Nation-to-Nation Food Sustainability Meeting

Onkwe - is a group of Onkwehonwe who teaches traditional knowledge inherited from elder's farming and gardening techniques with families and youth of all generations. Onkwe was formed and shaped by our prophecies and prodded on climate change, Onkwe was created out of necessity. The small, but dedicated group started planting just east of Akwesasne, on a plot of land close to the new Akwesasne Freedom School site. They also grow verdant gardens at Tsionkwanatiio property.

Two years ago, Donna Rockwell-Jock shared her stories of what Onkwe was like at the beginning, "Basically, it was just three of us – Dean George, Nelson Jock and me. We asked the Akwesasne Freedom School for permission to plant there, and they agreed. We planted corn, beans, and squash, but also tomatoes, onions, potatoes - everything. We were careful not to use GMO seeds and saved our good seeds for the next year. At the end of the season, we encouraged our elders to come and take from our gardens. At first, they felt funny, not having worked in the garden. But that is why we planted – we planted our gardens to feed our elders and our young children."

Since their inception almost eleven years ago, Onkwe has gathered more supporters, embraced other gardening groups and shared a tremendous amount of information, gardening tips and food to the community of Akwesasne and beyond.

On March 9th Onkwe, MCA Department of Health, and Land Based Healing Program hosted a day of sharing information and engaged in active discussions on Nation to Nation food sustainability. The day featured several presenters including Francis on preparing (skinning) and smoking a sturgeon, Angela Ferguson, Eel Clan Onondaga and Steven McComber, Bear Clan, Kahnawake, and Kawenniiosta Jock who welcomes Lucas Evans of E3 Agriculture and Timothy Houseberg of Native Health Matters. Jock lives and works in Mohawk Valley at her farm "Iotsi'tsison – Skywoman's Forever Farm."

Angela Ferguson, is Eel Clan of the Onondaga Nation. Angela is a key individual to establishing the Onondaga Nation's food sovereignty program and traditional community farm. Ferguson is also a member of Braiding the Sacred, in which she travels across Turtle Island to learn from Indigenous elders about growing corn and its sacred teachings. She is currently working on the creation of a non-GMO ordinance across the Haudenosaunee Confederacy.

Ferguson stated, "Indigenous economy, food security, and cultural preservation are crucial in the face of climate chaos."

Ferguson highlighted the value of the "three sisters" (corn, beans, and squash) in providing a balanced and sustainable food source for survival situations.

She emphasized the importance of reconnecting with nature and our ancestral traditions by sharing her personal experiences of preserving traditional skills and knowledge on food preservation and food sustainability.

Ferguson also discussed the value of preserving Indigenous knowledge and culture through the repatriation of seeds, traditional and inventive gardening practices. In addition, she highlighted the significance of soil remediation and the use of indigenous sunflowers to extract toxins. She emphasized the importance of crop rotations to avoid over-extraction of nutrients, while stressing the importance of underground seed storage for emergency preparedness.

For every bushel of crop they harvest, they share half with Onondaga community members and the other half is stored for emergency preparedness.

Fergusson gave practical suggestions such as build an underground seed storage as a pilot project, using sunflowers for soil remediation, continue repatriating indigenous corn seeds to their original communities, focus on soil health and remediation in 2024, adapt crop rotations and allow fields to rest to avoid over-extracting nutrients, and to teach youth survival skills like starting fires, collecting firewood, cooking, etc.

Ferguson said, "One of the magical things about sunflowers is they are a column, like soldiers of the garden, because what they do is they pull toxins out of the soil and they hold it in their selves and hold it in stock, hold it with roots. So, we can also use sunflowers for soil remediation because it pulls pollutants and toxins out. There are scientific studies proving how toxins are pulled out of the plants – which is the miraculous part."

Ferguson spoke of how we all were given gifts from the Creator, "I don't know how to do every single thing. We can all come together and bring all our minds together and there's something that happens when people are of one mind."

Steven McComber, Bear Clan, Kahnawake, shared his vast knowledge of gardening, seed preservation, food storage methods, including roasting and dehydrating to preserve food for long periods. He reflected on the significance of corn in Haudenosaunee communities. discusses the importance of soil remediation and its connection to mental health, using the metaphor of a living, breathing ecosystem.

McComber stated, "Indigenous communities have a deep connection to the land and their traditional practices are crucial for maintaining cultural heritage and food sovereignty. Seed saving and planting practices are essential, with heirloom seeds passed down through generations and good soil being a key factor. Corn is a central part of many Indigenous cultures, playing a spiritual and ceremonial role."

"Lunar cycles are also important in agriculture, with different cultures incorporating them into their calendars and traditions."

He emphasized the need for collective action to address climate change's impact on agriculture and highlighted the potential of sustainable food production and community involvement, citing an example of a group of farmers who created a 12-acre market garden to supply food banks.

McComber also gave practical suggestions for a better garden by using moon phases for planting; as starting tomatoes, peppers, eggplants and chili peppers from seed in mid-March, around the week of March 17th, starting dahlias in the full moon of March, around March 20th, start some herbs and greens from seed this week in the new moon and he said how using powdered milk under tomato plants to provide calcium and help prevent disease. Another suggestion was to put Epsom salts on pepper plants when they are a certain height to provide magnesium.

And for the local cannabis growers – plant marijuana/cannabis in April during the new moon phase and to consider planting in containers and greenhouses to deal with climate change challenges.

Other gardening tips from McComber included starting cucumbers and tomatoes from seed for faster growth, as they need to re-establish their root systems, starting tomatoes in April for quicker growth, as larger plants take longer to develop their root systems.

McComber said, "So I said wow, this is amazing. And so, these things are possible. The thing is like today, make this a priority, make food sustainability and food accessibility a priority. Make these things happen. Imagine 600 food baskets a week."