The Urban Ag Center is a public-private partnership created to provide Richmond’s MLK School Ag & STEM education, and turn the project into a world-class urban agriculture education and training facility. This effort will be focused on complementing, and supplementing STEM education at MLK Middle School and across the Richmond Public School system.
Happy Veteran’s Day. No, this is not a post about service like that. Anyways, I’ll get down to it. I was catching up on some work for the Women’s Earth Alliance and I was asked to jot a few things down I felt I needed to share. It loosely falls into the Veteran’s Day theme so it seemed appropriate. It was a series of questions I needed to answer to weave a story of my why and how we can do good things together. Here’s a little bit of that. I hope you enjoy.
I was a city Indian, but there was no shortage of life lessons for me, and both sides of my family were “outdoorsy” folks. For that I am both grateful, and exceptionally lucky. My family’s heritage informs my actions, and mission in life to uphold the tribal values I was raised with of collectivism & community. That means justice for all our relatives, human and non human. This asserts the dignity, and rights of ALL peoples to equity. My military service taught me lessons on teamwork, and that succeed or fail, we do this together. It is what binds me to carrying out those seeds of purpose planted in me all those years ago.
There have been many events that have magnified my resolve to persist in this journey. In recent months, the pandemic caused the already abhorrent poverty rate in our county to surge past 22%, and mile long lines for the Chesterfield County food pantry. Given the choice to act or sit by and watch, I choose to act.
I’ve been there walking the Richmond fan in 100 degree heat to deliver food to a woman without family in the area who was stuck in her home with a hip to ankle cast. Delivered to a disabled grandmother & grandfather who was injured at work & who’s workers comp put them over the limit to qualify for any SNAP assistance, but was not enough to appropriately feed themselves and their grandchildren who were temporarily living with them without letting their bill go late. These things led me to find that 27% of food insecure households do not qualify for SNAP, and 1 in 8 children are susceptible to hunger throughout the year. These are not just statistics. These are real people, in our community. These people are my neighbors, and yours. I know their names, and their humble homes, their humanity. I will ALWAYS choose to act.
My hope is that you hear my words, really hear them & not just glaze over in the eyes reading this. My hope is that you will care about the community, the future strength and resilience of the community, and the kind of place you want their children, and grandchildren to live in. We all live here, have lived through the economic impacts of lockdown, and seen first hand the community devastation it has brought about. I hope that the disruption in the food system in the early stages of the pandemic, wakes us all up to the fact that we need to protect the most vulnerable among us, and the land which provides the very source of life, food & water.
I challenge you to take up a quotidian task of doing one thing, big or small, it doesn’t matter, to put healthy food on someone else’s table in the spirit of tribal collectivism, and curate a community that values protecting and caring for one another. We have the power within our own community to fundamentally change the lives of those most vulnerable. By making sure nutritional needs are met in a responsible manner we are giving birth o the possibility of greater productivity at work by taking away disparate outcomes on health from poor nutrition, and better educational outcomes for children who may be silently suffering from lack of nutrition or poor access to healthy food choices. By acting in a deliberate manner in order to heal these wounds caused by failings within our current system we have the potential to fundamentally change the trajectory of a child’s life and impact families for generations.
I urge you to make time for others in your daily life in some form. Advocate for food security, plant a food pantry garden, volunteer, help with fundraising. Any of these things no matter how small can be a valuable part of the team effort and the ultimate solution. Like the core value of the Army of “Selfless Service” we are called to put the welfare of others before our own, and like the Army we have the collective ability to be a formidable force in the fight against food insecurity.
This native edible is incredibly versatile and works well in both sweet and savory applications
Ground Cherries from Virginia Free Farm’s Garden
Now that we’ve already introduced you in previous posts lets get to know the ground cherry (kiiadebimen in the original Abenaki language) a little more in depth. Ground cherries are now considered a super food, and the great news is they are incredibly easy to go. Creating your own supply should be an easy task as they are excellent at self sowing from year to year.
Some people consider this beauty a weed, but it is also highly sought after and can command a hefty price at a farmer’s market. We regularly create this simple jam for our families we care for as an easy way to use these beautiful fruits without having to print up recipe cards.
The husks can be saved & utilized for crafts as well.
String them up for a rustic garland.
Ingredients
3 Cups Ground Cherries without husks
1 Cup Sugar (use maple sugar for a traditional twist)
2 Tbsp. Lemon Juice
Since there’s so much water in husk cherries, it takes a surprisingly long time to cook them into jam. Add the sugar and lemon juice to the fruit and start it simmering. It’ll take between 35 and 45 minutes to reach jam consistency or gel stage.
INSTRUCTIONS
Husk the ground cherries and add them to a saucepan.
