LIVING EARTH
Gardens that Nurture Culture
BY AARON LEVIN G
rowing one’s own food became more appealing and, in some
cases, a greater necessity to many in this pandemic era. Native peoples have long tended gardens that have pro- vided their communities with sustain- ably grown foods, medicinal plants and natural materials. Today these much- needed sources of local, healthy foods are also places to cultivate and preserve cultural traditions. “Even some Native cultures—like
foraging cultures—that didn’t histori- cally garden now see it as a helpful use of land and time and money because they can efficiently produce the kinds of foods that people need to stay healthy,” said Elizabeth Hoover. Of Mohawk and Mi’kmaq descent, she is an associate pro- fessor of Environmental Science, Policy and Management at the University of California in Berkeley. Researching this trend, she drove 20,000 miles in 2014 to talk with dozens of American Indian gardeners and food advocates. In western North Carolina, David
Anderson works as the horticultural operations supervisor at the Jessie Owle Dugan Native Plant and Greenhouse Facility of the Eastern Band of Chero- kee Indians. The complex includes three greenhouses, 30 raised growing beds, a 3-acre nursery and 5 acres of fields ded- icated to producing crops specifically for their seeds. It also has 330 acres of field that can be leased to enrolled tribal members who wish to garden or farm.
10 SPRING 2022 AMERICAN INDIAN
Pueblo of Nambe Community Farm in New Mexico serves as a teaching ground for traditional growing methods and language.
While the facility does generate funds
for the tribe, it also preserves cultur- ally important species to get them into the hands of tribal members to plant. It focuses on growing traditional plants, such as grapes, elderberry, wild straw- berries, blackberries, huckleberries sochan and cohosh. In 2021, the green- house also grew hickory saplings, which once mature, can to provide wood that can be used to make stickball sticks, art- works and other traditional projects. “We serve our community with plants for home, for farmers, and for restoration,” said Anderson. The operation shares equipment, land
and greenhouse space with tribal mem- bers so they can grow, and occasionally sell, their own foods. One tribal member, for example, grows a quarter of an acre of peppers for his hot sauce business. Another feels a duty to produce corn to
be ground into flour just to provide a traditional food for tribal members. In fact, a 2018 survey found that 80 per- cent of tribal members said that they just wanted to raise plants for themselves or to give away to their neighbors, not to make money. With the help of the North Carolina
State University Cooperative Extension Office, the greenhouse is aiming to per- petuate a selection of seeds to ensure genetic diversity among culturally vital plants and encourage their propagation. The heirloom seeds planted and distrib- uted to tribal members each year are a source of renewed continuity for both plants and the people who grow them. This approach is part of a broader movement to save Indigenous agri- culture heritage. Melissa K. Nelson, a member of the Turtle Mountain Band of the Chippewa Tribe and a professor of
COURTESY OF NAMBE DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENT AND NATURAL RESOURCES
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