a love letter to the land, the compilation of materialized knowledge, the highly rewarded gift for a tomorrow
An elder said to us once; “When the elders are happy, this Earth will produce the most beautiful harvest.”
The fabric of our communities holds memories that have adapted to land changes. Those ecological changes and the experiences we harvested from our interaction with them translated into the social changes we see in our communities. This circle has been consistent since our presence was a factor in drastic changes in the ecology around us.
In our current context, we see high-risk decisions made every day, at times, made with dangerous urgency through greedy jaws. Others were dangerously relaxed and with no plan ahead. Our lack of, or the inability to make decisions with planning eyes, affects our ability to live in our traditional foodways. Should the constrain of modern demands impact our ability to continue a way of life that respects traditions and allows us to adjust? Every day, in our fields, as farmers, we are given the ability to design (the best we can) and plan to the best of our knowledge for the season ahead. We account for the preparation of beds, where our seeds will lay to rest. We support the nourishment of our soil, who in exchange feed the living networks that make this possible, in the upcoming cycles of a consistent negotiation with the weather, insects, and animals.
We are recovering our seasonal calendars, measuring the influx of rain, and interacting with life-giving patterns, conditions for seed saving, etc. It's all decisions. Like the ones before us, we decided to continue to live a life close to the land. Through the unfolding of history, we know that decision was deadly for members of our families we hold close to us when planting time approaches. To live close to the land and live on our agricultural pathways is not an easy process. However, it's a process that has brought back the pieces we thought we were never going to see again. Each family has a story of how traditional foods have shaped them and what they've done for traditional foods. What is your story?
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