Hodinohso:ni Heirloom Seed & Foods Workshop

SIX NATIONS – Six Nations Polytech was packed full of eager and enthusiastic gardeners and seed-savers last weekend. Deyohaha:ge, with the help of the Six Nations Legacy Consortium, the Indigenous Studies Program of McMaster University and the Ontario Federation of Indian Friendship Centres, hosted the annual event which was held last Saturday. This event was for community members and people in the surrounding areas to come and share their seed harvest from last year and also to exchange seeds and knowledge.

One woman who brought a wealth of seeds to the workshop was Kahehtohkhtha Janice Brant who is from the Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory. One item stood out in particular and that was strawberry popcorn which is beautiful dark red and looks like a giant strawberry. Brant stated she grows every seed that she had displayed on her table, from blue corn to tobacco. The strawberry popcorn, which was still on the cob, was given to her by Yvonne Thomas, wife of the late Jake Thomas and said she has been growing it for about ten years now.

Other seeds that Brant had brought to the Workshop, she said had been passed down in her family from generation to generation. The blue corn she had however, was given to her by Iowne Anderson. Brant stated that blue corn is edible and is mostly used as flour and for mush.

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Kahehtohkhtha Janice Brant from Tyendinaga, had at least 10 different types of seeds to give away at her booth at last Saturday’s Hodinohso:ni Heirloom Seed & Foods Workshop. Local gardener Iowne Anderson was also on hand to give away numerous varieties of seeds. (Photo by Jen Mt. Pleasant)

Brant also had tobacco seeds that she gave away to interested growers. When asked how she plants her tobacco, Brant stated that although some people like to start their seeds indoors, she usually plants her seeds directly outside, including tobacco. She explained that she ‘broadcasts’ the tobacco seeds, meaning she disperses them out onto the ground in a ‘fanning motion’, without digging any holes. “They are able to grow on top of the soil,” stated Brant, however after she fans them out across the soil, she grabs a handful of dirt and spreads it across and on top of the tobacco seeds. Brant stated that tobacco is also used as a healing plant in that the seeds can be planted in ‘diseased soil,’ and the tobacco will actually cleanse and revitalize the bad soil.

Last Saturday’s event didn’t come without a traditional style meal. The first meal of the day was entitled Breakfast BC (Before Columbus) and included corn mush, maple syrup, berries and fruit and tea. A local catering business owned by Chandra Maracle and Bloss Martin served up for lunch a delicious salad of mixed greens, dried cranberries, hemp seeds, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seed oil, apple cider vinegar topped with maple syrup; wild rice with celery and peppers; mashed beans; cashew and pumpkin seed gravy with shallots and a mouth-watering carrot, celery and apply beet juice.

Speakers included Steve McComber who is a sculptor from Kahnawake and also a farmer. He discussed the importance of saving Haudenosaunee Heirloom seeds. For more information about his talk on Saturday, he can be reached at cornplanter@sympatico.ca.

Heirloom seeds are seeds that are still maintained by gardeners and farmers particularly in ethnic communities like that of the Haudenosaunee. Haudenosaunee seeds are those that were grown pre-contact and continue to be grown today. The seeds have been passed down from generation to generation and are not bought in stores. All different kinds of seeds were given away last weekend including: white corn, blue corn, strawberry corn, tobacco, different variations of squash, sunflower, and different variations of beans.

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