You Never Know What a Single Seed Can Turn Into

During a talk for Visiting Associate Professor Anna Dietzsch’s Cornell AAP option studio ForestCity: Salamanca, Angela Ferguson, a member of the Onondaga Nation Eel Clan, spoke about what the concept of food sovereignty has evolved into in the Haudenosaunee community.

Ferguson spoke in depth about the Onondaga Nation Farm, which she supervises. She described its importance in sustaining the community through the planting of diverse seeds. As time has gone by, she explained, the goal has become maximizing the amount of nutritional sustenance that can be extracted from the smallest amount of land. The project has grown considerably since its inception. According to Ferguson, from the original small plot, it has grown to cover 13 to 15 acres of land. The initiative has since inspired 98 other gardens in fellow nations.

Seeds are honored even before they grow in the community. Ferguson mentioned the all-Indigenous group she helped initiate, Braiding The Sacred. It speaks to the philosophy of rematriation: the work of returning the sacred seeds (some thousands of years ol…