Sustenance: Ag Society's Grounds in 2059

Abstract

Sustenance is the substance of distinct flavors, textures, colors, and nutrients that nourish living beings and allow them to thrive together. Yet, sustenance remains in the periphery of landscape architecture and on Ag Society’s grounds on the island of Noepe, Martha’s Vineyard. Appearance considerations have taken over the physical practices of sustenance. Sustenance: Ag Society’s Grounds in 2059 proposes communal foraging to address the ongoing fragmentation of relationships between land, people, fauna, and flora. Forest forage expands the existing sustenance on site. Garden forage invites land-based practitioners from Wampanoag communities, landscaping companies, conservation organizations, and farming communities to care, design, and share their abundance. Milkweed forage communes with monarchs and humans. The aspiration is to integrate sustenance as a “connective tissue.” Shaping space for communal foraging nourishes the connections among the glacial outwash sand, Wampanoag communities, water, seasonal communities, moths, plant communities, working residents and commuters, ground-nesting bees, and more.