Apr 15, 2022
The colonizing of America separated Indigenous people from their nourishing “first foods,” plant and animal species that native communities relied upon for subsistence, ceremony and medicine. More than a decade ago, the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community (KBIC), Michigan Technological University (MTU), and the Western UP Planning and Development Region came together to create a space that celebrated and preserved the knowledge and cultural identity of tribal people living in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. From this collaboration came the Debweyendan Indigenous Garden (DIGs), a place to grow foods and medicines and drive the community toward food sovereignty.
In the latest episode of the Make Meaning Podcast, host Lynne Golodner interviews two important DIGs contributors: Valoree Gagnon, Assistant Professor in the College of Forest Resources and Environmental Science at Michigan Tech and Director for University-Indigenous Community Partnerships at the Great Lakes Research Center; and Karena Schmidt, an ecologist with the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community Natural Resources Department.
In this episode, Lynne, Val, and Karena discuss:
- The creation & growth of DIGs
- How to define native foods
- The importance of food sovereignty
- The native communities of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula
- How to be an ally to Native Americans
- Loving the land you come from
- Finding the foods native to your community
- Your role in achieving food sovereignty
Links and Resources:
History of First Foods
Diabetes
& the Native American Diet
Remote Indigenous Gardens
Network
Debweyendan Indigenous
Garden
Keweenaw Bay Indian
Community
KBIC Natural Resources
Department
Michigan Technological University
(MTU)
Western UP Planning and Development
Region
Great Lakes Research
Center
University of Arizona
The Seed Keeper
Elizabeth Hoover,
Indigenous Food Sovereignty in
the United States
Robin Wall Kimmerer
Potawatomi
Anishinaabe
Ojibwe
Odawa
Pow Wow
Michigan Tribes
Keweenaw Peninsula
Dr. Martin
Reinhardt
Sean Sherman - the Sioux Chief