Wabanaki nonprofit close to having a home at Swanville farm

Niweskok, a local non-profit of Wabanaki farmers, land tenders, and educators, is under contract and raising funds towards purchasing a 245-acre working farm near Belfast in coastal Penobscot territory. They have worked diligently to raise half of the purchase price in a few short months. This farm will provide a home for Niweskok’s mission of restoring the Penobscot Bay region as a Wabanaki food hub incorporating their work of traditional crop cultivation, land-based education, and fisheries revitalization. Currently, Niweskok’s food projects are spread across borrowed, leased, public, and trust lands, sometimes hours away from their homes. With the lack of a base, Niweskok had to pause infrastructure development and growth opportunities that they are now poised to reignite and expand, creating a stable foundation for long-term community impact and sustainable land stewardship in an area where Wabanaki have been excluded. 

This beautiful, well-tended farm in Swanville holds organically managed fields with prime agricultural soils, wetlands, forests, ponds, trails, barns, and a home—land that speaks to Niweskok’s vision. The organization will bring shared skills to the land, creating safe space that nurtures Wabanaki connection, supports the local economy, and protects vital farmland and wildlife habitat from impending development. Co-Director Kessi Watters Kimball encapsulates the spirit of this project, “I dream of a time when I can live and grow with my corn on the land. I can go to bed and wake with the corn and hear it as it grows.” 

Niweskok and their partners are actively fundraising for the January 30th closing on the farm. We encourage you to support amplifying Niweskok’s echo into the future by donating to the purchase of our forever home. https://www.niweskok.org/donate 

Project Partners:

Coastal Mountains Land Trust, Maine Farmland Trust, Maine Coast Heritage Trust, and
Bernstein Shur

Contact Information:

Alivia Moore, Co-Director Niweskok: From the Stars to Seeds: alivia@niweskok.org