TO: Conference Coordinator
Natural Organic Farmers Assoc. of NY
In his Foreword to Gary Paul Nabhan's excellent book "Enduring
Seeds",Wendell Berry began:
"Gary Nabhan's work reminds us of what I can describe only as a
sort of historical wonder: that we have paid an immense amount of
attention to American Indian crops, or at least to some of them, but
almost no attention at all to American Indian farming. Books, movies,
radio and television have given us images in abundance of the Indian
fighting and hunting and participating in various ceremonies, but few
indeed of the Indian farming or gardening.
"That we should value Indian crops but not Indian farming is
probably another instance of our disposition as a people to value
substance above form -- or, in fact, to destroy form for the sake of
substnace. We are now destroying our farms for the sake of our crops,
just as we are now destroying our forests for the sake of their timber.
As Gary Habhan puts it, speaking of the Southwestern deserts: 'Modern
agriculture has let temporary cheap petrochemicals and water substitute
for the natural intelligence -- and the stored genetic and ecological
information -- in self adjusting biological communities.' And, of
course, we have substituted these things for the human intelligence
stored in human communities."
Recently I've been meeting with several native Americans who are trying
to preserve their traditional agriculture, including their own
traditional seed strains. I'm happy to report that although native
people and their culture have been pushed to the brink of extinction,
they are still with us, including not only their methods of agriculture,
but even their unique and ancient varieties of seeds. In fact, there is
something of a revival happening in most native communities in New York,
and I'm convinced they have much of great value to offer us in this
decade of ecological crisis and change.
For example, Steve McComber, who lives at the Akwesasne Mohawk Nation in
northern New York, has for many years made it his avid hobby to comb
Iroquois villages for the old varieties of seed. He has collected
twelve original varieties of Iroquois corn, including four strains of
blue corn, a purple and a red corn, a popcorn, a sweet corn, a white
flour corn, and a black and a red flint corn. Steve has also discovered
twelve original strains of Iroquois beans, several strains of squash (I
forgot how many), and even a blue Iroquois potato. Growing so many
varieties, expecially the squashes and corns which are easily
cross-fertilized, isn't easy for one person to do, so Steve has
recruited several other people (including non-native neighbors) to share
this responsibility with him.
Not content to merely search for and grow out these old Iroquois
varieties, Steve has also researched the library at the Geneva
Experiment Station for books and other information on old varieties of
colonial and Iroquois seed. A keen talker, Steve has cultivated an
encyclopedic knowledge about these old seeds.
At Tuscarora Nation near Niagara Falls, Norton Rickert works six days a
week at a mill, yet since he left the paratroopers after World War II,
he has dedicated his time every year to plant several varieties of
Iroquois corn and beans. Norton's reputation as a reliable source for
traditional Iroquois crops is well established in most Iroquois
communities in the United States and Canada. On October 19 several of
us gathered at Norton's farm to shuck and braid Iroquois corn, and to
talk about our concerns to preserve these old seed strains and encourage
traditional indigenous agriculture in native communities.
At Oneida Nation near Green Bay, Wisconsin, Chas Wheelock, who has
degrees in Forestry and Agronomy, started an agriculture project for
community self sufficiency in basic food supplies. Oneida Nation has
over 6000 acres of excellent eastern Wisconsin farmland, and Chas hopes
his community can develop even more self reliance in its food supply,
even to become an exporter of farm commodities. As a step towards this,
Chas works with native farmers in several Indian communities in an
Iroquois White Corn project to grow, process and market their
traditional Seneca white flour corn.
And at Cornell University, the American Indian Program now has an
agriculture project in which Cornell staff grow, preserve and research
Iroquois crops, and study and strengthen indigenous farming. This
summer AIP published Native Corn Report describing the diverse
activities in their program; I will enclose a copy of a few pages from
this remarkable new journal about a very old way of farming.
For a multitude of reasons, these efforts to preserve and revive
indigenous agriculture and traditional seed strains should be of great
interest to anyone in sustainable agriculture. Here are three to
consider:
Most acutely in my perspective, in light of the hybrid dilution,
narrowing and proprietary patenting our the genetic base of American
farming, preservation of the genetic wisdom stored in these ancient
strains of seeds is critical for the continued viability and
adaptability of our modern agricultural varieties.
Also, in our search for models to develop a new form of faarming
not dependent on petrochemicals, there is a great deal to be learned
from the very ancient indigenous tradion known as Three Sisters complex,
a complete cultural, and not just agricultural technology which was
perfected on this continent centuries ago.
Further, the popularity of blue and white corn chips in natural
food markets is a tangible evidence of the economic potential of these
native crops.
Therefore, I urge you to invite these native farming preservationists to
present their work at the NOFA-NY conference on March 14-15, 1992 at
Tompkins-Cortland Community College in Dryden, NY. I am sure this will
be of great interest to many NOFA-NY members, and we will all agree that
we have much to gain in learning about indigenous agriculture.
As a matter of fact, considering 1992 is the 500th anniversary of
Columbus "discovering America" and the United Nations' Year of
Indigenous People, I hope NOFA-NY will find ways to feature indigenous
people and their farming at the March meeting. A workshop is one
appropriate way to invite native people participate, but I hope NOFA-NY
will offer other extra-special ways participate.
I already discussed the possibility of a Three Sisters workshop at the
conference with Steve McComber and Norton Rickert, and they will
enthusiatically accept an invitation. It's with their approval I've
drafted this letter to you. My native friends themselves want to use
this as an opportunity to recruit organic farmers and gardeners to join
their efforts to grow out and preserve the traditional seed strains.
I myself taught a Three Sisters workshop at the Summer NOFA Conference
last August, and the response was extremely positive, as the Summer
Conference coordinator will confirm based on written evaluations
recieved. However, I would rather that these native people took center
stage to present such a workshop themselves.
Please call me to discuss my suggestion. If we agree in principle about
participation of native people in the NOFA-NY Conference, I will tell
you how to contact them so you can discuss with them directly how best
to arrange their role in NOFA-NY's annual educational event. I
sincerely hope this will initiate warm, fruitful relations between
native people and our own organic farming community.
for a green and peaceful planet, David Yarrow
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| David Yarrow (turtle) Econet:<jdmann> 315-675-8498 |
| Earthwise Education Center, P.O. Box 91, Camden, NY 13316 |
| "be earthwise, not clockwise" |
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