First Foods

First Foods First Foods is an educational series that features Indigenous culture bearers who hold the oldest knowledge on the continent. Our goals:

1.

Preserve and share Indigenous knowledge making what is often unavailable to urban Native people available. Our target market is other Indigenous people and our program is spearheaded by Indigenous womxn.

2.Provide much needed teaching opportunities to a population of people who are valuable to preserving biodiversity, promoting alternative food preparation, and highlighting ways to build health outside industrial food systems.

Tipai (Kumeyaay) people, including the Kwaaymii Band, have long used places like Mine Wash and Little Blair Valley as se...
05/28/2026

Tipai (Kumeyaay) people, including the Kwaaymii Band, have long used places like Mine Wash and Little Blair Valley as seasonal food landscapes, where community labor turned desert harvests into daily nourishment. Bedrock mortars and grinding slicks are not just “features,” they are work marks: repeated pounding, repeated grinding, repeated meals made possible through skill and time.

This is living cultural heritage, and you visit sites like these, treat them responsibly: stay on the trail, leave everything as you found it, and never remove artifacts. Looting does permanent harm, and once a site is disturbed, that knowledge cannot be put back.

The grinding stone echoes through eternity.

Today is Native Nonprofit Day, a national giving initiative focused on increasing support for Native-led organizations. ...
05/21/2026

Today is Native Nonprofit Day, a national giving initiative focused on increasing support for Native-led organizations. At Grinding Stone Collective, we know that Native-led work requires more than project-based funding. It takes flexible support for the everyday needs that keep programs moving: staff time, planning, administration, transportation, supplies, outreach, and the unseen labor behind community care.

When you give to GSC, you help us continue our work in Indigenous food sovereignty, Native food access, education, stewardship, and support for Indigenous producers.

Your donation helps Native-led work grow, not just for one event or one program, but for the long-term infrastructure our communities deserve.

Support GSC today:
https://bit.ly/givenativegsc

Thank you to for amplifying work like ours!

AICH is opening a new chapter, and we’re grateful to be part of it.Join the GSC at the (American Indian Community House...
05/06/2026

AICH is opening a new chapter, and we’re grateful to be part of it.

Join the GSC at the (American Indian Community House) Open House on May 9th as they welcome the community into their new space! This marks a new chapter for AICH after years of relocation, and creates a real opportunity to grow programs and partnerships, like ours with the Intertribal Pantry, and deepen community access to Native wellness and the arts.

Ahead of the opening, we sat down with Executive Director Patricia Tarrant to talk about what this moment means, how community work was shaped by her late mother, Victoria Yellow-Wolf Tarrant, has shaped how AICH is thinking about community input, and what comes next.

Take a few minutes to read the full interview then come through on May 9th to see the space for yourself.

✒️ Read the interview: https://bit.ly/aichinterview
📍 Join us at the open house: Saturday, May 9 | 4–8 PM | 234 W 39th Street, 6th fl New York, NY 10018

IndigenousLeadership FoodSovereignty NativeCommunity IntertribalPantry CommunityCare NYCEvents

AICH is opening a new chapter, and we’re grateful to be part of it.Join the GSC at the American Indian Community House O...
05/06/2026

AICH is opening a new chapter, and we’re grateful to be part of it.

Join the GSC at the American Indian Community House Open House on May 9th as they welcome the community into their new space! This marks a new chapter for AICH after years of relocation, and creates a real opportunity to grow programs and partnerships, like ours with the Intertribal Pantry, and deepen community access to Native wellness and the arts.

Ahead of the opening, we sat down with Executive Director Patricia Tarrant to talk about what this moment means, how community work was shaped by her late mother, Victoria Yellow-Wolf Tarrant, has shaped how AICH is thinking about community input, and what comes next.

Take a few minutes to read the full interview then come through on May 9th to see the space for yourself.

🔗 Read the interview: https://bit.ly/aichinterview
📍Join us at the open house: Saturday, May 9 | 4–8 PM | 234 W 39th Street, 6th fl New York, NY 10018

Nipmuc foodways and lifeways shaped Sudbury long before the town had a name. This communal grinding stone is one of the ...
05/04/2026

Nipmuc foodways and lifeways shaped Sudbury long before the town had a name. This communal grinding stone is one of the few surviving examples of its kind in New England, a record of sustained labor that turned corn, grains, nuts, and beans into meal and flour, generation after generation.

In 2002, Sudbury considered creating a small “Grinding Stone Park” to protect and interpret the site, and although the proposal was ultimately withdrawn, care for the space has not disappeared. When we encounter living Indigenous heritage in public space, do we treat it as a backdrop or as a responsibility?

The grinding stone echoes through eternity!

Special thank you to for keeping local history alive.

Earth Day can bring attention to the work we do as Indigenous peoples, but it doesn’t carry it.The work looks like this:...
04/22/2026

Earth Day can bring attention to the work we do as Indigenous peoples, but it doesn’t carry it.

