Post by blackcrowheart on Nov 11, 2006 21:07:04 GMT -5
Garden project brings tribal tradition back to life
PHOENIX -- When 7-year-old Celine Hardey and her 6-year-old sister, Sadie, joined a dozen other kids dropping pea seeds into the freshly tilled and fertilized earth of a new garden on the Tohono O'odham Reservation last month, they probably didn't realize they were engaging in an age-old tribal tradition.
They were too busy planning the growth of juicy watermelons and pumpkins that could be carved into scary Halloween faces.
"I want to plant watermelon seeds because watermelon tastes good," Celine said.
But nearby tribal leaders and elders, watching the children cover their seeds and pat down the soil just before an irrigation system kicked in, understood the symbolism of taking this first step to acquaint youths with their culture and traditional farming techniques.
As elder Maynard Joaquin Sr. prayed for the garden and tribe during a blessing ceremony that included an eagle feather and smoldering incense of sage and greasewood, the community celebrated the Cucklebur Garden and Landscape Project. With the help of federal funding, the community has bought an irrigation system and is starting a community garden.
"A long time ago, this was our way of living," said Nina Jose, 60, a tribal member and Cucklebur resident. "It was our source of food. I've always wished we could go back to how we did things."
Decades ago, Jose said, a variety of desert sustenance crops were grown by families that toiled together, and as recently as the 1920s thousands of acres were farmed. Now, mesquite trees and weeds spring from the powdery desert around old homes.
The tribe has had difficulty getting access to a consistent water supply for farming since the earthen Tat Momolikot Dam was built nearby in 1974 by the Army Corps of Engineers to control floods along the Santa Rosa Wash downstream and for reservoir purposes. The tribe also has faced irrigation-system failures because of old equipment.
Jose said the Cucklebur community of about 200 people, southwest of Casa Grande, is not expected to benefit from the recent water rights settlement between the federal government and tribes that provides the reservations with significant amounts of Central Arizona Project water. Most of Cucklebur's water comes from wells.
But the reservation did get a $10,000 U.S. Department of Agriculture grant to buy a high-tech irrigation system and new equipment. Tribal members decided to use that to start the family-tended garden. Corn, squash, beans, including native wepegi bawi _ or brown tepany beans _ and watermelons will be grown in the garden plots by individual families.
Community families will tend the gardens as a way to reconnect with their culture and bring more healthful foods to their tables.
The shift away from traditional crops has hurt the Tohono O'odham, tribal Chairwoman Vivian Juan-Saunders said.
"For too long, our spirit and identity has been taken away," Juan-Saunders said. "This is one way to bring back the spirit of the people."
Cucklebur resident Serena Johnson, 17, along with her family will work a plot growing pumpkins, watermelon and squash.
"We'll be out every morning," Johnson, a junior at Casa Grande Union High School, said. "It's important to bring old foods and traditions back from a long time ago and learn what they did.
"They say our culture is dying out, but I want to learn it and pass it on to others."
PHOENIX -- When 7-year-old Celine Hardey and her 6-year-old sister, Sadie, joined a dozen other kids dropping pea seeds into the freshly tilled and fertilized earth of a new garden on the Tohono O'odham Reservation last month, they probably didn't realize they were engaging in an age-old tribal tradition.
They were too busy planning the growth of juicy watermelons and pumpkins that could be carved into scary Halloween faces.
"I want to plant watermelon seeds because watermelon tastes good," Celine said.
But nearby tribal leaders and elders, watching the children cover their seeds and pat down the soil just before an irrigation system kicked in, understood the symbolism of taking this first step to acquaint youths with their culture and traditional farming techniques.
As elder Maynard Joaquin Sr. prayed for the garden and tribe during a blessing ceremony that included an eagle feather and smoldering incense of sage and greasewood, the community celebrated the Cucklebur Garden and Landscape Project. With the help of federal funding, the community has bought an irrigation system and is starting a community garden.
"A long time ago, this was our way of living," said Nina Jose, 60, a tribal member and Cucklebur resident. "It was our source of food. I've always wished we could go back to how we did things."
Decades ago, Jose said, a variety of desert sustenance crops were grown by families that toiled together, and as recently as the 1920s thousands of acres were farmed. Now, mesquite trees and weeds spring from the powdery desert around old homes.
The tribe has had difficulty getting access to a consistent water supply for farming since the earthen Tat Momolikot Dam was built nearby in 1974 by the Army Corps of Engineers to control floods along the Santa Rosa Wash downstream and for reservoir purposes. The tribe also has faced irrigation-system failures because of old equipment.
Jose said the Cucklebur community of about 200 people, southwest of Casa Grande, is not expected to benefit from the recent water rights settlement between the federal government and tribes that provides the reservations with significant amounts of Central Arizona Project water. Most of Cucklebur's water comes from wells.
But the reservation did get a $10,000 U.S. Department of Agriculture grant to buy a high-tech irrigation system and new equipment. Tribal members decided to use that to start the family-tended garden. Corn, squash, beans, including native wepegi bawi _ or brown tepany beans _ and watermelons will be grown in the garden plots by individual families.
Community families will tend the gardens as a way to reconnect with their culture and bring more healthful foods to their tables.
The shift away from traditional crops has hurt the Tohono O'odham, tribal Chairwoman Vivian Juan-Saunders said.
"For too long, our spirit and identity has been taken away," Juan-Saunders said. "This is one way to bring back the spirit of the people."
Cucklebur resident Serena Johnson, 17, along with her family will work a plot growing pumpkins, watermelon and squash.
"We'll be out every morning," Johnson, a junior at Casa Grande Union High School, said. "It's important to bring old foods and traditions back from a long time ago and learn what they did.
"They say our culture is dying out, but I want to learn it and pass it on to others."