i watched a program about beans yesterday. the whole program was about beans and how to grow them and prepare them. yeah, so? there was a segment on seed saving and the nice gentleman was explaining how he saves seeds for posterity. not terribly remarkable, or is it? the practice of seed saving went the way of backyard gardens- and this nice man in maine wants to bring both back to this generation. he believes that there is a disconnect between us and our food and so, he developed a program by which he educates kids and teens on gardening and seed saving. what struck me was when he was talking about some of the heirloom seeds- and they have some from the cherokee's trail of tears. he explained that the native folks were allowed to go inside and take what they could carry--- and many of them took their seeds.
mom and i were talking about it- and we wondered what folks today would take if they could only take what they could carry- pictures? bank book? whatever it would be- i doubt it would be seeds. we just assume that we will always be fed. what a presence of mind to take seeds to plant wherever you end up- a connection to where your food came from. many folks don't know that corn is indigenous to this hemisphere. it is a grass that native populations brought with them as they migrated from south america to north america. many folks don't realize that the lovely yellow ears we grab at the supermarket--- or even farmer's markets- are not the native varieties but hybrids invented within the last hundred years or so.
so, for this nice gentleman to have seeds saved from the original native populations is pretty important. it's a connection to our food and our roots as people and as a nation. backyard gardening is catching on again- and i hope that our 'heirloom' seeds do to.
Showing posts with label american indian. Show all posts
Showing posts with label american indian. Show all posts
Tuesday
Monday
Columbus Day (THE RED PLAIN)
The Eastern Association on Indian Affairs was started in New York in 1922 to assist a group of Pueblo people who were fighting efforts to dismantle their pueblos. In the 1920's this organization merged with a like-minded entity, and again merged with a third entity in 1937. In 1946, the name was changed to the Association on American Indian Affairs. In 1957, the organization was granted non-profit, 501 (c)(3) status for federal tax purposes.
In 1492 Columbus' ships appeared off the coast of San Salvador. The Taino Indians greeted Columbus with unimaginable hospitality. Columbus reported to his queen: "So tractable, so peaceable, are these people, that I swear to your Majesties there is not in the world a better nation. They love their neighbors as themselves, and their discourse is ever sweet and gentle, and accompanied with a smile; and though it is true that they are naked, yet their manners are decorous and praiseworthy." Columbus soon lost sight of the generosity and kindness of the Taino people. www.uctp.org and Operation Morning Star
THE RED PLAIN
There were splendors.
The ocean navigated them nearer
The plump breast of a new world.
Our indigenous, greeting the sailor
With smiles and immense warmness.
Peace,
In this meeting of fleshes,
Soiled itself with chains of slavery
And riches beyond the queen’s dreams.
The land…and its worship… was sliced open
Like buffalo on a red plain.
Sky, the sky, the sky doesn’t dance anymore,
Not with spirit or truth.
Of our scourge we eulogize the ghosts of death,
Of massacre, beyond the new machinery, our lives.
The Indian, the child, the meadow,
The slaughter of stillness. Can’t take
it back now, goddamnit! Can’t!
It’s done! Musket, arrow, flesh,
the birth of a country, drum.
© 2009 mrp/thepoetryman
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