Add the lemon juice and cook over low heat until the ground cherries have popped and released their juices. Give it a stir to break them up a bit.
Add the sugar and cook over medium heat until the jam thickens, about 15 minutes.
Pour into clean quarter pint mason jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace and store in the refrigerator or process in a water bath canner for 5 minutes.
Yesterday I had the great pleasure of being able to do 2 segments for A Growing Culture, and was invited to attend a private showing of a Canadian Indigenous Artist for the Richmond Indigenous Society. Today I’d like to put those 2 recordings into writing.
One of the things I stressed was the importance of growing our own traditional foods for ourselves. Indigenous Victory Gardens If you will. There are several topics surrounding it I spoke about so let’s start with the climate crisis. What is OUR roll in the future of this nation surrounding the environmental and climate crisis? I am not sure yet, but what I do know is that I am purposefully using the word “our” above because I do believe we each have a roll to play.
Saving heirloom seeds from year to years gives you greater control over your food sources.
You get to choose how to define your own roll.
My people are fundamentally different than the typical western settler mindset operating from that “I have rights!” Manifest Destiny driven instead, we are brought up with the notion of having a duty or obligation, and concern for the well being of all. Because of this, I have a hard time with the current system built to profit off our (all humans) exploitation. We live in a society where a forest has no value until it is cut down. As native people we live in this liminal space between keeping our culture & values, and being successful in navigating modern life.
The focus of my work so far has been food justice. This has led me down some paths I’ve been honored to walk. Leading our organization’s future with indigenous values of collectivism and collaboration will lead us out of crisis, whether it is the climate crisis, the pandemic, or fundamentally shifting our food systems, which is where my heart is. An irrefutable truth is that in our very DNA as indigenous people lies the power to transform unjust systems until balance is restored. Traditional food ways are the medicine we need to heal ourselves and the community as a whole. There is something beyond perverse about 10% of our nation not knowing where their next meal will come from while 1/2 of all our produce is being thrown away because it went bad before anyone could purchase it. Maybe it’s time for revolution. Maybe it’s time to get the guillotines out because there’s something fundamentally wrong with this system.
I will admit one of the most important things I’ve done in my food justice work is fail. I tried to do too much alone. I learned what’s sustaining needs to be healthy, co-created, and community driven to really ground us, feed us, and sustain us long term. I’m so grateful for the connections I’ve made amongst Virginia Tribal Members, and the indigenous diaspora living in the state. My team and I are laying the foundation alongside tribal members for the Rappahannock and Monacan to take back their sacred seeds, and revive the knowledge of culture and food independence that has been lost in the absence of intergenerational gardens & without the plant knowledge being passed down. Loss of Language, medicine, and emotional & sensory impoverishment are unfortunate symptoms of the forced acculturation Virginia’s indigenous population has been dealing with for over 400 years.
Recently, I had the opportunity to walk the Monacan burial grounds with tribal members and talk out a loose plan to really make it an opportunity to reimagine what they consider food. Their land was dotted with Mahaleb Cherry, Choke Cherry, Elderberry, and more. I say this because we get hung up on what our colonizers define as the standard in food. It was exciting to me that they had a willingness to explore and catalog the food resources of their forest land all around them.
Heirloom Squash & Corn
We all know and love the iconic 3 sisters, but what really gets me going is the satisfaction of teaching others to forage. I work with my children regularly, and we separate out things like goosefoot, and sunchokes you would otherwise find growing wild and cultivate them. I realize not everyone learns these things as a child, but what we all CAN do is come together to create a food system that meets its own needs by learning new things; everyone has something to offer. We can feed culture by taking small steps towards in our communities, and we can create small scale projects that can be shared and replicated.
Earth care, people care, and resource share really needs to be the guiding ethics in making our native communities strong and victorious. We need to take a deep assessment of place, and create a plan for our people to pass the baton of ancestral knowledge. We should map out community problems, needs, and available resources to solve those problems in food and environmental inequity & injustice.
We also need to be comfortable with the thought that we may need to completely re-gear our system. Change is hard, I personally hate change, but it’s sometimes necessary and we shouldn’t fear systemic destruction. Like a forest fire it can be scary, but it can also renew and cause us to grown back not to what was, but what should be.
We use fire to shape our areas of cultivation, feed the soil, control weeds, and pests.
Sister Amaranth, scholars argue, antedates all other grains and gave way to them only as the new grains were bred to greater size and bulk.
Amaranth or amaranthus. Medicinal herbs, herbal medicine. Amaranth inflorescences on a table with mortars
Amaranth Bowl
with green beans, tomatoes, arugula, and Parmesan cheese
Step aside quinoa, it’s time for another grain to have its moment in the sun. Amaranth is a small grain native to Mexico and Central America, but hasn’t enjoyed the attention of its South American cousin, quinoa. That’s a shame, because these seeds pack a serious nutritional punch in a tiny package. They have a small crunch on the outside, and are tender inside, like vegetarian caviar! Served with a fresh arugula and green bean salad, this protein-packed meal is a great way to show yourself a little love.
