“The seeds we plant do not always sprout in the moment we expect. Sometimes, they take seasons of unseen rooting before they emerge.”
As EarthistDAO moves through the fifth month of 2025, we reflect on the crucial foundational work of 2024 — a year where many of today’s regenerative structures, networks, and collaborations first took root.
In the spirit of seasonal wisdom and community accountability,we share this annual recap in two parts:
Part 1: Q1 & Q2 (January–June 2024) — grounding, weaving, and the first shoots.
Part 2: Q3 & Q4 (July–December 2024) — harvests, infrastructure, and regenerative structures formed
This blog post documents selected highlights from the first half of 2024: the emergence of land-based and decentralized systems that continue to nourish EarthistDAO’s path today. It does not aim to be a comprehensive record, but a seasonal reflection on key learnings and seeds planted.
The vision for "Art on Hemp" didn’t sprout overnight.It has been nesting quietly since 2020, seeded by a simple but profound question:
Can the soil itself become the nurturer of human creativity?
After years of tending regenerative hemp cultivation — improving soils, restoring biodiversity, and reweaving material economies — we arrived at a moment when the fibers of the land could finally be handed to the artists.
In early 2024, we began distributing hemp canvases, handmade hemp paper, textile blends, ropes, and raw fibers to a decentralized community of artists across Türkiye.But this was more than supplying material.It was a long-term invitation to co-create an exhibition where the medium itself carries the story:
A story of degraded soils healed through hemp
A story of human hands shaping what Earth offers without extraction
A story where art becomes ecology in motion
Each artist works not simply with canvas or fiber, but with the patient gift of the land, restored.
"We don’t just give materials — we seed relationships between artist and ecology."
The Art on Hemp exhibition, scheduled for October 2025, will be the flowering of this slow, regenerative collaboration — proof that art, like soil, thrives through cycles of care, cultivation, and connection.
More information on Bloom Network Turkiye
Amid the pulse of the city, we gathered to reconnect hand, heart, and craft — weaving rituals of creativity, mindfulness, and material literacy. Each workshop was an offering: a seed of remembrance that regeneration begins with touch, with scent, with patient making.
Natural Candle Workshop: Participants learned to craft plant-based candles using soy wax, essential oils like jasmine and sandalwood, natural stones, and dried botanicals. The workshop blended creativity with mindfulness, emphasizing the regenerative ritual of handmade crafts and sensory care.
Workshop Recap: Natural Candle
Emotional Aromatherapy Workshop: Led by community member İpek Çaldemir, 10 participants explored the emotional benefits of essential oils such as bergamot and cedarwood, creating personalized resilience blends. This gathering bridged emotional literacy with plant-based well-being practices, enriching daily rituals of self-care and community regeneration.
Workshop Recap: Aromatherapy
Traditional Paper Making with Hemp Fiber: In collaboration with Medeniyet Hamuru, participants revived ancient papermaking techniques using local hemp fibers. The workshop emphasized ecological literacy, tactility, patience, and reconnecting with natural materials through a slow, regenerative craft process.
Workshop Recap: Hemp Paper Making
In early 2024, Kendir Hemp emerged as a dedicated brand focused on unlocking the full regenerative potential of hemp — supporting diverse industries rooted in ecological restoration.
Born from years of fieldwork, research, and community collaboration, Kendir Hemp reflects a simple principle:
When we heal the land, we heal the systems built upon it.
Kendir Hemp operates as an ecosystem initiative, fostering collaborations across multiple regenerative sectors — from plant-based textiles and wellness products to bio-composites, sustainable construction materials, and soil-building amendments.
The brand's logo — a sun rising through the seven-pointed leaves of the hemp plant — symbolizes clarity, cultivation, renewal and hope rooted in Earth.
Today, this emblem welcomes visitors at the Kendir Hemp Showroom — creating a living space for hemp growers, artisans, and innovators to connect, exchange knowledge, and build regenerative supply chains together.
