Hi friends,
It's been a full stretch since our last Field Notes. Funding Round 3 has closed, project teams have been busy sharing updates from the land, and we've been helping bring some new stories into the world. Here's what's growing.
Seeding Hope: a new podcast with Papawhakaritorito Trust
Seeding Hope is a new podcast from Papawhakaritorito Trust, produced in collaboration with Ma Earth. The Trust was founded by Dr Jessica Hutchings (Tūhoe, Ngāi Tahu, Ngāti Huirapa, Gujarati) and Associate Professor Jo Smith (Kāi Tahu, Kāti Māmoe, Waitaha). Jessica hosts the series, which brings together Māori women who grow kai, protect te taiao, write, heal and organise.
The series asks how mana wāhine are navigating this moment of overlapping crises, and keeps returning to the seed: sharing, saving, storing and sowing it as a way back into relationship with Papatūānuku. It's part of the Trust's three-year Seeding Hope research kaupapa, funded by Te Apārangi Marsden.
We're honoured to help carry these voices a little further.
Episode 1: Food as medicine, with Donna Kerridge
First up is Donna Kerridge (Ngāti Tahinga, Ngāti Mahuta), a rongoā Māori practitioner, trainer and advisor. In Food as Medicine: He Kai te Rongoā, Donna and Jessica talk about how growing from kākano (seed) reconnects us with kai and with Te Ao Tūroa, the natural world.
Episode 2: Indigenous Knowledge as First Law of Aotearoa, with Matariki Carr
The second episode of Seeding Hope is with Matariki Carr of River Collective. A well-known lawyer, writer and activist, and co-author of the Mana Wāhine Indigenous Women's Declaration for Soil and Seed, Matariki, who is of Ngāi Tūhoe, Ngāti Awa and Pākehā descent, shares kōrero (conversation) about the historical destruction of the ecological feminine mind, how the Māori legal system cared for the whenua (land) and the fight today against the introduction of GMOs in Aotearoa.
New episodes land weekly. Next up is Professor Linda Tuhiwai Smith on decolonisation and food sovereignty.
Mana Wāhine Declaration for Hineahuone
Alongside Seeding Hope, Papawhakaritorito Trust invites women everywhere to add their names to the Mana Wāhine Declaration for Hineahuone, a Māori women's declaration for soil and seed. Hineahuone is the atua of soil and seed. The declaration calls us back to listening to Papatūānuku, to doing the mahi needed to restore the health of our soils, and to saving and planting Indigenous seeds. It was written in Aotearoa with Dr Vandana Shiva, who visited in 2024 for the He Whenua Rongo symposium, and was later carried to her community in India for World Food Day.
Rewilding palm oil farms, with Andrew Millison
Andrew Millison of Earth Repair Fund is back with a new film. The Genius Plan to Rewild Palm Oil Farms (and Save the Orangutan!) visits the Orangutan Information Centre (OIC) at the edge of Gunung Leuser National Park in Sumatra, Indonesia. OIC buys palm oil land and, with local villagers, turns it into layered food forests of cacao, banana, cassava and coffee that feed people and orangutans alike. About two years after planting, orangutans, sun bears and tigers are coming back.
OIC is also raising funds on Ma Earth, where every $2,600 restores about an acre. Support OIC on Ma Earth »
From Climate Week NY
We spent Climate Week (September 20–27) in New York, and came home with a stack of conversations for The Regeneration Will Be Funded. Among them: Tom Chi, founder of At One Ventures and author of Climate Capital, and John Fullerton, founder of Capital Institute and a longtime voice for regenerative economics.
Both talks go to the heart of our question: how do we move money toward life? The episodes are coming soon. Subscribe so you don't miss them.
From the land: what projects shared in September
Project teams on Ma Earth post updates to their profiles: photos from planting days, harvests, gatherings, and the small wins that make up the work. Here are 21 of our favorite updates from the last month:
Planting and restoring
Mangrove and peatland recovery, Riau, Indonesia
Yayasan Gambut planted 4,000 seedlings in September with local community groups: mangroves in Sepahat and Teluk Piyai Pesisir, and Liberica coffee in the Ghimbo Pomuan customary forest.
See their update »
Mangroves4Life, Gabura, Bangladesh
SESDO shared a one-year before and after of a mangrove site coming back to life. Now Indigenous Munda women are starting a nursery to raise 5,000 saplings for the next three hectares.
See their update »
Restoring Scotland's Caledonian Forest, Glen Affric, Scotland
Trees for Life's wildlife cameras caught the first beavers born in Glen Affric in about 400 years. At least two kits are thriving.