You Will Need
Olive Oil
Salt
Pepper
1 Small Pot
1 Medium Pan
1 Mixing Bowl
Amaranth flour in a clay bowl, purple amaranth flower against the dark wooden board
Pop the Amaranth
Place a small pot over high heat and have a cover ready. When pot is hot enough that a couple drops of water sizzle, add 1 Tbsp. amaranth and cover immediately. Hold cover and handle and shake pot vigorously over heat for 20 seconds. Uncover and immediately remove popped amaranth to a plate.
Cook the Amaranth
Pour 1 cup water in pot used to pop amaranth, cover, and bring to a boil. Add ¼ tsp. salt and remaining amaranth. Return to a boil, reduce heat to medium, cover, and cook 18 minutes. Uncover and cook 2-4 more minutes, or until remaining water evaporates. Amaranth should be tender, but with a slightly crunchy exterior. It will look like wet sand. Remove from heat and set aside.
Prepare the Remaining Ingredients
Trim green beans and cut into 1″ pieces. Cut Roma tomatoes into ½” dice. Peel and halve shallot. Slice thinly. Mince garlic.
Cook Pine Nuts and Green Beans
Place a medium pan over medium heat and add pine nuts. Cook 3-5 minutes, stirring frequently, until golden and toasted. Remove to a plate and set aside. Add ¼ cup water to same pan and bring to a boil over high heat. Add ¼ tsp. salt and green beans. Cover and cook 2-3 minutes, or until beans begin to get tender. Set aside to cool.
Make the Salad
Combine vinegar, garlic, 3 Tbsp. olive oil, ¼ tsp. salt, and ¼ tsp. pepper in a large mixing bowl. Taste and add more salt and pepper if needed. Add Roma tomatoes, arugula, shallots (to taste), and green beans and toss to combine.
Plate the Dish
Spread amaranth on a plate. Place salad on top and garnish with Parmesan cheese, pine nuts, and popped amaranth.
Amaranth is one of the Amaranthaceae family growing on fields May
When restaurants closed at the initial shut down from COVID-19 I remember discussing with my husband my concern for family farms and the already alarming vertically integrated agriculture businesses dominating america’s farming landscape. I worried that the pandemic would cause more farms to go under (according to VDACS currently only 1/3 of the state’s approx 46,000 farms are self sustaining), and that faceless corporate Frankenfarms would buy them concentrating the wealth further. Essentially taking more of an already massive market share.
Throughout America’s history, population growth has only been possible on a strong foundation of dependable food. That means farms. Today however, quickly vanishing is the bucolic rural scenery of the beautiful red barns, cows in the field, and chickens scratching in the pasture. Our agriculture has become more and more concentrated into the hands of a wealthy few. It’s become an ugly big business, bad for the environment, unsightly, and arguably unhealthy.
1853 Currier & Ives print of an American farmer plowing his field.
A little history…
This Farming decline really started in the 1950s when a million farms disappeared that were on the previous census. The dust bowl, and the depression had swallowed them up. Most of these failed family farms were consolidated by commercial operations to take advantage of the economy of scale. Fast forward to 1980, which can be described as the decade of farm crisis, families were strangled with debt to keep farms running, and many times forced into foreclosure. The farms were being forced into debt, and to rely on high capital investment equipment, cheap transient labor. The majority of large farms now are beholden to the food manufacturing industry, and are basically controlled by the manufacturers whose supply chain they are a part of. They are more likely than not to be the lender, and mortgage holder on their building, and grow only what they are instructed to by their corporate overlords. This generally leaves them just as dependent on the supermarket as everyone else. Since the 80s the number of traditional small farms has decreased by 25%, and the number of corporate farms has more than doubled. In the 1980s the USDA’s adopted policy was “Get big, or get out” and its programs were rearranged to incentivize the greatest possible production. This causes a problem when supply explodes, but is not met with equal demand. The government began paying farmers more than the market would bear, to produce crops the market didn’t want. The same politicians who criticized the set aside subsidies of the previous few decades began equally absurd direct payments to the tune of $292 billion between 1995-2012, but only to those big farmers. ⅔ of American farmers, the little guys, received no subsidies at all. Most went to corn and cereal crops, which food processors discovered they could buy for less than it cost to grow, and this changed our food systems profoundly.
