Spirit of the Sun

Spirit of the Sun (SOTS) is an Indigenous Womxn-led organisation that was founded in 2002 on the belief that effective and sustainable community development work recognises the intersections of culture, community, economy, and health.

After its founding, SOTS worked primarily on reservations, assisting various communities with economic development. In 2010, its strategic focus shifted to include programming in the Denver area of Colorado, US, responding to a need to empower the growing number of Native youth and young adults moving to urban areas.

In 2019, Spirit of the Sun began to focus its work on Indigenous regenerative agriculture and has been caretaking land ever since. At garden and farm spaces across Denver, SOTS works towards preserving the cultural practices of Indigenous foodways by growing traditional, bioregional foods and medicines. The land is cared for using Indigenous foodways to restore ecosystems, feed the community and preserve Indigenous cultural knowledge for future generations. SOTS also maintains a seed library of heirloom and native seeds – connecting the project to past and future generations.

This work promotes Native and Indigenous self-determination, and resiliency by addressing systemic environmental injustices and food apartheid through Indigenous food-systems sovereignty, traditional foodways, and Indigenous climate justice. Through working with local Native and BIPOC communities, SOTS seek to strengthen economic and cultural resilience through Rematriation and ancestral ecological practices, soil remediation and knowledge sharing.