See their update »
Post-Helene stream restoration, Western North Carolina, US
On the two-year anniversary of Hurricane Helene, Ama Earthworks held their first donor-funded install. More than 20 volunteers and a live DJ from Clean Frequencies helped repair a stretch of bank on Cane Creek.
See their update »
Living Chacras, Peruvian Amazon
Instituto Chaikuni's nursery is full of cacao, copoazú, huito and dozens more. The dry season is running long, so the big plantings will wait for the rains from mid-October.
See their update »
Reforesting La Loma, Cabarete, Dominican Republic
Cabarete Sostenible and Maroa rebuilt planting mounds with compost and sea algae, then planted Jagua and Rosa de Bayahíbe.
See their update »
Women for Mangroves, Red River Estuary, Vietnam
A women-led community team and local rangers are mapping invasive species and checking mangrove health at Thai Thuy, ahead of the migratory bird season.
See their update »
Takaungu watershed, Kilifi, Kenya
Grassroots Economics wrote a long read on restoring "the social soil" alongside the land, from upland farms to the creek edge.
Read the article »
Circular waste systems, Sukabumi, Indonesia
BSU Mandiri built their first compost unit from local materials, talked waste with students after a 1,500-person cleanup at SMAN 3, and showed their work to Sukabumi's Vice Mayor.
See their update »
Slash For Cash, Tairāwhiti and Wairoa, Aotearoa
A new program will independently test emissions from their mobile biochar kilns, with community training workshops starting this month.
See their update »
Gardens, classrooms and gatherings
Grow Wānaka, Aotearoa
Five posts from the māra kai: weekly garden bees, a Spring Equinox shared meal, fermentation workshops with Evita Shen, and seed packets bound for the library's seed library.
See their update »
Riverlution Eco Park, Ōtautahi Christchurch, Aotearoa
Richmond Community Garden Trust shared how they used their funds: a greywater upgrade, a rain garden, team development and new growing spaces.
See their update »
Living Classrooms, Kerala, India
Green Kerala Volunteers planted a fruit forest and butterfly garden at the Signal School on Willingdon Island. The trainees named it Prakriti Mitra, "friend of nature."
See their update »
Huerto Tlatelolco, Mexico City
Cultiva Ciudad opened enrolment for Abuelos Semilla, a garden program for the wellbeing of older neighbours, funded by their campaign.
See their update »
From the Earth to Table, Aotearoa
At The Food Farm, school kids sowed heritage Jedvale tomatoes and college students helped save Kaanga Ma maize seed.
See their update »
Sacred forest restoration, Kaya Mtswakara, Kenya
Green World Campaign Kenya is training young guardians of the sacred forest in tree nurseries, water harvesting and financial literacy.
See their update »
Regenerative landscapes, Mérida, Venezuela
Fundación Senderos is in the planning phase, building their team and assessing three local schools for edible forests.
See their update »
Balcones Tejas Bioregional Learning Center, Central Texas, US
Kula Applied Research Institute looked back on Confluence, the three-day gathering that launched the Balcones Tejas Bioregional Club.
See their update »
Faiths for Land, UNCCD COP17, Mongolia
FutureFaith brought faith leaders to six events at COP17, and launched a free Faiths for Land Masterclass. See their update »
Kelp Gardeners, Waiheke Island, Aotearoa posted a thank-you video to their donors.
See video »
Regenerating Together @ Mangarara, Hawke's Bay, Aotearoa shares a heartfelt update about their recent plantings.
See video »
Every update helps funders and neighbours see the work as it grows. If you steward a project on Ma Earth, post yours from your profile. We read them all.
Friends of Ma Earth
Naia Trust: Earth-Centred Consciousness Sensemaking 2024–2026
Naia Trust has published its latest report on funding Earth-centred consciousness. Founder Alexa Firmenich and the team look back on three years of research, gatherings and partnerships across 50+ grant partners, from whale protection in Baja California to youth rites of passage in the UK. It's candid about what they're still learning, including how to grow without becoming an institution. As they put it: "Form follows consciousness."
Also worth catching
The Great Simplification with Nate Hagens
Nate Hagens sat down with Charles Eisenstein for The Collapse of Our Mythology: Can Humanity Choose What's Next? They talk about the story of separation, money and the commons, and living in the gift. It's a good companion to the question we keep asking: what does it look like to put life at the center? And right after Climate Week, Nate's solo episode A State of the World Address imagines the climate speech no leader has given yet.
Thanks for being on this journey with us. May these field notes find fertile ground.
Until next time,
Ma Earth team 🌱
