Growing Native's blog

It's harvest time here in New Mexico and the abundance of traditionally grown foods are everywhere. I recently brought out a visiting scholar and artist Ron Bull from the Maori Tribe in New Zealand to visit the Tesuque Pueblo Farm. We were given a tour of the farm by Emigdio Ballon (Quechua) who is the head of the agricultural initiative at the farm. We watched local school children pick ripe apples, sampled blackberries and raspberries on their vines, saw the abundance of crops ready to be harvested from medicinal plants to traditional corn. We toured the Hoop Houses that were installed to extend the growing season and allow the Pueblo to grow crops year round. Our last stop of the farm was a tour of the almost completed adobe seed storage building that will house native seeds for the Pueblo for generations to come.

This is a wonderful example of growing Native at its best and Tesuque Pueblo farms showing how it can grow enough food for the entire community and an excellent example of sustainability that can be used by other Pueblos and Indigenous Nations all over the Americas.

- Lois Elen Frank, Ph.D. (Kiowa/Sephardic), Growing Native advisory committee member & owner of Red Mesa Cuisine

This teaser trailer for the upcoming trans media project "Growing Native" takes viewers on a journey across the Pacific Northwest. Host Chris Eyre explores the coast line as we follow a group for Canoe Journey, then heads inland to take part in traditional camas harvesting and to rub elbows with local vendors at a Protocol.

Additional online content for "Growing Native" is also highlighted. Join us at http://www.nativetelecom.org/growingnative as we discover what Tribal Nations across the country are doing to reclaim tradition and revitalize their people through food, language, art, and more!

The corn is almost ready to harvest now and Northern New Mexican families are busy making the corn into chicos. Chicos are a traditional dried corn. They are made from field corn that is harvested, tied into ristras (strings), and hung to dry. Some Native American and Hispano families (that settled in this region hundreds of years ago) make chicos by roasting the corn in the horno adobe (earthen) oven overnight and then hang them to air-dry. After the corn is dried, the kernels are rubbed off by hand and then stored to be used throughout the winter. The horno roasted corn has a slightly darker color when dried but both are equally delicious. Either way, this ancestral traditional process of drying corn kernels is an important ancestral staple food to this region.

I use chicos in many winter stews but one of my favorite ways to cook them is simply with beans. Using a process that combines roasting with drying, the end product is a dreid, wrinkled corn that stores well. Chicos, when they are cooked, swell up to an almost fresh corn consistency and taste like freshly smoked corn. They are an important food to the Southwest region and a traditional food that is a great example of growing native.

- Lois Elen Frank, Ph.D. (Kiowa/Sephardic), Growing Native advisory committee member & owner of Red Mesa Cuisine

Every once in a while, the very idea of a documentary series exactly matches what’s going on at home. Such is the case with Growing Native.

I recently moved home to the Fort Hall Reservation after living in cities for most of my career. I couldn’t wait to experiment with food. The first thing we put into the ground: Blue Corn. Last year’s crop was healthy and this year’s corn was grown from last year’s seeds.  We also dried corn, hanging it as art all over the house. We then ground much of that corn into meal and consume it often.

Any day now we’ll harvest again. The crop, like last year, is extraordinarily tall. Most of the stocks are about 8 feet tall. 

My idea is to look at my garden as a consumer. What would it take for more families to add their own grown food to their regular diet? How much effort to really contribute to a better diet? The answers will roll out over time.

Here is a short slide show about last year’s crop.

- Mark Trahant, Growing Native advisory committee member

The footage from the 24th Annual Canoe Journey in the Pacific Northwest has been processed.  Here is a sneak peek at some of that footage as host Chris Eyre (Cheyenne/Arapaho) speaks to the indigenous people of the area about their culture and traditions.

In the teaser you'll see a traditional Tulalip Tribes' trade route and its restoration back to its natural beauty, harvesting of the plant, camas, traditional Tulalip carvings into thousand-year-old cedar trees, and images of the Lushootseed Language Camp, all to the sound of music from the Potlatch Protocol.