Beautiful Golden ears of wheat on Cereal field in sunset light background, close up. Agriculture farm and farming concept
Then the coronavirus decimated the economy, and as the restaurants closed farmers were forced to plow under veggie fields, dump milk into manure lagoons, and the price of corn went into free fall. According to the National Pork Producers Council trade group American hog farmers have lost nearly 5 Billion in potential profits in 2020. The USDA estimates farm debt currently at $425 Billing this year. This is because the massive machine built to vertically integrate our food system concentrating power in the hand of a finite few runs with the tight tolerances of a Submariner Watch. There is just no wiggle room. Any disruption causes failure.
These stats are sadly the largest since the farm crisis of the 1980s. 580 farmers have filed for bankruptcy this year, and more will follow if the crisis continues. I worry these small farms will be swallowed up by the industrial farming machine further disassociating us from our food, the land, and exacerbating the climate crisis, and pollution put out by CAFOs, & chemical dependent monoculture operations. Add to that the wildfires actually wiping out the 2020 crops of some of the heirloom seed producing farms in the rich soils of the west coast this year, and we have a serious biodiversity crisis that will be exacerbated by all of this as well. There’s SO MUCH more than this almost absurdly cursory interpretation of the issues. I just don’t have time to dig into that right now.
If current trends are not reversed by policy decisions, and societal changes we may be facing the extinction of the small family farmer as we know it.
A field of onions in Idaho waiting to be buried. Americans eat many more vegetables when meals are prepared for them in restaurants than when they cook for themselves.Credit…Joseph Haeberle for The New York Times
As you pull closer to the drive marked by the Spotted Pig Holler sign you will notice a whole other set of signage surrounding the fields, woods, and small creek on the frontage & side of the property. It commands, “DO NOT MOW”, and notifies, “Wildlife Habitat Conservation Area”. This part of the farm is not just an afterthought, or a mission side note. It is an integral part of what we do, and what we stand for. It is also our duty as patriots, parents, and community members.
Oftentimes the terms patriot, or patriotism (which is unifying) are confused with, or obfuscated by either nationalism, or particularism (which serves to be divisive and exclusionary). I’m taking it back right now from that perversion because it is in fact neither of those things. It is not a partisan stance to be owned by any one group, or to be weaponized against those of different beliefs be they religious, political, etc. As a veteran of the U.S. Army I took an oath to defend the constitution; that document reads, “All men are created equal.”, and “We the People.” What could be clearer? Further, we are citizens of these “United States”, the land we all enjoy & should enjoy equally. As an enrolled tribal member of a sovereign indigenous nation, I also espouse the beliefs that we must operate with the native values of providing for the community, sharing what one has, and conducting work in a way that seeks to benefit future generations. This is a perfect marriage in fact. The Seventh Generation Principle is based on an ancient Haudenosaunee philosophy that the decisions we make today should result in a sustainable world seven generations into the future. In addition, it was in fact the Iroquois Confederacy’s constitution, and rules for participatory democracy that the founding fathers used to frame our own modern day constitution.
A blanket of Maryland Meadow Beauty covers the field.
To that end, the problem will all this is that with the extractive nature of many major industries in the U.S. today is destroying our natural resources at an alarming rate. This fact combined with the inequities of green spaces in our cities which disproportionately impacts the mental & physical health of low income communities in our urban cores should demand of us, as patriots, to do what we can about it in whatever capacity we are able. This is for the good of all of us, and of future generations. Oftentimes, I think we as humans lose sight of the fact that what we do for others we also do for ourselves. This includes the whole web of creatures, and plants we share Turtle Island with. If everything around us is healthier we in turn improve our overall situation and well being.
Button Bush that has returned to our marshy area after may years of restorative work.
It’s no secret that nature is declining globally at rates unprecedented in human history. I urge you to powerfully grasp your patriotism, and wield it in great power in the name of our precious finite environmental resources. Each one of us alone is a drop in the bucket. I am well aware that my tiny effort here by itself has little impact. But if each one of us, as patriots, did even one small act everyday to benefit the environment we would turn our collective drops into a great “green” flood.
In just the last 12 months in our habitat alone I have been encouraged by the hopeful return of Elder, Maryland Meadow Beauty, and Buttonbushs that dance in the wind throughout the marshy area in the remnants of Roundabout Creek I am attempting to salvage. Mother nature has shown me her robust resilience in the healing that has occured in the creek and woods surrounding my home. Biodiversity is what we can consider the most important feature in a wealth of natural capital. A wide variety of species can better cope with adverse circumstances, and pressure than a limited number in larger populations.