By nurturing hemp as a living bridge between soil health, circular economies, and community well-being, Kendir Hemp grows not only products —it grows possibilities for a regenerative future.
More than a program, the enDAOment is a living protocol —
an ongoing co-creation between EarthistDAO, Regen Foundation, and regenerative communities worldwide, exploring how decentralized technologies can truly serve ecological regeneration across bioregions and the planet.
In early 2024, EarthistDAO became part of the evolving enDAOment protocol — working alongside Regen Foundation to build transparent, community-owned ecological infrastructure and regenerative economic flows.
For EarthistDAO, this marked a major step in deepening our commitment to building community-owned ecological infrastructure, rooted in transparency, accountability, and living system principles — while stepping into the broader evolution of global ecological governance within the Regen Network ecosystem.
The enDAOment supports grassroots organizations that:
Steward bioregional regeneration through place-based projects
Operate with community-first, participatory governance
Build resilient eco-social systems beyond traditional funding structures
Through the enDAOment protocol, EarthistDAO is co-developing pathways to:
Develop on-chain ecological governance pilots (through platforms like DAODAO)
Grow regenerative infrastructure owned and verified by communities
Prototype funding models tied directly to verifiable outcomes like carbon sequestration, soil renewal, and biodiversity restoration
As Regen Foundation describes it, the enDAOment is "an experiment in solidarity, resilience, and community-led reimagining of capital flows."
Together, we are testing a vital question:
Can decentralized infrastructures be rooted deeply enough in ecological principles to regenerate both communities and ecosystems?
🔗 More about the enDAOment Evolution
🔗 Introducing the Second Cohort of Community Staking DAOs
The first quarter of 2024 was devoted to honoring the soil as the first living partner in EarthistDAO’s regenerative journey.
Across multiple sites — from the cotton fields of Şanlıurfa to the hemp growing zones of Çorum — EarthistDAO and farming collaborators engaged in careful, place-based soil preparation.Each intervention aimed to restore vitality, enhance biodiversity, and build the conditions for healthy fiber systems to thrive.
Key practices included:
Biological soil assessments to understand microbial richness, organic matter content, and moisture dynamics
Application of natural composts and soil builders to support carbon sequestration and living root networks
Minimal soil disturbance techniques, preserving the architecture of fungal networks and earthworm pathways
Cover crop planning to nourish the soil between planting cycles, fostering year-round vitality
Water stewardship through mulching and contour-awareness, supporting resilience in semi-arid climates
This season of groundwork embodied a simple principle:
Healthy soil is the first harvest.
Before any fibers are spun or fields are filled with green, the Earth itself must be given the time and care to breathe, to mend, and to renew.
In tending the soil this quarter, EarthistDAO laid true foundations for the seasons ahead — ensuring that both hemp and regenerative cotton could grow within ecosystems strengthened by diversity, resilience, and respect.
On March 24, Node101 organized a Cosmos development workshop, led by EarthistDAO member Orkunkl. The session was dedicated to introducing EarthistDAO members to the Cosmos SDK — the foundational open-source framework that powers many regenerative and decentralized networks.
Through hands-on practice, we:
Learned the basic structure and philosophy behind Cosmos SDK
Explored how blockchain applications are built using modular components
Practiced first steps toward building, interacting with, and securing Cosmos-native chains
This workshop marked EarthistDAO’s first step in building the technical skills necessary to participate more deeply in regenerative digital ecosystems —where the soil is code, and the commons are cultivated through open, transparent architecture.
Learning to build with Cosmos SDK is like preparing a fertile field — every block, every interaction shapes the landscape of collective stewardship.
In early 2024, EarthistDAO highlighted the growth of REBIOCA — a regenerative bioconversion project co-founded by EarthistDAO’s team members — dedicated to converting urban organic waste into nutrient-rich soil inputs through the natural work of Black Soldier Flies (BSF).
