Save Cayuga SHARE Farm for the Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫ'

Visit the Cayuga SHARE Farm website: www.cayugasharefarm.org

Our total adjusted GoFundMe goal is $130,000, which covers GoFundMe's associated fees and factors all county-claimed payments through 2020. If your total combined donations exceed or fall short of our goal, they will still be used for the purposes of supporting Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫʼ (Cayuga) communities elsewhere within our traditional territory, supporting educational/cultural security, and promoting community development.

This GoFundMe account supports saving the Cayuga SHARE Farm in the interest of the traditional Cayuga (Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫʼ- "People of the Pipe") Nation, a sovereign member of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy. It is an urgent need to ensure that the traditional leadership of Chiefs and Clan Mothers keep the Cayuga SHARE Farm, which is currently the only agricultural land we have within our homeland. The Cayuga SHARE Farm is near Goyogouen (Cayuga Castle, the largest Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫʼ community) and Great Gully, a sacred place of refuge for the Haudenosaunee escaping from the Sullivan-Clinton (Scorched Earth) campaign.

Because of NYS and BIA’s refusals to honor the Cayuga (Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫʼ) as a sovereign People, Cayuga County is claiming, in spite of treaty law, 15 years of unpaid property taxes against the Cayuga SHARE Farm without properly notifying the Council of Chiefs and Clan Mothers.

The total amount demanded by the county is $126,000. The deadline to raise funds in order to keep the farm is April 16th, 2021. Your monetary gift will be used for the purpose of supporting the education, cultural survival, and community development of the traditional Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫʼ.

Since the farm resides in a treaty-determined “reservation area”, the Council of Chiefs and Clan Mothers can and will use legal means to prevent the county’s tax claims in the future. But there is no future for the Cayuga SHARE Farm if we don’t raise this money by April 16th. If the farm is lost, the community near Cayuga Lake loses educational and cultural opportunities through another separation from their land. Indigenous sovereignty and government is supported by the connection with the land.

Because taxing Haudenosaunee Nations is against treaty law, the tax claim made by Cayuga County is not legally defensible. However, at this late stage in the legal process, raising funds to pay off the tax claim is currently the only viable means for us to maintain our rights to the farm. Having land is important for our People's continued efforts to gain recognition of their treaty rights by NYS and the US, and the security of their cultural freedom as a sovereign nation.

This fundraiser’s non-profit fiscal sponsor is the locally-based Groundswell Center for Local Food & Farming! Groundswell is a 501c3 not for profit. Your donation to support this fundraiser for the purposes of education and community development is tax deductible to the fullest extent allowed by law.

Donations made through Groundswell Center for Local Food & Farming will be used to ensure the farm continues to be kept as a place of education, healing, and Haudenosaunee culture.