This is not to be taken as a political talking point or policy. This is to be a human policy we can all come together on as “WE THE PEOPLE” and work together as patriots protecting our land. In 1940 Woody Gutrie belted out the now familiar:
“This land is your land, and this land is my land
From the California, to the New York Island
From the Redwood Forest, to the Gulf stream waters”
It has now become entrenched in Americana, and should serve as a reminder of the value we as Americans place on our land and waterways. We in turn should work to protect these vital resources. Healthy ecosystems are actually the foundation for and sustaining factor in our economy. It’s a vital service we simply cannot live in the absence of. We also cannot improve our country economically, or socially without this natural capital. Healthy ecosystems clean our water, purify our air, maintain our soil, regulate the climate, recycle nutrients and provide us with food. They provide raw materials and resources for medicines and other purposes. As good and decent American we must protect this land for one another.
Not taking our patriotic duty to our land seriously can lead to what follows: Certain species become extinct, unforeseen circumstances occur that snowball, this can turn into the destruction of entire ecosystems, and so on and so forth.
Read about Easter Island, it may be one of the clearest examples of humans destroying themselves by perpetrating ecocide. By working collectively across this land we can help secure our future health and society. By being good stewards of the land we can help preserve biodiversity. This is important because then even if certain species are affected by pollution, weather extremes, or human activities the ecosystem we are a part of is overall better suited to adapt and survive.
This is even more vital to our BIPOC communities. Historically neglected communities are often concentrated in areas of environmental injustice. Lack of green-space, litter & pollution, hot spots from concrete can be extremely detrimental to physical and mental health and limit us in many ways that manifest themselves negatively in a broad spectrum of socioeconomic ways. As a native woman descendant of the original inhabitants and stewards of this land it is my duty to all my relations, and my future relatives to work towards creating a more equitable and verdant country. As a veteran (natives serve int he military higher than any other demographic), my mission continues to protect my countrymen though grassroots environmental activism in my community, and OUR country at large.
Here are just a few ideas how you can help.
Spend an hour each week cleaning up a public park or your neighborhood.
Use Reusable Bags. Plastic grocery-type bags that get thrown out end up in landfills or in other parts of the environment.
Recycle
Plant a garden and grow some of your own food and flowers for pollinators. (we are much less likely to waste food we have invested time and energy in, and most big store produce is trucked hundreds of miles to its destination)
Try to avoid single use plastics
Teach your children these principles.
Volunteer for a wildlife or environmental organization.
Inspire others by sharing your love of the outdoors.
This prolific producer is the native edible your garden is missing
Sister Ground Cherry goes by many names; the Aztecs called her Tomatl (the origin of the words tomato and tomatillo), Poha, Poha Berry, Barbados Gooseberry, Cherry Tomato (not to be confused with the smaller tomato variety found in stores and your garden), Husk Tomato, Strawberry Tomato, Wild Cherry, Winter Cherry, Cape Gooseberry, Groundcherry, and we recently saw them as Goldenberry in the grocery store. She is related to the Chinese Lantern, Japanese Lantern, Tomatillo and many other nightshades.
Regardless of what you call her, the Ground Cherries’ fruits are delightful surprises found nestled within a paper-y husk, or calyx, on a low-growing (1–2’H) and sprawling shrub. Our plants are prolific in their fruit production—60+ per plant—but depending on your garden’s soil composition and access to light you can reasonably expect 10–30 berries per plant.
Fruits range from a lime green when unripe to a luminous saffron yellow-orange at their peek and they taste like a unique combination of the sweet-tart acidity of fresh pineapple followed by the mellow melon flavor of a cantaloupe. Its smooth skin and juicy, seeded center will remind you of her cousin the tomato.
History
Believed to be native to South and Central America, the Ground Cherry has travelled world-wide—by the 18th century they were growing wildly in South Africa, next it spread through to Australia and established itself in the Hawaiian Islands, finally landing in the continental U.S. by the 20th century.
How to Grow
These members of the physalis (night shade) family, prefer full sun and a moderate watering schedule, depending on the dryness and heat of the season, every 2–3 days is recommended. Plants typically take 7–10 days to germinate and 70–80 days to hit maturity. Depending on your USDA zone, starting these seeds inside and transplanting to your garden once the risk of frost has past is recommended. These plants like a little space as they will spread out. Give them an estimated 18–24” of space between each one in their final home in the garden.
If you’re a seed-saver, and we hope you are, these plants are open-pollinated and we recommend you save seed from the ripest or even over-ripe berries to get the most viable seeds for next year. We also highly recommend you do some germination testing to help ensure you are saving viable seeds year-after-year.
At the farm (USDA zone 7), our Ground Cherries have been baring fruit continually since the end of July and are just starting to slow down as we begin September. This will vary depending on your local climate, but you can expect a late-summer harvest.
To harvest the cherries, simply shake the plant and collect any of the husks that fall to the ground—get it, ground cherry, groundcherry. Our favorite and fastest way to de-husk is to gently squeeze the base of the husk where the cherry is attached within until it shoots out, ideally, into a bowl.