The work looks like this: showing up, getting your hands in the soil, learning together, and making sure the next generation knows how to continue it. It’s also about access, making sure people have what they need to grow, gather, harvest, preserve, and prepare their own foods in ways that make sense for their communities.

In cities especially, reconnecting to land takes true intention. It means creating spaces where there are none, sharing knowledge even when only a few show up, and supporting the people doing this work every day rather than trying to reinvent the wheel. If you have access to land, tend it. If you don’t, find ways to support those who do. If you’ve been taught something, pass it on.

That’s how life this continues.

See you soon @ Silberman School of Social Work: 2180 3rd Avenue, New York, NY 10035
04/21/2026

See you soon @ Silberman School of Social Work: 2180 3rd Avenue, New York, NY 10035

With in full swing, we've also been invited to speak at this year’s Indigenous Food Policy Summit at alongside for...
04/20/2026

With in full swing, we've also been invited to speak at this year’s Indigenous Food Policy Summit at alongside for two sessions centered on Indigenous foodways in urban communities for and of as keynote speaker:

🕖 7:15 PM – Rebuilding Indigenous Food Systems in Urban Diaspora Communities (Grinding Stone Collective)
🕢 7:45 PM – Lakota Foodways in Practice: Bapa Wasna & Frybread (Buffalo Jump NYC)

From rebuilding Indigenous food systems in diaspora spaces to learning Indigenous foodways, these sessions focus on what it takes to practice food sovereignty right now. If you’re in NYC, come through, learn, and be part of the conversation.

🗓 April 21
⏰ 6–9 PM
📍 Silberman School of Social Work: 2180 3rd Avenue, New York, NY 10035

RSVP using the link below or scan the QR code on the flyer
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/indigenous-food-policy-summit-tickets-1984913301116

Thank you to everyone who came out for this weekend's pantry at ! If you missed it, you can still purchase popcorn and ...
04/06/2026

Thank you to everyone who came out for this weekend's pantry at ! If you missed it, you can still purchase popcorn and other amazing food directly from via their website or check our native food producers database to see native foods from across the continent at https://bit.ly/gscnativeproducerdatabase (link in bio).

If you are an Indigenous food producer or would like to recommend someone for the next pantry event, drop a tag or comment and let us know what you'd like to see next!


COVID-19 is moving through our communities again, and in a lot of ways it has become normalized. Indigenous writers and ...
03/31/2026

COVID-19 is moving through our communities again, and in a lot of ways it has become normalized. Indigenous writers and organizations have framed this time period as a call to remember the importance of community care. In my research via Native Memory Project, NDN Collective, and Cultural Survival articles, plant medicines such as echinacea, elderberry, wormwood, goldenrod, yarrow, gumweed, stinging nettle, garlic, lemon balm, and sweetgrass appear alongside teachings about masks, handwashing, rest, checking on Elders, and protecting one another. One PBS analysis reported that the pandemic cut American Indian and Alaska Native life expectancy by as much as six and a half years. This post shares a small piece of that larger story: Indigenous knowledge has long held medicine in plants, food, memory, and knowledge, or our original big data was passing along this information so we could keep one another healthy. Please remember, if you have Covid-19 and are experiencing worsening symptoms, please talk to your doctor and stay safe!

Sources:
https://nativememoryproject.org/plant/covid-19-plant-medicines/ https://ndncollective.org/indigenizing-and-decolonizing-community-care-in-response-to-covid-19/ https://www.culturalsurvival.org/news/open-letter-indigenous-peoples-indigenous-peoples-brazil-surviving-covid-19
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/analysis-covid-19-shortened-native-american-life-expectancy-but-its-not-the-only-factor
https://coronavirus.health.ny.gov/fatalities-0
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/covid19/index.htm

We are honored to welcome Alexander “Brave Journey” Sterling, Founder and CEO of Turtle Island Community Capital, to the...
03/30/2026

We are honored to welcome Alexander “Brave Journey” Sterling, Founder and CEO of Turtle Island Community Capital, to the Grinding Stone Collective Advisory Board.

Alexander brings extensive experience in Indigenous economic development, community finance, and building capital pathways that support Native-led initiatives. His work centers on strengthening the infrastructure our communities need to build long-term stability, from financial education to investment strategies that prioritize Indigenous self-determination. His perspective will help support GSC’s continued growth as we expand our Indigenous food sovereignty programs, community distribution efforts, and educational initiatives. Alexander’s guidance will help us continue building sustainable pathways that connect food sovereignty, economic opportunity, and community resilience.

In his words:

"I’m deeply honored to join the board of Indigenous Knowledge | Grinding Stone Collective. The work this organization is carrying forward feels both urgent and enduring, protecting Indigenous knowledge, creating space for cultural expression, and strengthening the community infrastructure our people need to thrive. I’m grateful for the opportunity to support a vision rooted in relationship, stewardship, and the long arc of Indigenous future-building.”

Please join us in welcoming Alexander to the circle.

Address

Queens, NY
11385

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when First Foods posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Organization

Send a message to First Foods:

Shortcuts

Share

Category