REBIOCA is not just a technical system; it is a living model of how small, distributed nodes can regenerate nutrient cycles, reduce urban waste burdens, and feed soil life rather than landfills.
At the heart of REBIOCA’s method:
BSF bioreactors digest organic waste rapidly, producing two vital outputs:
Frass: an exceptionally rich insect-based compost that revitalizes soils and sequesters carbon
High-protein larvae: a regenerative alternative to industrial animal feeds
EarthistDAO also began laying the foundations for deeper participation in these cycles, envisioning a future where community kitchens and gatherings would actively contribute food waste to REBIOCA’s decentralized bioreactors — helping to build hyperlocal, circular food-soil systems rooted in community stewardship.
Ecological Impacts:
🌱 Carbon Farming Support: Frass directly enhances carbon sequestration through soil enrichment.
🌾 Soil Regeneration: Living soils seeded with insect compost grow stronger, more resilient, and more biodiverse.
🐓 Animal Feed Alternatives: BSF larvae provide local, low-impact protein sources, easing pressure on globalized feed industries.
Decentralization in Action:
REBIOCA’s small-scale, distributed model mirrors EarthistDAO’s vision for regenerative systems: community-powered, place-based, resilient, and life-centered.
Regeneration doesn’t begin and end with planting — it is a continuous act of returning nourishment, closing loops, and honoring the cycles that sustain all life.
In March 2024, EarthistDAO launched its first governance proposal on DAODAO.zone — marking a pivotal moment where transparent, participatory, and regenerative decision-making formally took root.
Throughout 2024, the EarthistDAO community cultivated a vibrant, living governance ecosystem:
47 on-chain proposals were created, shaping decisions from fiber and soil regeneration to education and funding pathways.
One subDAO — the “Five Elements Circle” — was established to focus exclusively on regeneration-centered proposals and strategies.
22 proposals within the Five Elements Circle directly supported bioregional regeneration work: field trials, fiber stewardship, seed sovereignty, and soil health innovation.
14 community members opened their regen wallets, stepping into shared ownership, voting rights, and ecological stewardship on-chain.
A key milestone during this period was EarthistDAO becoming a validator on Regen Network — helping to secure the chain while actively participating in the governance of ecological data and eco-credit systems. This not only reinforced our technical infrastructure but also aligned our mission with the underlying integrity of climate-focused blockchains.
This participatory architecture strengthens EarthistDAO’s original vision:
to align governance with living systems — distributing decision-making, responsibility, and regenerative action across the community.
DAO governance here is not abstract; it is rooted in place, shaped by real-world cycles, and stewarded by those actively tending land and community.held by a community committed to regenerating both land and life.
Throughout Q1–Q2, Earthist agricultural engineers and community coordinators traveled across key agricultural regions — including Bergama, Menemen, Torbalı, Bayındır (İzmir province) and various towns in Şanlıurfa — to engage with smallholder farmers seeking alternatives to extractive cotton systems.
We organized listening sessions, introduced non-GMO regenerative cotton seeds, and supported field-level experimentation rooted in local adaptation — aiming to strengthen soil health, seed sovereignty, and the foundations of a regenerative value chain.
🧺 Key activities included:
Farmer-to-farmer knowledge exchange, fostering peer-based learning and trust
Seed sovereignty conversations, promoting farmer autonomy over planting choices
Discussions on the ecological harms of extractive traditional cotton agriculture, highlighting soil depletion, biodiversity loss, and chemical dependency
Distribution of non-GMO regenerative seed varieties, carefully selected for alignment with bioregional conditions and climate resilience
These visits were more than outreach — they opened ongoing pathways for farmers to join Earthist’s regenerative network, whether early or late in the season. Together with the Raddis Türkiye team, we distributed free non-GMO regenerative cotton seeds to participating farmers, supporting transitions toward soil health, biodiversity, and seed sovereignty.
Regeneration grows through trust, presence, and long-term relationships with land and people.
In the heart of the Ida Mountains, during the celebrations of Hıdırellez and World Herb Day 2024, Earthist community members, together with fellow members of the Anatolian Medicinal and Aromatic Plants Association (ANATABDER), gathered to honor life, fertility, and the sovereignty of the green world.
🌿
We walked the ancient forests, shared stories under wide skies, and gathered to proclaim a collective truth:
Plants are not commodities, resources, or passive matter to be exploited. They are living participants in Earth’s great cycles, bearers of memory, teachers of resilience, and integral members of our shared ecosystem.
Together, we stood behind the newly declared Plant Rights Manifesto, a living document honoring the presence, emotions, and rightful standing of plants within Earth's legal, cultural, and ethical frameworks.
🌱 Key Principles from the Plant Rights Manifesto
Every being — including plants — is an active part of an indivisible whole.
Plants existed long before humans, and their existence is fundamental to all life.
Plants communicate, remember, and transform, sharing knowledge through living fungal networks.
Traditional practices, healing arts, and cultural heritages are rooted in human-plant relationships — and must be preserved with care.
Legal systems must evolve from anthropocentric "public interest" toward ecological benefit, recognizing plants and ecosystems as rightful subjects, not mere objects.
Every individual carries a sacred responsibility:
to be a defender of plant rights, not merely a user of plant life.
🌿 Why This Matters
🌸 In a time when industrial systems view plants as resources to be exploited,
this manifesto reaffirms an older, truer understanding:
Plants are sentient participants in the living web of existence — not commodities, but family.
🌱 As lawyers, ecologists, folklorists, forest engineers, herbalists, and stewards gathered under one canopy,
we declared that the future of life depends not on dominating nature, but on belonging to it.
Community Gifts: Regeneration in Daily Life
As part of Earthist’s ongoing initiatives, small-batch hemp products were distributed to community members actively supporting regenerative projects:
Hemp Seed Oil for Food: A nutrient-rich, naturally balanced oil, prioritized for children and families involved in Earthist community projects, supporting daily health and nourishment.
Hemp-Based Skincare Oils: Non-comedogenic and lightweight, gifted especially to women contributing to Earthist’s regenerative collaborations, offering care aligned with living system principles.
These hemp-based products are part of Earthist’s ongoing community initiatives.
Distributed freely, not for sale, they aim to promote regenerative practices in everyday life and support those engaged in Earthist’s ecological projects.
Drone Application Trial for Biofertilizer
We piloted drone-assisted spraying of natural biofertilizers on regenerative cotton fields to explore scalable input delivery methods.
While our regular manual applications remained more efficient on smaller plots, the trial provided valuable insights into coverage variability, terrain sensitivity, and the potential for drone-based techniques in larger agroecological landscapes where labor capacity is limited and biological inputs are safe.
Weaving Recovery in Earthquake Zones
Earthist community members are working to support recovery efforts in the earthquake-affected regions, collaborating with weaving groups like Defne & Apollon in Hatay to pioneer one of the earliest initiatives blending hemp and Ahimsa (non-violent) silk into regenerative textiles — a first of its kind in Türkiye, and among the few globally.
While early trials revealed challenges in scalability, this collaboration continues to explore pathways where ecological materials, traditional crafts, and community resilience meet and regenerate together.
Nouns Chicken Coop Pilot
Earthist community members designed a regenerative chicken coop prototype to support smallholder farmers — combining the effort with our REBIOCA initiative to envision a closed-loop system where poultry, compost, and organic waste cycles reinforce each other.
Though prepared with Nouns DAO in mind, the proposal did not move forward. Still, the pilot offered valuable insights and opened future pathways.
We remain committed to evolving this model to strengthen rural resilience and hope to revisit collaboration with Nouns DAO in upcoming cycles.