The tendency of the Ground Cherry’s fruit to fall and hide among its foliage can lead to fruit going unfound and volunteers to pop up the following year. We are happy to welcome the next generation and we suggest you pick a spot where volunteers won’t cause any headache if you’re lucky enough for them to pop up next year.
Uses
Medicinal
Ground Cherries are not just lovely and delicious, they are highly nutritious. Their orange color is caused by carotenoids that have anti-inflammatory and immune boosting potential. Plus, it’s a solid source of fiber, B vitamins, and other vitamins and minerals. We definitely recommend you investigate the potential health benefits ground cherries offers with its unique blend of antioxidants and nutrients to see how adding them to your diet will support your unique needs. We are firm believers that food is medicine.
Culinary
We love eating these brightly colored and flavorful berries. Some of our favorite ways to enjoy the harvest:
• Eat them fresh right out of the husk. • Sliced or whole and added to a garden salad or any fresh salad you’d typically add their cousin the tomato. • Added to Mediterranean and middle Eastern dishes as an alternative to golden raisins—no need to rehydrate their fresh fruit. • Made into a jam on their own or in combination with other berries, fruits, or spices.
If you hold off on husking and store your harvest of ground cherries in the refrigerator, they will last for 7–10 days. Freezing is also a good option to preserve them for longer. If you freeze them, consider using them in a sauce or other cooked preparation since freezing does cause some break down of cell walls and results in a slightly mushier version of the fresh fruit.
A note of caution, as a member of the nightshade family, unripe berries and leaves contain toxic alkaloids that can be lethal. Please, do not eat the unripe berries or leaves or feed then to livestock or pets.
We can’t think of a wrong way to eat them. Experiment and share your recipes with us!
Craft
Don’t throw away the delicate husks! They are a versatile crafting supply. Decorate for a late-summer, early-fall wedding or celebration by using the husks as an alternative to confetti or rice, string them alone or alternate with bells, beads, or cranberries to create an eco-friendly garland to drape across the mantel, dining table, or about an arbor. You can also press them for use in decorating gifts and homemade cards. There are endless ways to repurpose these nature-made wrappers into something special. And when you’ve run out of ideas, pop them in your compost. That way nothing goes to waste.
Unknown variety retrieved by my mother several years ago and brought back to the farm for safe keeping.
I want to say a few things about a traumatic experience I experienced this past week…it might make some of you uncomfortable.
I want to start by saying all the food we grow is of course given away. Our mission is to simply feed people, but that doesn’t mean everything I have is up for grabs. Part of what I have made my life’s work is seed preservation. While we do provide community gardens free seeds & plants not everything in the seed bank is for community use by just anyone.
This year I set to work on building stock of a very rare breed of corn that was almost extinct. It is a variety traditionally grown by my tribe & holds a sacred place in my heart. There is only one other grower in the entirety of turtle island that I am aware of at the time of my writing this. That being said I hope you can understand how vitally important it is I properly steward this seed along it’s way. In each kernel is a little bit of the DNA past generations of my ancestors held in their hands with hope for a future harvest, and continuation of our culture made possible by sister corn’s gift to us of life giving nourishment.
It was a Sunday evening & my eldest son & I were just wrapping up for the day. We had a beautiful day of chores & volunteers here helping to get food to those in need in the Charlottesville, Virginia area. I had received a call earlier in the day from a woman about 30 minutes away needed winter seeds & whatever we had ready for spring planting & she was on here way to pick them up from us that evening.
We were separating ears from the stalks and piling our stalks up when she arrived. I had baskets of corn around the yard waiting to be separated & gone through. It was their first visit so like i do with all new visitor i showed them around, explained what we were doing & growing, and as always, took them to meet the pigs.
Our mixed breed pig Spider Pig in her old yard with the birds.
I had explained the significance of our corn & what it means to our tribe. As she walked back to her car we were chatting about her project and how we could help them also feed those in need. I was struck dumb when she walked right over to my baskets, took corn out of it and remarked, “I’m going to try this”. I was a little shocked that someone would not only help themselves to something that didn’t belong to them, but also horrified that I stood by dumbfounded and unable to find my voice or intervene while someone absconded with a culturally significant item that was not for them.
I have been sick over this all week.
Dear white gardeners, please don’t be disrespectful by becoming fetishistic or causing commodification of ancient, sacred seeds of indigenous farmers. It was a painful experience for me. I felt I had failed at protecting something I was charged with stewarding to preserve for future generations. I have the same feeling I have experienced when an unwanted male gets too handsy or forward with me & I’m left with a sickening feeling of disgust in the pit of my stomach. It has been wretched.
Here’s why it matters.