The Annual Canoe Journey takes place each spring and summer where the Tulalip Tribes join other coastal Salish tribes in the Pacific Northwest and British Columbia for a journey that brings friends together for weeks of connection with traditions, family bonding and physical, spiritual, and emotional well being.  Preparation for this several hundred mile journey along the water highways of coast Salish ancestors include Spring meetings in which young and old share lifeways, values, and personal experiences and avoid non-productive pursuits such as substance abuse and domestic violence.

NAPT recently traveled to the Northwest to film the 24th Annual Canoe Journey. We started at 6 a.m. documenting the launch from Tulalip. This amazing event will be part of the Growing Native series NAPT is producing for PBS.

Postmark Deadline: March 16, 2012
Notification: April 15, 2012

Read the Request for Stories | Download the Application
In order to keep the information that you enter into the fields, please save the Growing Native application to your local drive.

NAPT seeks stories that can be included in the seven-part series, Growing Native, which will focus on reclaiming traditional knowledge and food ways to address critical issues of health and wellness, the environment and human rights. Growing Native will focus on Tribes, stories and events from seven geographic regions, including the Northwest, Southwest, Southern Plains/Oklahoma, Northeast, Southeast, Northern Plains/Canada and Alaska. Across the country, Native people are regaining health and strength through the recovery and revitalization of traditional knowledge systems of land, language, traditional arts and health. Segments intended for Growing Native will be five to fifteen-minutes in length, and will also be part of rich, web-based interactive media.  

The Traditional Native American Farmers Association, also known as TNAFA, held its 16th Annual Indigenous Sustainable Communities Design Course July 2011, in collaboration with Hopi Tutskwa Permaculture in Northern Arizona. TNAFA has been working since 1992 to increase the Native community's interest in agriculture, especially the youth. Instructor Lilian Hill taught a natural building workshop on the Hopi Reservation, where agricultural methods date back as far as the 1500s. ISCD students learned the basics of traditional Hopi cob earth building and the essential elements of building a home with heart. The results of their collective efforts were the construction of an earthen bread oven and bench in the village of Kykotsmovi.

Participant testimonials in this film include Jacqueline Gamboa, Juan Gamboa, Rico Kleinstein Chenyek, as well as TNAFA Coordinator, Malin Ramirez. To find out more about the ISCD course, TNAFA and Hopi Tutskwa Permaculture visit: http://www.tnafanm.org

by Mica Valdez

NAPT hosted the first Media for Change Workshop focusing on documentary film and social issues held at the Institute for American Indian Arts (IAIA) in Santa Fe, New Mexico.  This unique workshop for Native Media Makers and Educators included speakers Molly Murphy of Working Films and Rose M. Poston (Sandia Pueblo) of KNME-TV.  At the workshop, I was able to meet key individuals who are working in the Indigenous Sustainability movement and in alignment with similar goals as our television project Growing Native. 

 At the convening, I met Cara McCoy (Chemehuevi) who manages the Indigeneity  Program of Bioneers and learned more about the upcoming annual conference in October to be held in San Rafael, CA.  I also met Bonita Rickers (Ponca Tribe of Nebraska), who is a college student leader in a sustainability club at IAIA and will be working with staff and students to organize a conference on climate change at her campus in April.

Following the workshop, I was able to speak with educator Shelly Valdez (Laguna Pueblo) who shared with me her work on a special project she did in Science where she brought together Native youth from both sides of the border at the famous Chaco Canyon.  Her ability to teach Science within the context of Native culture and history is a much needed resource within the field of education and we are fortunate to work with her in developing curriculum for NAPT.

During this week of SWAIA’s Native Cinema showcase, it was also very valuable to have discussions and meet in person with Chris Eyre (Cheyenne/Arapaho), Beverly Morris (Aleut), and Shirley Sneve (Sicangu Lakota) to work toward our goal for Growing Native to be in production by 2012.

The evening of August 16, it was exciting to watch the Growing Native trailer debut at SWAIA, introduced by renowned actor Wes Studi (Cherokee) and Conroy Chino (Acoma) in conjunction with the film Ancient Pathways, Modern Leaders.  The panel discussion that followed with Pueblo tribal leaders was lively and reminded those in attendance that what is commonly known as “Santa Fe” has for centuries been Tesuque land. 

A highlight of this trip was a meeting and tour at the KNME television station in Albuquerque, where our staff was greeted by station executives, advised of possible next steps and informed of a potential funding source for the series Growing Native.