The recent months have demonstrated to GSC that our mission expands beyond the separate categories of environmental sustainability and food security. With help from the Humanities Guåhan CARES Act, we will be able to foster a community that is knowledgeable about local food and its cultural significance to our island’s community. We also understand that we need to approach our relationship to food and land in a holistic matter, not just as a form of sustenance.

Through the lens of food sovereignty, we recognize that the connections between the farmers who grow our island’s food, the people who consume the produce, and the cultural and social significance of our food are critical to how we understand ourselves as a community, one steeped in the values of reciprocity and inafa’maolek.

Funding has been provided to GSC from Humanities Guahan and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) as part of the federal CARES Act of 2020.

We’re happy to share that we’ve received a $5,000 grant award from the National Farm to School Network to support our ongoing response to the COVID-19 pandemic. With this funding, we’ll be able to continue our efforts of supporting our local farmers and our local food system, while providing local produce to families in need. Read more about National Farm to School Network’s Covid-19 Relief Fund here.

Through its “Supporting Farmers, Sustaining Families” initiative, Guåhan Sustainable Culture will utilize relief funds to support Guam’s farmers and provide local fresh produce to families and children in need. In this initiative, GSC purchases produce from Guam’s local farmers and then distribute the produce to individual families in fresh produce bags and to charitable organizations. With the notion of food security and food sovereignty in mind, we want to ensure a sustainable local demand for fresh produce so that farmers can feel assured that their produce will be purchased in times of crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, we want to provide culturally relevant fresh foods to families who are in need of food because of financial hardships due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Families who receive our produce bags receive access to a variety of locally grown produce which they can incorporate into their family’s and children’s meals, thus, teaching children how to eat locally grown produce that they might not be familiar with. Although this initiative was launched during the pandemic, we plan to make this a permanent activity for our organization. 

The infusion of relief funds contributes to the sustainability of the farm to school efforts in the long term by ensuring that Guam’s local farmers not only remain in business but continue to grow a local market outside of the tourism, hotel, and restaurant industry. In addition, Guåhan Sustainable Culture is growing a network of local farmers who can contribute to Guam Department of Education Farm-to-School program in the future. Furthermore, with our “Supporting Farmers, Sustaining Families” initiative, families who receive our produce bags are introduced to a variety of locally grown produce which they can incorporate into their family’s and children’s meals, thus, teaching children how to eat locally grown produce that they might not be familiar with. These families are also becoming more aware of our organization and our goals and objectives to teach farming and agriculture and to nourish island residents.

About National Farm to School Network
National Farm to School Network works to ensure equitable access to local food and nutrition education in order to improve children’s health, strengthen family farms and cultivate vibrant communities. They serve as a resource, advocacy and networking hub for communities across the country who bring local food, gardens, and food and nutrition education into schools and early care and education settings. Farm to school empowers children and their families to engage in their local food systems, while strengthening local economies and contributing to vibrant communities. Learn more at www.farmtoschool.org.

There are now twelve new and proud owners of egg laying baby chicks that, in about 4-6 months, will be hatching fresh eggs in their owners’ backyards! 

On Friday, April 3rd, Guåhan Sustainable Culture (GSC)  issued live day-old baby chicks to individuals who had attended a Backyard Egg Production workshop last month that was hosted in partnership with Dr. Bob Barber, Mark Acosta and Jessica Nangauta from the University of Guam’s College of Natural and Applied Sciences. 

In addition to raising healthy chickens for their fresh eggs, attendees also learned how to build a movable chicken pen to help control weeds and provide fertilization to regenerate the soil for their gardens. 

This was just one of the many projects GSC has organized to help promote food security in our community. Additionally, raising chickens at home gives people a better understanding and appreciation of their food and its origins. 

During times of economic hardship, such as the one we are facing now, it is even more important for our people to be self-sufficient, self-reliant and less dependent on outside economic support. 

March 07, 2020

Guåhan Sustainable Culture welcomed over 30 future chicken farmers to a Backyard Egg Production workshop that was conducted by the University of Guam’s Extension Specialist, Dr. Bob Barber along with Mark Acosta and Jessica Nanguata who are also from UOG.

