Vermont’s Indigenous Food Systems

Vermont, USA

By Sarah Annay Williamson
indigenousfoodsystems, foodsecurity, environmentaljustice, vermont

An interactive food systems map that highlights Vermont’s four state-recognized Abenaki Bands and the crops that they grow, gather and honor.

This map is a gateway to learning about the first Vermonters and the foods that were grown and cultivated here. This is particularly important as the climate crisis begins to affect our state’s growing seasons and localized food systems are the greatest response to food insecurity.

This map is also important because Vermont’s native ethnohistory has been greatly ignored by scholars. Many researchers share the narrative that the majority of Vermont’s Abenaki fled to Canada or assimilated with French settlers. Others refer to them as nomadic groups, without permanent settlements due to the harsh winters and short growing seasons. Extensive research of Vermont’s indigenous seeds and archaeological digs have proven otherwise. Frederick Wiseman, Vermont’s leading Indigenous scholar, says in his book, “I had uncovered facts that clearly indicated the Abenaki people walked the way of the seeded earth and relied on the sun, rain and soil for their plant-based nutrition, lived in permanent settlements and organized themselves in a form of social complexity that was required to tend their fields and feed their communities” (2016).

METHODOLOGY

First, I created the shapefiles in QGIS representing the four bands. I used geo-referencing and traced the ‘approximate’ locations of the bands, based on a digital illustration from University of Vermont. I blurred the edges of the territories to represent the fluidity of these borders, as the Abenaki bands shared tribal membership, cultural traditions, language, seeds, and in some cases, planting and hunting grounds.

After in-depth research on Abenaki’s ancient crops (all sources are noted within the maps ‘about this project’ page), I created a data set featuring 5-6 crops grown within each band/territory. The data points i.e. ‘Ancient Crops’ are approximate locations based on my research and by taking into account Vermont’s fertile lake and river valleys.

I spent a lot of time styling my sidebars. The information changes depending on the ‘band’ that is clicked via my illustrated buttons. This is my favorite part of the map and allows people to dig a bit deeper into Vermont’s Indigeous culture and history.

My last additions were a ‘how to use this map’ popup and secondly, a ‘contact and contribute’ page where viewers can add their own stories and history. This participatory component can be built on and I hope this data set grows the more the map is shared.