathering with decorative items on a rug.]()
2022
This period focused on creating a sanctuary for rest, restoration, and community building, including curating a multi-day healing retreat for BIPOC who steward land, social movements, and future generations. We provided affordable housing for beginning farmers and provided Black agriculturists and herbalists with no cost access to land through “Room to Grow.”
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![Group of seven people smiling outdoors, wearing winter clothes and colorful scarves, standing under trees.]()
2023
WILDSEED launched the Radical Imagination Residency, offering no-cost space for BIPOC creatives, artists and cultural workers. We welcomed a new farmer-in-residence and established the Mandala Medicine Garden, a living labyrinth that invites people into relationship with healing plants and supplies an apothecary that distributes free herbal medicine to the local community.
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![Group of people enjoying an outdoor gathering on a sunny day, with some sitting on grass and others on chairs, surrounded by trees and a picnic table in the background.]()
2024
Our team grew with new leadership and paid positions. We expanded our programmatic offerings hosting various nature-based skill-shares, and healing and creative arts programs. Highlights included a mushroom cultivation workshop, a weekend campout festival, and intergenerational play dates. We celebrated a spectrum of site improvements, including the construction of the Oasis, a Mongolian Yurt and cedar deck for healing sessions, creative gatherings, and collaborative workshops.
Archives
Learning
Journey
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Returning to 181 acres of land that WILDSEED sits upon through a gift of reparations—as people stolen from land, forced to labor on land, and having had our land stolen—has been a profound reckoning. It has meant facing hard truths, breaking down, releasing deep-seated trauma, and transforming for generations before and after us.
Co-stewardship of WILDSEED has been humbling and transformative. We’ve had to confront how harm isn’t just something done to us—it can take root within us, living in our bodies, shaping our relationships, and echoing through our ways of being. As Resmaa Menakem reminds us, trauma is not just psychological; it’s embodied, and carried through generations. There has been no shortcut through this pain—only the courage to move through it, again and again.
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The land—this land—has been our greatest teacher. She teaches us what it means to be in right relationship—with ourselves, each other, and the earth that sustains us. Our journey has been a continuous inquiry– listening deeply and embracing uncertainty with vision and grace.
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This is the sanctuary we’ve created—one where not knowing becomes fertile ground for growth, where vulnerability opens the door to deeper connection.
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In this work of unbecoming we found something even more powerful: remembrance. The land—through its quiet, steady wisdom—has taught us how to reconnect. We know we can only achieve our desired future together. Conflict, when navigated with honesty and vulnerability, builds trust and deepens the relationships we need to realize our vision. Here, at WILDSEED, we’ve learned to listen to the earth’s rhythms, to trust in the flow of water, to honor our ancestors, and to rebuild our relationship with earth and all her inhabitants in ways that nourish.
Everyday we dare to live like liberation is our birthright. And because we’ve gone there—through the breaking down, the surrender, the reckoning, the breaking through and rebuilding—we welcome holding space for others. To midwife transformation. To create liberated zones for rest, healing, growing food and medicine, transformative leadership, ecological sustainability, joy, wholeness, and solidarity.
We’re still figuring it out. We are in progress. Releasing perfection. Tending to personal, interpersonal, generational and ancestral trauma with gentleness. We are keeping it real and rooted— remembering what makes us come alive, and unfolding with each breath, each prayer, each dream realized.
And now, we invite you to walk with us—to remember, to reconnect, and to reclaim the fullness of who you are, and who we are becoming, together here with us at WILDSEED.