The workshop discussed how chickens, when kept in proper conditions, can be wonderful stewards of the earth and valuable assets to your garden, lawn and compost pile. Attendees were able to see a live chicken pen and also build a moveable chicken coop using materials that are affordable and easily sourced on island.

After a detailed discussion of how to care for day old baby chicks, everyone was given the opportunity to place orders for their very own baby chicks to start raising for a consistent supply of fresh eggs at home.

We hope every attendee absorbed the valuable knowledge of backyard egg production. This is one step towards becoming less relient on imported foods and more sustainable in your home-garden practices.

February 01, 2020

As part of its year long programming, Guåhan Sustainable Culture held its popular microgreens workshop for the seniors and residents of Summertown Estates. Through this activity, participants were able to bring their finished plantings home to care for and harvest on their own. 

The workshops are designed to encourage seniors and the Summer Town community to get involved in gardening activities to improve their physical, social and mental health. 

We look forward to returning for the next gardening workshop this summer. 

February 21, 2020

Guåhan Sustainable Culture founders enjoyed talking to Oceanview Middle School students about their goals and ideas as well as the importance of food security and a career in farming.  Students afterwards participated in a hands-on activity  transplanting their very own eggplant seedlings to take home and care for on their own.

With so many great career possibilities out there, we wish every student success in their future endeavors. Good luck , Knights!

Guåhan Sustainable Culture (GSC) is currently organizing an archival research and oral history project on the Histories of Agriculture and Farming on Guåhan. In order to envision a future of environmental sustainability and food sovereignty on Guam, GSC hopes that a look into history will provide the island with knowledge of sustainable practices lost to time, reconnect people with their ancestors, and, most importantly, encourage profound connections to the land and island. In other words, knowledge of innovation in farming and agriculture on Guåhan requires a revitalization of cultural practices rooted in Guåhan’s culture.

At GSC, we believe that food security and environmental sustainability translate into the well-being of our island community. Since we began in January 2019, GSC has educated over 500 community members and held over 20 workshops and outreach in cultivating self-sustaining food systems through small-scale family farms and gardens as well as community gardens in collaboration with the University of Guam, Guam Economic Development Authority, Guam Women’s Chamber of Commerce, other non-profit organizations, and local businesses.

We acknowledge that a critical examination of island histories is essential to ongoing conversations regarding sustainable futures for island communities and it is a key component of our current food sovereignty and food security projects. This project attempts to highlight significant developments and turning points in Guåhan’s history of farming and agriculture.

In September 2019, we (GSC) received a grant from Humanities Guåhan and the National Endowment for the Humanities for GSC to research and share local knowledge related to the histories of agriculture and farming on Guåhan through archival research, oral histories with various families, community engagement through a community workshop, and a culminating interactive exhibit that will be launched in August 2020 at the Sagan Kotturan Cultural Center in Tumon. We can’t wait to share this information and exhibit with our community and those interested abroad.

On January 14, Guahan Sustainable Culture joined the Maria A. Ulloa Elementary School’s Parent Teacher Conference and “Carabao Connection Fair”.

Students and families were able to plant herbs and vegetables at GSC’s booth to take with them to grow and harvest at home. 

Thank you to the faculty and staff at Maria A. Ulloa Elementary for the opportunity to connect with the community and encourage parental involvement with their students!

On January 11, we partnered with the Hyatt Regency Guam Hotel for an awesome workshop where we demonstrated how to grow your own microgreens. Hyatt Executive Chef Mirko and his team then prepared some wonderful creations to taste test and demonstrate what microgreens can be used for at home.

View more pictures in the slideshow below.

Thanks to those who joined us! Special thanks to Hyatt for their sustainability efforts and the investments they continue to make for our island and our community. 

Be sure to look out for our next workshops ‘Chicken Farming’ and ‘Mushroom Cultivation’ . Join our e-mail list to receive new workshop notifications. We hope to continue to get our community involved in these events so spread the word!

View more pictures below