At FFG (Food Farm Gardens), we transform 300+ years of Caribbean agricultural heritage into living community resilience. Our Community Gardens at Plantation Succour don’t just grow food—they cultivate the wisdom of our ancestors, turning historical spaces into thriving centers of cultural preservation and sustainable development.
Our Community Gardens at Plantation Succour represent more than sustainable agriculture—they’re a living memorial to Caribbean resilience, transforming historical trauma into community strength. Every plot cultivated, every heritage wall preserved, and every traditional farming method practiced honors the generations who worked, lived, and built community on Sint Maarten’s rich soils.
Protecting 300+ year-old slave walls and plantation infrastructure while creating educational opportunities for heritage tourism. Our Roots Revival Project, developed for the NWO Call ‘Onderzoek naar onderbelichte doorwerkingen van het Nederlandse slavernijverleden,’ demonstrates how Plantation Succour’s slave walls can be transformed into a sustainable agriculture center through community engagement and traditional knowledge preservation.
Our terraced garden design respects historical boundaries, and members participate in ongoing archaeological documentation through guided heritage tours and cultural storytelling sessions. This research partnership ensures our heritage preservation work contributes to broader understanding of how historical sites can become centers of community resilience and sustainable development.
Documenting traditional Caribbean farming methods, medicinal plants, and indigenous agricultural practices through our HAICI School programs. We gather oral histories, preserve heirloom seed varieties, and teach traditional techniques like dry-stone wall building and organic soil management that sustained communities for centuries.
Roots Revival Project
The Roots Revival Project provides academic framework for documenting how traditional knowledge systems can inform modern sustainable development practices, contributing to international research on colonial heritage transformation.
Transforming spaces of historical oppression into centers of food sovereignty, economic empowerment, and cultural pride. Through our Community Gardens membership, participants become heritage stewards, using CARET tokens to fund preservation projects while building economic resilience through The Keys Market and Crowd Profit Sharing initiatives.
Our research demonstrates practical models for how heritage sites can drive community economic development while preserving cultural identity and historical memory.
Connecting elder knowledge holders with young farmers, ensuring traditional practices inform modern sustainable development. Our volunteer programs and educational workshops create spaces where ancestral wisdom meets contemporary innovation, preparing the next generation for climate resilience and cultural continuity.
Through our Roots Revival Project, we contribute to academic research on the lasting impacts of Dutch colonial history while demonstrating practical solutions for heritage site transformation. This partnership with Dutch research institutions positions FFG as both a community development initiative and a knowledge contributor to international heritage preservation efforts.
Our research findings inform policy recommendations for heritage site management across the Caribbean, showing how agricultural initiatives can serve as vehicles for cultural preservation, economic development, and community healing.
Community Gardens Membership: Every plot holder becomes a heritage steward, committed to preserving archaeological features while practicing sustainable agriculture that honors traditional methods and contributes to ongoing research documentation.
HAICI School Programs: Educational modules incorporate historical context and research findings, teaching how traditional Caribbean farming practices can address modern challenges like climate change and food security.
The Keys Market: Serves as a cultural exchange hub where heritage crops, traditional recipes, and ancestral knowledge are shared alongside contemporary sustainable products, creating living laboratories for cultural preservation.
CARET Token Ecosystem: Funds heritage preservation projects while rewarding community members for participating in cultural documentation, archaeological stewardship activities, and research contribution.
Volunteer Programs: Offer opportunities for heritage documentation, oral history collection, traditional skill preservation, and research participation through hands-on learning experiences.
Our heritage preservation work demonstrates the journey from oppression to ownership—showing how traditional practices such as community-based land management, indigenous crop cultivation, and collective economic systems can guide modern efforts toward food security, climate resilience, and cultural sovereignty.
Through programs, guided tours, workshops, and research activities, residents, students, visitors, and academic partners learn about Sint Maarten’s plantation past, emancipation struggles, and the ongoing journey toward community self-reliance and cultural pride
Our heritage is not a relic of the past—it is a living foundation for building healthy communities, strong identities, and a more self-reliant Caribbean. By preserving and sharing our stories through sustainable agriculture and rigorous research, we ensure that the courage and wisdom of our ancestors continue to grow, inspiring generations to come.
When you join FFG Community Gardens, you become a heritage steward—cultivating not just crops, but the cultural resilience that will sustain Caribbean communities for generations to come, while contributing to important research that will inform heritage preservation efforts across the Caribbean and beyond.
