Designing Ecological Habitats - Gaia Education

138 Designing ecological Habitats
Seed project plots
and Medicine Wheel
garden of the Ta
S’ina Tokaheya
Foundation.
their cultivation and perpetuation is essential
not only for their nutritional value but for future
food security. These efforts have provided ways
to simultaneously reclaim Native heritage and
improve health conditions. In addition, the sale
of surplus crops and related value-added products
has contributed to a growing local economy
by creating sources of income for participating
members of the Lakota community.
The endangered Native Ameri can Seed
Preservation Project, a program under Ta S’ina
Tokaheya Foundation, researched traditional
scientific planting methods used by the plains
tribes hundreds of years ago. These methods
included techniques to prevent cross-pollination,
such as utilizing various plant barriers to separate agricultural plots.
Companion planting also was used. As an example, pole beans would be
planted with corn for fixing nitrogen levels in the soil. Floodplains and
bottomlands were typically selected for garden plots.
The seed project primarily implemented Hidatsa farming techniques as
the Hidatsa women were among the most advanced farmers and ecologists
of the plains tribes. The Hidatsa and Mandan knew the importance of
keeping strains of corn and squash pure, because each variety had a special
use. There are nine principal varieties of corn that were cultivated by the
plains tribes: Ata’ki tso’ki – hard white corn; At’ki – soft white corn; Tsi’di
tso’ki – hard yellow corn; Tsi’di tapa – soft yellow corn; Ma’ikadicake –
gummy corn; Do’ohi – blue corn; Hi’ci ce’pi – dark red corn; Hi’tsiica –
light red corn; and At’ki aku’ hi’tsiica – pink top corn. The Hidatsa would
refer to the cross pollination of corn as the ‘traveling corn’. To maintain the
integrity of the various strains, they configured their fields to prevent crosspollination
by creating barriers of sunflowers and separating the cornfields
by variety.
The Ta S’ina Tokaheya Foundation began the seed project by selecting
a 5 acre bottomland parcel outside of Oglala, a site which had the richest
soil on the Reservation. The parcel was hand dug by members of the Lakota
tribe, ranging from children to elders from the community. The gardens have
brought community members together and have fostered a sense of pride.
A half-acre mandala garden was designed in the shape of the Morning Star
and a medicine wheel garden was designed and planted with medicinal
herbs. The mandala garden represents the Lakota belief that all Lakota life
originates from the Morning Star.
We, the co-founders of the foundation, [the author, her husband at
the time Michael Sierra, and sister Kristina Mayo] engaged in a vigorous
seed collection and location campaign in 1992 and began with a letter to
SeedSaversExchange requesting heirloom Native American seed species. The
request for heirloom seeds was later published in the SeedSaversExchange