Av Liab/Valleyfarm Java Chickens and Sustainable, Organic, Traditional Foods

Mission Statement 

Av Liab Foundation is aimed at securing cultural survival, environmental sustainability, and social/political justice for Indigenous and all people.  Formed officially in 2003 with the belief that the traditional knowledge of the worlds Indigenous peoples hold valuable lessons for securing a sustainable, just, compassionate, and ecologically sound world for all people.  We work in many capacities as a community to facilitate the perpetuation of traditional culture and practices of sustainable agriculture, land stewardship, community development, the strengthening of our spiritual and cultural heritage, and above all education for social/environmental justice and change. 

“Offering visions to our future by preserving our past.”

ducksMatt hidingbaby geese

Cayuga and Muscovy ducks,  Matt trying to hide in the garden, and the new geese.

A project for La Crosse area youth to learn about traditional plants, remedies, gardening, animal husbandry, and culture as well as the local environment and the importance of environmentalism. 

The Av Liab Foundation in collaboration with the UW-L Native American Student Association has created traditional gardens to promote learning about sustainable, traditional, and historical ways of Indigenous life, agriculture, and culture.  In addition to the garden, we have started a traditional plant exploration project in which we explore, identify, and collect wild, edible, and medicinal plants and their uses.  

We hope to address a number of goals. We hope that a project like this will help to more effectively bring the La Crosse Indigenous communities together and teach about the importance and value of environmentalism and living in balance with a dependence on nature and how essential that is to maintaining not only cultural survival, but all of humanity’s survival.  We believe that such values and focus are what is needed to counter consumerism and assimilation and build the sentiments of collective rights and responsibility so essential to creating strong communities through which we can all learn greater responsibility for our community, respect for ourselves and others, understanding of the Earth, and humility for all life.  We hope to increase our commitment to the community through this project.  The plants collected and grown are used not only to teach identification but are also used to supplement community events and are given away to community members.  This project also increases activity for youth outside and promotes more traditional foods aimed at decreasing rates of obesity and other health problems. 

We are continually seeking both elders and youth to participate with the project.  We are seeking elders who would be interested in advising on traditional plant identification, care, and collection; and youth to work on the gardens and collect plants.  We are always seeking people to learn about how to help plant, care for, weed, and harvest the gardens.  At the gardens, we plant many traditional, open pollinated, organic seeds we have collected from people around the community and region including corn, squash, sunflowers, beans, greens, medicinal plants, and tobacco.  We also grow other plants used by Indigenous people of North America like peppers, potatoes, and tomatoes and reach out to other Indigenous communities with similar issues and culture.  Commitment to working on the gardens varies based on individual desire and weather; however, we visit the gardens everyday year round.  Wild plant collection varies throughout the seasons but consists of day trips driving, biking, hiking, and canoeing throughout the region as well as extended overnight camping trips. 

In addition to the aforementioned gardens, Av Liab has recently undertaken poultry husbandry, with a particular interest in rare, old breeds.  We currently have one of the largest white Java chicken flocks in North America. 

For more information or to participate, call/email: