Native American Traditional Garden:Retracing our heritage

Sienna NesserMarci Sanchez

Jenna Sorensen

Prayer from a Medicine Man “Creator, I pray to you for pity and blessing to help mankind return to the ways of the natural medicineplaced here by our creator for healing. Today, many people have lost their connection to mother earth and her spiritual gifts. We refer to these gifts as “medicine”. Yet I see that our neighbors and relatives from many nations are starting to return to herbs, roots, and other natural medicines. My relatives, this is the only medicine that will help us survive, as has been foretold by the elders. We will be renewed by the sacred power of the sweet grass and pipe.” –Portion of a Prayer by Andrew Naytowhow of the Sturgeon Lake First Nation Cree

Tools

• made of the thin bones of female bison

• green bone• knife blade area was

thin• no handle and easy to

create

Bone Hoe

Bone and Stick Rake

Cache Pit

•Below Frost Line•Two women teams•Created by women

Drying Rack

Wild Rice Collectors

Soil Quality

• No Manure• Let animals roam wild• Weeds thus extra work• 2 yrs. Fallow• No big animal interference

Land OwnershipWomen’s dutyThrough DeathFor those who were fit and wanted itAllowed to lie fallow

Male rolesOlder males would help with weeding and seed plantingThey had their own tobacco gardens (bad for lounges)

Land Division

• Small land blocks between plots• Both weed• No corn • U.S. gov. t divided up tilled land on the

reservation

Colonization

• Land Restrictions• Hunting Restrictions• Incorporating new foods like the potato– Paid Native American women to plant– Left it to spoil– Gov.t stockpiled it

Commodity Foods• In the 1930’s the commodity food aid system was

developed and came under tribal control. • The elders worked with the U.S. Department of health

for wheat, sugar, and domesticated meat. • Issues incorporating them into their diets. • Slow Starvation• A study by the Government Accountability Office in

1989 found that obesity, heart issues, hypertension, and diabetes would continue unless the commodity food packages were altered and made more healthy.

• one hundred and seven Navajo women who were shown to derive 43% of energy from the commodity

Food as Medicine

• “The Three Sisters (corn, beans, and squash) are medicine. When we eat them regularly, we stay in good health. Our bodies are in balance. Our spirit is renewed since we are fulfilling our Creator’s instructions. As we drift to Western or foreign diets, we are no longer in balance and disease develops.”

-Brenda LaFrance, Mohawk

• Francis Bettelyoun in the Twin Cities Medicine Garden

Film

• Food– Mahnomin Porridge• Dried Cranberries• Hazelnuts• Cooked Wild Rice• Heavy Cream• Maple Syrup

The Medicine Wheel

• Physical• Emotional• Intellectual• Spiritual

Plants to Include and Why

• Sunflowers• Squash• Corn• Tomatoes• Wild Turnips• Beets• Onions• Carrots• Prairie Garlic• Sage

• Beans• Peppers• Cat Nip• Mint• Sage• Tobacco• Sweet Grass• Butterfly Weed

Plants to Include in the Future• Ground Cherries• Choke Cherries• Cranberries• Blueberries• Raspberries• Strawberries• Cedar• Labrador Tea

Native American Drying Stage

Seed Sources

Corn from Winona LaDuke

Seed Storage

• Short term– drawer with separated compartments in Student

Activities

• Long term– Our own on site seed storage location

Our Garden Plan

Community Outreach

• Native American garden day camp– TREC (elementary age)– Offered to members of RFC– Area high school students – Morris students as a summer credit opportunity

• Field Trip to Twin Cities Campus Medicine Garden over weekend

• Work with Saddle Club for the manure– Saves them $500 each semester– Gives us rich soil

• Community Meal• Cooking classes during summer and fall– Using produce from community garden– Free to public

• Lecture Series– Guest speakers in the garden (alternate space in cow

palace)• Work with CNIA to develop volunteer

relationships• Create Stand and sell during next years Powwow• Student Farmers Market

Problems

• Use of Manure from cattle and horses• Cultural • USDA Certification- horses are fed non-organic hay

• Funding• Volunteers/ Employees– Summer Workers

• Utilizing local resources• Pest’s– Bunnies, woodchucks, cows, blackbirds, crows, and

humans

Last Thought

“The concept is that food is medicine. If we are going to win, we have got to change over our whole lifestyle. But you can’t eat what you don’t have. So it is a long-term change. We are talking and working on the answer to that question” -Luis Salas, Bad River Reservation