The pandemic has steered a lot of learning online, and language classes have been no exception. But learning an indigenous language with few native speakers left — such as Abenaki, spoken by Vermont’s original inhabitants — presents a unique challenge, and precarity is its own brand of pressure.

More than a dozen farmers, gardeners and homesteaders around the state received Indigenous seeds provided by the Nulhegan Band — for Algonquin squash; cranberry, skunk and Mohawk dry beans; Calais flint corn; and a Koasek/Calais corn mix — to grow and harvest for Abenaki citizens.

Abenaki tribes from our region have been working toward more visibility for years and a new law provides a new opportunity to make their culture more visible.