Mallory and Lucas are two young farmers who met in 2019 while working at Dream of Wild Health. They started farming together to honor the seeds they had each grown and been given so far. Between them, they have over 100 different varieties of vegetables, herbs, and flowers that they grow!
Awlyahsi·yó· is a word in Lucas’ native language of Oneida that basically means “good heart”. Mallory and Lucas feel that they need to have a good heart, a good mind, and a good spirit when they’re farming. They need a good heart to be able to take care of all of the precious seeds that they have in their bundles. They need to have a good mind to be able to take care of the land that they are on. And they need to have a good spirit to continue the work that they’re doing.
When Lucas was searching for a word or a concept for this in the Oneida language, he struggled initially finding the right words. Since talking with the elder language speakers in his community, Lucas has found that there is a more accurate way of saying the word for “good heart”. That word is Yawelyahsi·yò· (Yah-well-yah-SEE-yo). In 2022, they updated their farm name from Awlyahsi·yó· to Yawelyahsi·yò· to reflect this change and honor the Oneida language.
