May 25, 2019
Niagara’s Falls came from the sky this morning as thunderstorms rolled across the Escarpment, pouring rain over the Tuscarora Nation and surrounding towns. Undeterred, we unloaded nearly 250 fruit and nut tree seedlings from a CornellFleet Dodge Caravan and Brad Thomas’s (Snipe Clan, Tuscarora) pick-up truck. Today, Nation members took home tree seedlings they signed-up for nearly a year earlier at the first of a three-part workshop series co-organized by Cornell University PhD student, Sam Bosco, and collaborators at the Nation. This was a collective result of a “community engaged” research project highlighting the significance of forest foods and relationships to Haudenosaunee Food Sovereignty, focusing on the Tuscarora Nation. Part 1 (August 3, 2018) was co-organized with Mia McKie (Turtle Clan, Tuscarora) and Waylon Wilson (Deer Clan, Tuscarora) and included a tree ID walk, an introduction to the project, and an opportunity for folks to sign up for free native fruit and nut seedlings to plant in 2019. Part 2 (December 16, 2018) was co-organized with Vince Schiffert (Turtle Clan, Tuscarora) and focused on processing and cooking both traditional and contemporary Indigenous recipes using nuts like black walnut, acorns, chestnuts, and hickories. With the combined help of Brad and Vince, Part 3 was about delivering the promised trees, helping folks plant them, and establishing the Skaru:re Food Forest at the Tuscarora Nation Elementary School with about 30 fruit and nut trees and shrubs on the school grounds.
Written by, Sam Bosco (PhD Student at Cornell University)
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The forecast for the Tuscarora Nation called for thunderstorms and a 90% chance of rain, but it was a prime tree planting time of year and we had plans of planting 30 plants at the Elementary School and handing out over 200 trees to people who ordered at the Part 1 workshop last November.
In a perfect world we were going to be holding a formal workshop reviewing techniques and different methods of keeping everyone’s saplings alive, With a live demonstration of plantings right on the school grounds and picnic grove.
*Newflash* we do not live in a perfect world but sometimes things work out perfectly. As the rain and thunderstorm came it became apparent that the seedling pickup was going to become more of an informal tree pickup station.
There were a few who braved the downpour to meet us at the 9am pickup time but these new tree keepers were able to ask questions about their new saplings and get a personal rundown of how to keep their trees healthy.
It was a very effective method of communication to allow people to be able to ask Sam (who grew the sapling from nuts) questions that they were interested in asking rather than sit through a lecture and demonstration that they otherwise may have strong knowledge in planting lose interest.
As the day went on we caught a break in the weather around 11am. This gave us a chance to work with Vince Schiffert on getting the trees planted at the school and picnic grove. The hope is that these trees can grow into a resource for newly propagated trees, education and food!
For those who don’t know Vince, he has been a key member of the Tuscarora community working as a teacher at the Tuscarora Elementary School for a long time and a very involved member of the Tuscarora History Society. He has also been a longtime staple in the lacrosse community coaching at niagara wheatfield high school, which is the closest high school to the Tuscarora Reservation where many nation members have played, as well as coaching and representing Tuscarora at the world level with the Iroquois Nationals Lacrosse Team. His knowledge of things past and present is very valuable to have in the community and he is no doubt a busy man so we were very fortunate to have his help with the entire process of planting these trees.
Through his work he has become interested in native food sovereignty and was excited to get involved with our idea of a Tuscarora Food Forest. Back in the day, nuts were an important part of any indigenious diet, they used to store nuts away for winter and consume them year round. Some of the favorite food nuts of the Iroquois were hickory, pecan and chestnuts.
Nuts are not only a part of Tuscaroras traditional diet but they are also a healthy option that will add protein and healthy fats in your diet. I think eating the way our ancestors and having a delicious healthy meal but what really puts it over the top is that you can gather nuts during nut season… FOR FREE. Then you can store them and always have food no matter what the season or what your budget looks like.
So far, the Skaru:re Food Forest consists of pawpaws (Asimina triloba), northern pecans (Juglans illinoinensis), native elderberries (Sambucus canadensis), hybrid hazelnuts (Corylus spp.), hybrid chestnuts (Castanea spp.), currants (Ribes spp.), willows (Salix spp.), sunchokes (Helianthus tuberosus) and red osier dogwood (Cornus sericea). The trees that were picked up by nation members included 100 pawpaw, 40 chestnuts and 70 pecans
As the day went on and every tree that was ordered was picked up and accounted for, There were many people stopping by and chit chatting as natives will do. One line I heard that has stuck with me since I heard it was “Could you imagine walking through the woods and finding a wild northern pecan tree?” It was amazing to put the idea into perspective that the actions of planting trees around the community could eventually lead to one day an older version of yourself or someone from the next generation coming across a random pecan tree and wonder how it may have got there.
Much of the Haudenosaunee way of life is to prepare for the next 7 generations and this planting was a direct action that could have a generational effect be it a larger effect or small. For me that was a very fulfilling experience. We are hoping our effort in planting these trees will help restore a lost part of our food sovereignty.Stay tuned on our facebook page Skaru:rę Food Forest and our blog: tuscaroraforest.food.blog and keep following us for all things indigenous food sovereignty. Pass on your recipes and the knowledge of finding food growing right off trees in the backyard and we will also have recipes and updates on our trees! Together we can begin to reclaim this piece of Haudenosaunee food sovereignty.
Written by,
Brad Thomas (Snipe Clan, Tuscarora & Community Partner, Tuscarora Food Forest)
Skaru:rę Food Forest 