Ethan Tyo waved a bunch of wide-leafed collard greens through the air like a fan. It was an unseasonably warm Sunday, and he stood at a table piled high with produce and pumpkins.
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A neighboring vendor popped back into his tent, reigniting a lively conversation about gardening. When a pair of students strolled by, Tyo drew them in with the promise of fresh fruit at an alluring price– only 50 cents each.
Tyo staffed the Brady Farm booth this past Sunday at Harvest Festival, an autumnal market event near Syracuse University’s campus. He serves as the market manager of the nonprofit urban farm, which promotes food access in the Syracuse community. Throughout the week, Tyo brings Brady Farm to pop-up markets, offering access to affordable produce and educating the public. He’s the smiling face of a larger local movement.
“As part of the food system, access is a huge issue. We’re not only growing this produce in an area that doesn’t have many grocery stores, but we’re also bringing it to market[s]. Bringing it to farm stands, to buildings, to students,” Tyo said.
Following a passion for food sovereignty
Like many people working in the nonprofit food space, Tyo’s food systems interests have deeper roots that extend beyond the job. He traces his interest in food security back to his childhood in the Mohawk Territory of Akwesasne, which straddles the border between Upstate New York and Canada.
“I grew up in a reservation where we didn’t really have access to a lot of food,” Tyo reflected, referencing food access disparities which the Mohawk community is working to reclaim through traditional Haudenosaunee responsibilities.
Using his master’s degree in food studies from Syracuse University as a springboard, Tyo has launched similar food sovereignty efforts in Syracuse. Food sovereignty emphasizes maintaining community control over the food supply and the right to access healthy, culturally appropriate food.
Beyond his work with Brady Farm’s urban agriculture, he is passionate about Indigenous seed preservation and cultivation. He’s launched multiple Three Sisters gardens on local campuses. The practice involves planting corn, beans, and squash as self-sustaining companion crops.
Tyo’s gardens aim to educate students about Indigenous activities, while also serving as a land acknowledgment within universities that stand on ancestral lands.
“I want people to experience traditional agricultural methods of the Haudenosaunee, but also educate our youth about: What is real Indigenous knowledge and what do Indigenous people look like?” Tyo said.
“Our foods are still here, and we have the ability to plant them. So for me, it’s really an expression of just having that sovereignty.”
An interwoven web in Syracuse
Advocates and organizations working to improve food access in Syracuse form an interconnected web. At the Harvest Festival, representatives of other nonprofits crossed the lawn between booths, buying each other’s vegetables and pausing to chat.
Beyond Brady Farm, Tyo holds an advisory board position for the Syracuse Onondaga Food Systems Alliance (SOFSA). It’s that multifaceted passion and community connectedness that Brady Farm Coordinator Jessi Lyons says makes all the difference.
“It’s grassroots community capacity building that helps to influence a change that can be more significant and sustained,” Lyons said.
Calling upon family tradition and Indigenous knowledge from up north, Tyo is as involved in the Syracuse community as ever. His expansive early career included teaching food seminars, running a food blog, and launching a cookbook project.
“During that time I did a lot of work, both learning about my Indigenous heritage and my culture, but also engaging people in local and Indigenous food, the cultural side of it, and just the experience of it,” Tyo reflected.
Now, after graduating with his master’s degree, he says his next step is sharing his story. That spirit of storytelling radiates in the friendly conversations at the Brady Farm vendor booth.
“On a personal side, I’m working on a website, trying to get my stuff online, tell my story, and get the narrative going,” Tyo said, picking up a carton of late-harvest tomatoes and chatting with a student about the changing seasons.
“It’s been nice getting my hands dirty.”