The following testimonials provide firsthand accounts of participants' experiences, highlighting the impact of this important event about soil and water. These valuable insights and feedback help showcase the event's effectiveness and influence future engagement with environmental issues. Beth SastreCommercial Horticulturist Loudoun Extension Office Virginia Cooperative Extension "It was a GREAT program! Evgeniya StrootzLoudoun County School Board "Thank you to all of you for your contribution to make this event happen! Cari TaylorCounsellor / Consultant Author, One Living System "I am so blessed to be in this thread - thank you Derrick for including me. John EllisEconomist, Rural Advocate "I think the Virginia Master Naturalist course should include a session on indigenous landscape management." Katie TrozzoDepartment of Agricultural, Leadership, and Community Education at Virginia Tech "Echoing so much gratitude and appreciation over here as well. I am so grateful to have been a part of supporting such an important event. Thanks to everyone who made this event possible, especially to our speakers Dr. Lyla, Vicky, and Rene’, Derrick for bringing us all together, Lori and Oatlands for hosting us, Beth and VCE for providing us amazing pizza from Fireside Farm, the so so many partners, donors, and exhibitors who contributed to make this happen, and to everyone who joined to be part of this important conversation and learning! I am excited for all the ripples casting out from our time together and look forward to where they are leading us. Additional RecognitionThe gathering was hosted by Agricair and Oatlands in collaboration with the Virginia Tech Center for Food Systems and Community Transformation with over seven donors and 12 partners who contributed to make the event happen. Partners include: ● American Farmland Trust ● Virginia Cooperative Extension ● 4theSoil ● Loudoun County ● Loudoun Soil and Water Conservation District ● Piedmont Environmental Council ● One Living System ● Farm and Fork Kitchen ● Save Rural Loudoun ● Fireside Farm ● Sanctuary on the Trail | Lori KimballOatlands SavingPlaces.org "Saturday was an amazing day! Thank you to everyone who organized and participated in it. As Katie said, it is exciting to see the ripples casting out from the event and to anticipate where they will lead us." Three Indigenous Women's Perspectives![]() The three Indigenous speakers were: • Dr. Lyla June Johnston - Architects of Abundance: Indigenous Food Systems and the Excavation of Hidden History • Victoria Persinger Ferguson - Living off the Land: The Earth is our Mother • Rene' Locklear White (Our Sanctuary on the Trail Co-Founder) - Sustaining Our Indigenous Roots: Protecting Water, Soil, and Food. Ryan BartlettNatural Law Mentor | Regenerative Ryan, LLC Community Builder | One Living System BioGeometry Energy-Balancing / EMF Radiation Protection "I AM overflowing with love for you all. I send a heartfelt gratitude for everybody's monumental PRESENCE this weekend, even the wily wind spirit, Sylph. Donna BohanonPublic historian, Preservationist, and Instructor "Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge and passion! Friday's and yesterday's events represented a much needed change of pace for me. I anticipated the event would be wonderful but it exceeded my expectations. There was so much that resonated with me and it was great to be around like-minded people. Derrick ClarkeAgriCair 501(c)(3), non-partisan, nonprofit corporation dedicated to the maintenance of our “One Living System” through soil and water advocacy "It is an honor to have come together, with "Diverse Village Support", to produce "Amplifying Indigenous Women's Perspectives" on Healthy Soil and Water. Special ThanksThis event is made possible by a grant from the VanHuyck/Chockley Family Foundation, the Virginia Tech Department of Agricultural, Leadership, & Community Education, American Farmland Trust and donations made to agricair. One notable agricair donation was made by the local "Bank of Clarke County." |
The three Indigenous speakers were:
More than 85 people attended the public event. |
Join for a day at Oatlands to support healthy soils and water by bringing our circles together and amplifying Indigenous perspectives. We will hear from three Indigenous women leaders, Dr. Lyla June Johnston, Rene’ Locklear White, and Victoria Persinger Ferguson, who will share about Indigenous land management and foodways that support soil and water health. Each speaker will present their work and then they will engage in dialogue with one another and the audience, in a cross-cultural exploration. Family friendly activities and networking will follow with educational and resource booths on soil and water stewardship available to explore. | Please visit the Agricair’s event webpage to register. If you are an individual with a disability and desire an accommodation, please contact Katie Trozzo at ketrozzo@vt.edu or 540-231-4582 during regular business hours at least 10 days prior to the event. You are also invited to join for a Healing House Party, a fundraiser for healthy soil and water, that will kick off the event! It will be held Friday, April 12 at 7:00 pm at Harmony Hall in Hamilton, Virginia. More information is available on Agricair’s event webpage. |
Chris Anderson and Rene' Locklear White (photo below) presented "Native People Protecting Native Plants/Waterways" during the Chesapeake Watershed 2023 Forum at the National Conservation Training Center in West Virginia. Close to 100 people attended the 90-minute presentation brining attention to what happened to Native plants and what we can all do about it. |
Downloadable Slide Presentation ![]()
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Sanctuary on the Trail includes Full Presentation and other Recommended Resources shared at the 2023 Chesapeake Watershed Forum by Chris Anderson and Rene' Locklear White who presented on Native People and Native Plants at the National Conservation Training Center in West Virginia. |
In celebration of Native American Heritage Month, we share this poem by Karenne Wood, director of Virginia Indian Programs at VFH. Celebrating Corn was originally published in Foods of the Americas by the National Museum of the American Indian. Celebrating Corn Pounding the pestle against a white stone, she grinds last year’s kernels to meal. I have planted my corn A thin white-gold powder clings to her hands. Around her, air shimmers. I have planted it with my song One of the puppies is barking, staccato yap yap punctuating her strokes. Let it grow tall and beautiful Beside her, an aunt stitches shell beads to deerskin, as young women lean toward clay pots, stirring embers. washed in sunlight The men are out gathering red clay for ocher. Beyond domed bark houses, fields watered by rains stretch small earthen mounds toward the river. Redbuds blossom, their branches upturned like hands. Grandmother, we plant our seeds She pats meal into ashcakes. Already night falls as a smell of bread rises. Painted, the men drum their song. celebrating corn. |