Update Reports
“We have transitioned, grown, undertaken significant research and development in traditional agriculture and hemp and brought on new staff and leadership to carry forward our work. We are hopeful and need general support funds for the upcoming months, to strengthen this work and our future. Miigwech”
Annual Reports
“The only compensation for land is land”… Oren Lyons
Akiing, means “the land to which the people belong.” Akiing is an Anishinaabe organization working on restoring sacred landscapes, community wealth and resilience in the Great Lakes region. This is the time of our prophecies, the time when the green path must be taken, and the healing must begin. This is the time of the 7th Fire and the 8th Fire, the fire of sustainability. That is our work, and our name.
To carry out the culturally based restorative work needed for this region, we formed Akiing, a formal 501(c)3 partner of Honor the Earth. During the harsh times of the pandemic and the Enbridge occupation, we grew dramatically into five programs: 8th Fire Solar, Anishinaabe Agriculture Institute, the New Green Revolution- Hemp Economy, Leadership Development, and Land Back.
With a growing team and generous donor support, we’ve been able to purchase land, buildings and infrastructure necessary as the foundation for the work on the just transition, or the 8th fire, as we call it. In total, we’ve purchased almost 800-acres of land strategically within the 1855 Treaty Territory, and the White Earth Reservation, with new initiatives emerging at Mooningwaanikaaning.
The recovery of land has been matched with on-the-ground work on outreach, training, and strategic planning for our renewable energy and farming programs. That work has resulted in installations of solar thermal panels in northern Minnesota, and now the emergent possibility of a partnership in the Navajo nation. As well, our farming work has grown significantly, both with new team and amazing partnerships with allies like Heritage Foods and the Ann Saxelby Scholarship Fund for farm interns.
This has also been a time of leadership development, focused on the Horse Nations Academy, and an emerging set of programs to train tribal members regionally in essential farming and renewable energy programs. To better carry out our work in the future, Akiing is the mother of a new set of emerging cooperatives. This includes 8th Fire Solar (producing solar thermal panels), an emergent Indigenous Hemp and Cannabis Cooperative, and Anishinaabe Farmers’ Cooperative. This work focuses on Indigenous ecological principles and adaptation in a time of climate chaos. This work is also focused on hemp, that is fiber hemp which can heal our world.