Food & farming have become key tools for indigenous people to revive their culture, reclaim their language, build an ancient identity in a modern world, and connect with the sacred soil beneath our feet. We have literally been stripped of everything that is uniquely ours for the benefit of those who colonized this place. In some ways we have become unrecognizable, invisible, or even worse, seen as a pan Indian monolith without the richness individual tribal traditions, customs, & culture.
When you close your eyes & think of us do you images of tipis & headdresses emerge as the first thoughts in your head? We are not your cartoon Cleveland Indians mascot, or the “sexy squaw” Halloween costume you bought off Amazon last year. Unfortunately, forced assimilation, loss of self governance, and violent control of food systems that sustained us for millennia has resulted in irreparable damage. This damage manifests itself in horrific poverty (furthered by the lack of wealth building ownership opportunities on reservations), statistically the worst health outcomes for any population in America, extreme rates of substance abuse, and a generational cycle of these factors that is difficult to break.
When you take all of the above into consideration the very least I feel I can expect is that our sacred seeds are not also culturally appropriated for use by those who neither understand their significance, nor appreciate it. Indigenous people protect what has been quoted as 70-90% (depending on your source) of the biodiversity on Earth. So, Dear White people: Please hold one another accountable.
I am an endangered species using my voice for other endangered species, the flora, the fauna, and the living soil that sustains all of us. Indigenous life-ways & “traditional ways of knowing” saved YOU when your ancestors arrived on these shores. Without my many grandmothers past your people would have starved to death at Jamestown, & Plymouth. The very least that can be done is to stop the perpetual taking from us as I experienced playing out in real life this past week. Our agricultural awakening to the calling of our ancestors I hope will shepherd in a new era in the american farming landscape. A more symbiotic relationship with our relations who have leaves, or hooves, and the passing of indigenous ethnobotanical knowledge from generation to generation will ultimately heal the Earth from the ravages of monocropping & chemical intensive farming. And here’s a friendly reminder that without our contributions you wouldn’t have those potatoes for french fries, green bean casserole, & pumpkin pie @ your Thanksgiving Day table, your extra guac with your chips (or your chips for that matter), tomato sauce on your spaghetti or pizza, or those chocolate treats you sneak to the fridge in the middle of the night to snack on.
Our vision for a better future food system involves solving both the issue of food insecurity for disenfranchised communities, & financial insolvency plaguing many small farms. We will feed those in need, and provide an economic safety net for the farming families that are restoring the Rockwellian image of regenerative agriculture to our landscape.
We want to address BOTH the adequacy of the food supply, AND the means of community co-created change involving food acquisition, equitable distribution, & production. Other activists, and NGOs have led efforts in one direction or the other without tying both together. The symbiosis of the elements in the long term goal of our vision system is key. Supporting verdant & responsible farming, and encouraging growing food in small unused personal & community spaces will act in concert w/ our education program, & seed bank to empower our community to make some for these positive changes for themselves. This is an essential for 2050.
Our vision for 2050 is one that understands that there is an essential inter-connectedness between economy, diet, tech,culture, & environment. It is OUR responsibility to move the bar forward in order to create a better world for those to come, & one that is better suited to meet our needs in a practical way without doing further damage to our most precious commodity, the Earth. We are strategically poised to be able to effect great preservation of culture & at the same time benefit the land & diets of those in our community by celebrating the deep collective history we have as Virginians & the richness of the individuals from all over the globe that weave together to intricately form the bright fabric of our unique multi-cultural society. Food is a major actor in transmission of cultural traditions & history. It tells a story, & by preserving it, we can use the way people think about food & culture to sing those stories to future generations. By creating new ways & reviving old ways we relate to food we will impact thinking about food & culture through education. Education about each others culture leads to greater understanding & respect. A community informed about diet & the environment can lead to greater innovation in technology, & can influence greater policy changes. All are interlocking & related.
When this is addressed, the population is appropriately feed, & the land cared, for the symbiotic human-environment circle is complete. This would have a huge impact on all aspects of life from arts to economics. Removing the threats to health & environment & healing both our community’s soul, and the land will allow people who otherwise many not have had time, education, or resources to do so, to be more inspired, creative & innovative. We can impact the pace of innovation by making sure the most basic of needs are met in a better way, & at the same time nurturing their sense of identity. This will lead to a better self actualization in 2050 for the general population & a better future we can only imagine.
Here’s what we want to do
Let’s tackle feeding the 9-13% of people going hungry at any given time. It’s completely unnecessary given we throw away SO MUCH unsold food. We use the unsold products from small family farms, education, and seed banks to do it. We will compensate sustainable farms for products which will be a safety net for them, & empower those who are willing & able to garden for themselves with free seeds and information. Utilizing spare green space in this way will provide the therapeutic benefits of gardening to food insecure neighborhoods, & encourage food sovereignty. Being able to provide for one’s self is Incredibly empowering & will encourage connections like learning about one’s own traditions & cultures through food & sharing it with others.
