Native American Traditional Garden: Retracing our heritage Sienna Nesser Marci 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 Ownership Women’s duty Through Death For those who were fit and wanted it Allowed to lie fallow Male roles Older males would help with weeding and seed planting They 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

Food Mahnomin Porridge Dried Cranberries Hazelnuts Cooked Wild Rice Heavy Cream Maple Syrup Francis Bettelyoun in the Twin Cities Medicine Garden Film

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 Long 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

Cooking classes during summer and fall 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 Funding 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