Micro Landback Initiative for a indigenous farmer

This is a fundraising initiative to give our beloved community member June Moreau safe, stable, and permanent housing. We are seeking to raise $28,000 to cover the cost of a yurt made in New Hampshire by the women of Two Girls Farm & Yurts in Acworth NH.

The cost of the Yurt itself will be approximately $19,790, and we estimate the cost of a platform to be $7,000-$8,000.

This micro land back initiative has very generously been given access to land usage on historically colonized land on the Seacoast to ensure her wellbeing. Now all we need to do is secure a Yurt!

June has most recently been housing insecure since April 2022, and has lived in six locations across three states since 2020. June can remember first being housing insecure before the age of 5, and has lost count of each time between then and now.

Despite all of this June has remained an active member in our community ever since arriving on the Seacoast during the pandemic.

June has headed, and had her hand in many community enrichment projects.

She started and operated “From The Ground Farm” from 2021-22. The farm’s focus was to bring unique and healthy food to our community while giving away food to address food insecurity. The farm also offered educational programming and even hosted Phillip’s Exeter academy for a climate day workshop with over one hundred curious and happy students. Another project she created in conjunction with the farm was called “The Giving Garden”. This idea was born of a desire to give youth and children basic farming skills while giving away the produce to those in need in our area. The farm also hosted nature immersion hikes for youngsters where they were taken on the SELT trail on the property to learn about the natural world around them.

In July her and her business partner lost the farm due to a dispute with the landowners.

Despite losing access to her farm June remains in gratitude for all she was able to achieve in a short time and will always remember this tender time with great fondness.

June Currently serves as Vice President of Mid-New England Seacoast Alliance of The National Young Farmer’s Association. An organization focused on ensuring the success of young farmers in our area. She has been instrumental in the early growth development of the chapter and enjoys her roll with the org.

June Helped re-launch The Hampton Falls Farmers Market in spring 2022. This market is an equitable market with no vendor fees or insurance requirements for members. The goal of this market is to support local farmers and artisans and enrich our community in a way that lets everyone participate regardless of means. During her time with the org she learned to build a website, managed emails & calls, and went into the community to recruit vendors for the season.

June also considers herself a community organizer and has also spent countless hours volunteering directly with individuals, start-up farmers and senior farmers in our community sharing her knowledge of sustainable food production practices and offering her muscles to those interested in learning about farming, or those trying to continue farming. She never shies away from lending herself to those in need of a hot meal, or simple loving attention either.

June is currently healing by gardening for individuals and tending her flock of quail while dreaming of her next steps in the Agricultural and justice world. She is also hoping to begin working in indigenous sovereignty, and cultural preservation as a way to honor her Taino heritage.

As a woman of indigenous heritage with strong connection to first contact peoples (descended from the Taino’s on the island of Quisqueya *so called Hispaniola*, who made first contact with Columbus in 1492, born on the island of Noepe , *so called Martha’s Vineyard* in the land of the Wampanoags who’s people in Plymouth made first contact with the pilgrims in 1621) she believes her place in this world is to help fight for indigenous rights as a farmer and is currently planning a non GMO seed grow out to be distributed to fellow Tainas, indigenous women on Boriken (now called Puerto Ricco).

June is also an aspiring writer, mixed media artist, and green woodworker. She enjoys working in various natural mediums and hopes to make way as an artist once her stability issues are addressed. Her mentors are eagerly waiting for her to bloom and see much potential in her.

June is looking forward to a time when she can invest her energy into her community more deeply to make lasting and measurable impacts. We are all excited to see where she will go from here. One thing we know for sure is that it is our opinion that our community is much better for having her in it and we are all so excited to watch her move into a place of thriving. The burden of instability is difficult to express and we know the benefits of permanent housing will be immeasurable for June. Let’s come together as a community to support this exemplary individual because this is how a community should behave. In addition, we hope folks will see this as a tangible and executable way to effectively give “Land Back” to young BIPOC women with indigenous heritage. We can absolutely come together as a community to support this woman who constantly displays her desire to build our community up for all of us. We can do this!

We will be announcing fundraising events soon, so please stay tuned for more information!