🌿 Hemp Field Planting:
EarthistDAO initiated hemp cultivation across two new regions — Çorum and Amasya — bridging continental plateau ecosystems with fertile river valley systems to expand regenerative agriculture into transitional bioregions.
These plots were established not merely for fiber production, but for whole-plant regeneration:
growing hemp for fiber, hurd, and seeds to support material innovation, construction, wellness products, and soil restoration pathways.
The emphasis throughout was on ecosystem restoration, not merely yield —
combining traditional cultivation wisdom with regenerative soil-building practices to enhance soil structure, strengthen biodiversity, and support long-term carbon storage.
Organic composts, biological amendments, and mycorrhizal applications nurtured the living networks beneath the fields.
In collaboration with local institutions, EarthistDAO also welcomed students from regional colleges to join various phases of the planting season, offering them hands-on training in regenerative hemp farming and rooting the next generation of stewards in living system practices.
🌱
Here, hemp is not treated as a commodity —
it is a living bridge, weaving together soil health, cultural knowledge, community resilience, and education into a single regenerative cycle.
🌾 Regenerative Cotton Planting Trials
EarthistDAO collaborated with farming partners to initiate regenerative cotton planting across more than 350 decares of land.
Agroecological practices guided every step:
companion crops nurtured biodiversity, compost and organic amendments fed living soils, and non-GMO cotton seeds adapted to local conditions strengthened regional resilience.
The work expanded further through a shared collaboration with Raddis and Hasat Kooperatifi, integrating regenerative planting models into semi-arid zones.
Together, this effort wove farmer wisdom with ecological practices aligned to emerging international standards for biodiversity, soil health, and ecosystem care.
🌾
These cotton fields were cultivated not for extraction, but for restoration — places where seed, soil, and stewardship come together to regenerate the living commons.
The Earthist Network hosted a Mycelium Workshop at Planetcho Web3 Co-Working Space, bringing together 12 participants to explore the regenerative world of fungi.
Led by community member Ayşe, the gathering blended ecological learning, practical cultivation skills, and cultural storytelling. Participants explored the hidden role of mushrooms in soil health and ecosystem regeneration, while also tracing their significance across traditional medicine, mythology, and food traditions.
Hands-on sessions guided participants through growing mushrooms at home, from substrate preparation to harvesting techniques. A short film expanded the conversation, and the day closed with a tasting of homemade oyster mushroom burgers.
The workshop nurtured both practical knowledge and community resilience — reflecting how mycelial networks, like regenerative communities, thrive through connection, collaboration, and care for the unseen foundations of life.
More info on Bloom Network Turkiye
Community members spent time across Eskişehir, Cappadocia, Sındırgı, Özdere, and Fethiye — visiting farms, ecological initiatives, and eco-tourism projects within our wider regenerative network.
These visits were more than just field assessments; they became a much-needed opportunity to reconnect — to see familiar faces, exchange stories from the season, and check in on each other’s paths of regeneration.
We met with local stewards, learned about the diverse regenerative actions taking root in different regions, and opened space for cross-pollination between EarthistDAO-supported projects and independent efforts.
Beyond the practical, we gathered around fire circles, shared meals, exchanged seeds, and held space for open-hearted conversations — strengthening the relationships that ground all regenerative work.
🌾
A shared aspiration that echoed throughout was the revival of Türkiye’s historic Village Institutes that once wove agriculture, education, crafts, and community into daily life.
Inspired by this legacy, EarthistDAO envisions new regenerative learning spaces rooted in collaboration, cultural resilience, and hands-on stewardship — built as much through friendship and mutual care as through strategy.
The first half of 2024 laid EarthistDAO’s living foundations: from validator nodes and fiber economies to bioregional field alliances and decentralized governance tools.
Part 2 will continue the story — tracking summer collaborations that deepened bioregional /ties, autumn harvests that affirmed the value of regenerative work, and the steady rise of infrastructures shaped by seasonal cycles and decentralized coordination.
Stay tuned.
