Projects We Support
Using our business as a force for good is important to us. We acknowledge that we operate on Indigenous lands that were never ceded (given up), and we benefit from this by having a secure place to live and a way to earn income from the land. We also recognize that many culturally-significant seeds have been taken from their original stewards without consent, then patented and sold for profit, without benefitting the seeds' original caretakers. We owe so much of our food diversity to the agricultural ingenuity of Indigenous peoples, particularly from the Americas (read more here).
Colonialism is ongoing, and it is actively hurting so many people. Envisioning a diverse community where everyone can thrive, Cicada Seeds redistributes a portion of our income to Indigenous-led charities and grassroots initiatives we know and love. We encourage all farmers, seedkeepers, and gardeners to generously support projects like this with your time or funds. Read on to meet some of the projects we support!
Sovereign Seeds
Sovereign Seeds is an incredible national (Canada) Indigenous-led organization dedicated to the revitalization of Indigenous seed and agricultural food sovereignty. We've been lucky to support them since their early days, and financially through Cicada Seeds since approx 2023. They offer:
Cultural education & training
Tailored education and training opportunities for Indigenous people to (re)learn and apply cultural agriculture and seed keeping teachings and practices for healing, climate response, and food sovereignty
Food entrepreneurship & small agribusiness
Education and mentorship opportunities for Indigenous people to establish and grow cultural food and agribusiness endeavours with cultural economic values and community reciprocity
Cultural seed & food distribution
Producing cultural foods and seeds on our farm site for free distribution to Indigenous households
Advocacy & amplification
Mobilizing and amplifying community voices in spaces impacting our food systems towards responsive policy priorities and multi-sector change
Gatherings
Opportunities to exchange knowledge, identify shared challenges and goals, and strategize on issues impacting food sovereignty
Research
Community-led research in seed variety climate adaptation, cultural agriculture techniques, and the revitalization of food cultures and practices
We encourage you to learn more and support this important work at sovereignseeds.org
Fourth Sister Stewardship
Tiffany Traverse is a passionate Indigenous Researcher and Land & Seed Steward, building collaborative approaches to community resiliency, emergency preparedness & prevention, and adaptation to change. Reclaiming cultural fire and Indigenous foodland conservation/restoration is a big part of her life, and she sits on boards of both the Salish Firekeepers Society and the Secwépemc Foodlands Conservation Society, chairing the latter.
Tiffany mails out community seed and care packages annually and we are happy to support these efforts with seed and/or funds since 2024.
Donations can be made via e-transfer to t.traverse@gmail.com with funds going towards postage for annual care packages.
Ntamtqen Community Garden & Food Hub
Ntamtqen Community Garden & Food Hub is located on Smelqmix (Similkameen) community land of the Lower Similkameen Indian Band (also known as Cawston, BC).
The garden sits on 7.5 acres of on-reserve community land, which has a farming history of being an organic mixed vegetable farm, a hay field and Similkameen Native Organic Produce. Now it’s being revitalized as a community garden and food hub.
Driven by Dixon Terbasket’s vision and experience in farming this land, the team and the support from Lower Similkameen Indian Band (LSIB), the Garden & Food Hub has really sprung into action through 2023 and 2024. This action is informed by LSIB community planning and goals, and a vision of food security and Indigenous Food Sovereignty.
I had the opportunity to get to know and support this project through my past role at Young Agrarians from 2022-2025, and now the folks at Ntamtqen Community Garden have become dear friends! Cicada Seeds has supported the garden via donations of seed, plants, and seed saving consulting.
Learn more and donate to the garden here: ntamtqencommunity.garden
More Great Projects We've Donated Seed To
LifeCycles Project Society Seed Library