ReStoryation – Food Sovereignty

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By Sally Bowers and Julie Melton, Friends of Wisdom Prairie volunteers

The story of Noah and the Flood is not unique to the Bible. There are three flood stories in Native American culture. In each one, the flood follows human failure to live in balance. Food sovereignty is about balance. Use what our Creator has provided, but use it sustainably, respectfully. Balance recognizes that we humans are but one of God’s creations. We are related to every other piece of creation from microbe to mountain. ReStoryation from the native people and their ancestral lands teaches us this importance.

Food Sovereignty preserves the balance by making sure that all the parts of the system are maintained in a healthy relationship. The opposite is overharvesting of trees, wild rice, and fish, draining wetlands, polluting water and air, oil spills, allowing PFAS, and spreading nitrates that pollute groundwater. When ancient seed lines are restored, they bring the possibility of unknown medical use. Clean water yields healthy fish, and is essential for wild rice and cranberries. Food Sovereignty for indigenous people allows them the ability to feed their communities and to have access to their ancestral lands. As we listen and hear the stories in a renewed way, we learn how we can partner for this to happen.

Tribal food sovereignty is based on traditional use of natural resources. We look at their story of being farmers. For instance, a wetland area some would consider as a swamp, the native farmers would consider a wild rice field. A recreational lake used for boating, swimming, fishing, the indigenous elders would see Lake Superior for farming, fishing, and hunting.

How do we respect the ancestral knowledge and claims from Food Sovereignty? How do we respect modern interest by Ho-Chunk people in reviving cultural practices for areas like our land? We can begin discussions with Ho-Chunk going forward with honoring the past while partnering for the future with resources here at Holy Wisdom. Everything that grows above and below the ground is a potential source for food, medicine, and spiritual ceremonies. Gathering medicinal herbs along with nuts, berries, herbs, partnering for a demonstration garden, harvesting deer or turkeys are all possibilities. The farming would include gratitude for what the earth brings forth. This ensures the community lives in harmony/balance with the spirit of the soil, the water and the air.

The Food Sovereignty model is sustainable and life giving. The community benefits for their physical and economic wellbeing. Use of native foods, including plants, animals, fungi and fish, are based on traditional knowledge passed down by elders. This knowledge is necessary to revive cultures. It gives hope for the next Big Flood.

We suggest these resources for further learning/exploration:

Paul DeMain at Holy Wisdom recording on Food Sovereignty

Dan Cornelius video on food sovereignty. He is a member of the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin and works for the Intertribal Agriculture Council and the UW-Madison Great Lakes Indigenous Law Center

https://nativefoodnetwork.com/

www.nativefarmbill.com

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