Economic Impact on Poverty
We have built relationships with local food pantries, NGOs that serve target demographics (homeless, single mothers,battered women) those that prepare community meals in public parks for the hungry, Meals on Wheels, etc, and have successfully created a network of pick up locations & delivery drivers & scaleable. By bringing in more farms we will be able to reach a wider audience & benefit the farms @ the same time thereby encouraging responsible agriculture. Many times our clients have a set of circumstances which temporarily leave them in precarious situations. Some fail to qualify for SNAP by only a few dollars and are left having to choose between gas to get to work & food or medications. They may have no transportation to get to the food bank & for one reason or another don’t have the emotional or mental capacity to reach out to social services for help. Some are intimidated by the process, some are homeless. We are able to fill the gap with quality food that supports the diverse family farms in the state.
Changing how those with food insecurity think about & relate to healthy food, the lack thereof, or what is available to them can have profound effects on the areas health. This will intrinsically also change the economic outlook for these communities, & have a butterfly effect on the wider region. Food that was formerly a kind of conspicuous consumption commodity reserved for the wealthy & upper middle class enjoying leisurely weekends at the farmer’s market will be purchased en mass from local farms with donations we receive through charitable giving from corporations and community members. Food insecure households often times rely on food pantries that don’t always have the most healthful items made available to them such as week old cupcakes or butter drenched garlic bread from large retailers. I by no means want it to go to waste but I think that by making a source of excellent quality food we can reaffirm their dignity by asserting that they too are worthy of quality food. Sometimes the worst part of poverty is the shame that goes with it. When you give the best you have to someone in this situation it can convey to them something so much deeper. It can reinforce their worth and change their whole mindset.
Pastoral Economics
We with local government committees to inform our local farmers about preserving farmland & development rights & helping them overall blend technology w/ responsible stewardship. We work to help network the farms which are the keystone of the operation to garner more access & higher visibility to the public and boost their retail sales.
To improve these situations will include integrating more broadband access to those affected (both farmers and those who need good quality food). The area is incredibly diverse in demographics & is also diverse in who has access to technology & information to help start to formulate plans to solve these problems. Currently in Virginia much of the state is without even basic internet service. The dearth of tech infrastructure happens to be the area in with the most fertile arable land in Virginia. There are high priced solutions to this not everyone can afford. This complicates access both for impoverished, AND the farmers who live in these areas attempting to cultivate pockets of regenerative land management in areas where previously cash crops were king. It is a massive disadvantage to both the people impacted by this and the state’s economy as a whole. Currently the infrastructure is not in place to support development of this, & local governments are struggling with how best to remedy the situation in concert with utility cooperatives, & private businesses. If we can change this in the coming years we can make great strides in changing the lives of those affected by food insecurity, subsequent generations as well as farmers, and aspiring farmers.
This is especially important given the current situation that has diminished exports to China. Many family farms who previously relied on export are being bankrupt by the fallout from policies that have been enacted. The death of “the yeoman farmer” is upon us. Bailouts, do not reach the farmer in time to save them from becoming bankrupt. Historically the trend to larger and larger farms does not reverse itself. We must end the “agricultural apartheid” that puts all the power in huge vertically integrated conglomerates and restore the opportunities in agriculture that once existed for families in the United States. Industrialized ag is swooping in to consolidate bankrupt farms & in doing so pushing us farther from food sovereignty & towards environmental disaster. This is troubling because when you analyze smaller farm vs. larger farm output per acre is massively increased with the smaller farm. This economic verity is more so true in farms under 20 acres with diversification of products. W/ diversification also comes the restoration of the traditional farmer from what today is little more than a technician to a true artisan that really knows the land & works as an essential part of the ecosystem. Save the farms, Save the environment, Feed the people.
Instead of standing on the sidelines watching it implode we must find a way to dismantle it down & build a new system that does. If we can embrace the narrative of “clean energy” that allows us to obviate the inconvenience of “less energy” by trending towards renewable sources we certainly can trend towards clean agriculture because our survival is dependent upon it. Doing the work of implementing this has the potential to change many lives for the better.
To take it one step further we could include local restaurants & grocers that specialize in local farms products to curtail losses for them as well. This plan in motion will be a societal ablution for our malfeasance, & end hunger in our area & enable nonprofits that are in the trenches directly feeding people to focus more energy on delivery of services & less on perpetual tiresome fundraising. It would change the health & economic outlook for a huge percentage of people currently suffering and in turn benefit our society as a whole.
Rural Ruminations 