WHO WE ARE

Wóžu Healing Gardens Is A Nonprofit Built In Partnership With Lakota Tribe Members, Restoring And Strengthening The Innate Connection Between People, Land, And Food.

At Wóžu Healing Gardens We Cultivate With Remembrance The Infrastructures Of Indigenous Knowledge Systems, Regenerative Agriculture, Sovereignty & Wholeness, Cultural Education, And Local Economic Ecosystem.

THE MEANING OF WÓŽU

In The Lakota Language, Wóžu (Pronounced Woh-Zue) Stands For "Sowing of Plants for Ones Own, Moving Of Plants for Ones Own.” The Earth Holding the Seed, The Seed Held By The Soil. For The Quiet, Radical Act Of Putting A Seed In The Ground With Trust, Care, Love & Reciprocity That Sustains The Life Of It.

We Chose This Name Because It Encompasses Everything We Envision And The Story We Are Cultivating.

BREAKING GROUND - WÓŽU HEALING GARDENS

Star Bear Ranch In Elbert County, Colorado Is Where We Are Breaking Ground And The Heart Center Where Plants, Animals, People, And Programs Have Taken Roots.

The First Steps Cultivate The Dream; Nourishing The Soil & Building Foundations.

That means returning to Indigenous farming techniques and greenhouses so the land can feed the people who tend it and make our medicines again.

A buffalo & horse prairie, returning the relative the plains were emptied of. A ceremonial grounds, so the ceremony comes home to land that can hold it. Housing and infrastructure for the staff and volunteers who will live and work here.

It also means a team that is financially supported. Colonial systems run on unpaid and under-resourced labor from the most marginalized and Wóžu refutes that.

This Is The Slow And Sacred Labor Of Cultivating Wóžu Healing Gardens with Your Financial Support

Wóžu Healing Gardens Will Be Bringing Together:

Land Rematriation
Food Sovereignty
Regenerative Agriculture & Soil Restoration
Education, Earth Schooling & Cultural Expression
Harm Reduction, Addiction Recovery and Wellness
Women’s Reproductive Health
Native Elder & Youth Support
Local Economic Ecosystems
Community

THE LAND WE ARE STEWARDING

About Star Bear Ranch

65 Acres. Star Bear Ranch, Elbert, Colorado: home of Wóžu Healing Gardens and stewarded by a Lakota woman.

West Bijou Creek running through the heart of it. Visions of A Ceremonial Area. A Food Forest & Greenhouse. A Buffalo & Horse Prairie. Equine Therapy grounds. Space for staff to live, rest, and come home to.

WHERE THE MONEY GOES

This campaign funds starting several months at Star Bear Ranch in Elbert, Colorado. The work splits into two supporting halves.

The first half, People and Programming, comes to $493,000, and most of it is wages. Fifteen staff members including directors, farm leads, administration, social media personnel, grant writers, tech coordination, community outreach, donor relationship team and accounting at $343,000.

Five percent of the campaign, $50,000, goes directly to a Native Elder and Youth Grant, held and distributed by the community it names. Two percent, $20,000, goes to our fiscal sponsor Omprakash partnership.

The rest of the first half is the living programming. $20,000 for agriculture and education, which is seeds, tools, curriculum and the stewards who teach it. $15,000 for cultural and ceremonial work, which is elder honoraria and ceremony and the veterans who come to the land to mend. $15,000 for harm reduction, addiction recovery and wellness, including an access fund so no one is turned away for lack of money. $12,000 for community gatherings, retreats and workshops. $18,000 for the communications, marketing, and outreach.

The second half, Land and Infrastructure, targets $507,000. $200,000 for full construction of the bunkhouse, so people have a place to come home to. $30,000 for on-site cabin dwellings. $87,400 for the tools and equipment in the first phase of the farm. Then topsoil, gravel roadbase and concrete flooring at $80,000. The kitchen and the septic system are quoted and pending.

The remaining amount is to seed the second garden on Native-owned land in Kyle, SD on the Pine Ridge Reservation.

Generosity Is One Of The Seven Values Of The Lakota People.

With your contribution we build a reciprocal relationship.

Philáunyayapi- We thank you for it.

For more information about the crowdfund please visit : www.wozugardens.org/crowdfund

Fiscally Sponsored by OmprakashEIN: 20-8655418 | https://www.omprakash.org/

All donations are tax-exempt from our fiscal sponsor, Omprakash.

To learn more about Wóžu Healing Gardens please visit : www.wozugardens.org

Wóžu Healing Gardens

An Indigenous-Led Global Movement for Land Back & Indigenous Sovereignty

COMMUNITY · HEALING · SOVEREIGNTY

Wóžu Healing Gardens

An Indigenous-Led Global Movement for Land Back & Indigenous Sovereignty

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Team Members