Seed Rematriation

Seed Rematriation with Becky Webster

Speaker: Shelley Buffalo | Air Date: November 4, 2021 | Run Time: 34mins | The Native Seed Pod: Season 3

Speaker: Becky Webster | Air Date: November 30, 2021 | Run Time: 54 mins | The Native Seed Pod: Season 3

Seed Rematriation with Becky Webster

Harvesting beans at Ukwakhwa

Host Melissa Nelson sits down with Becky Webster, Oneida farmer, seedkeeper and attorney. Their conversation explores the challenges and joys of being a Native farmer, cultivating recently rematriated crops, navigating both market and trade economies, and more.

This episode is the third of three episodes focused on Seed Rematriation, and is a co-production of The Cultural Conservancy and Native American Food Sovereignty Alliance’s (NAFSA) Indigenous Seed Keepers Network (ISKN). These episodes are part of a collection of Seed Rematriation media that we have co-produced with NAFSA and Rowen White of ISKN.

This conversation was recorded on August 9, 2021.

Ukwakhwa means Our Foods, Where We Plant Things. So it’s more than just about planting seeds in the ground. It’s about planting these ideas in our community about reclaiming, who we are, reclaiming our relationships with our foods and our relationships with each other.
— Becky Webster

About Becky Webster

Dr. Rebecca Webster is an enrolled citizen of the Oneida Nation. She is a founding member of Ohe∙láku (among the cornstalks) a co-op of 10 Oneida families that grow 6 acres of traditional, heirloom corn together. She and her husband also own a 10 acre farmstead where they primarily grow Haudenosaunee varieties of corn, beans, and squash. Their philosophy is that every time an indigenous person plants a seed, that is an act of resistance, an assertion of sovereignty, and a reclamation of identity. With these goals in mind, an Oneida faithkeeper named their 10 acre homestead Ukwakhwa: Tsinu Niyukwayayʌthoslu (Our foods: Where we plant things). Based on their farming practices, they started a YouTube Channel called Ukwakhwa (Our Foods) where they share what they learned about planting, growing, harvesting, seed keeping, food preparation, food storage, as well as making traditional tools and crafts. Most recently, their family formed a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, Ukwakhwa Inc., to help advance their goals of helping share knowledge with the community.

Additional Resources 

Haudenosaunee Bear Paw Beans (Scarlet Red Runners), one of the many seeds appearing in this episode

CREDITS

Host/Writer/Director: Melissa K. Nelson
Producer: Mateo Hinojosa
Co-Producer: Sara Moncada
Special Co-Producer: Rowen White
Audio Editor and Engineer: Colin Farish
Photography: Cale Stelken, Mateo Hinojosa

Song Credits

Music by: Colin Farish
Voice: Capomo
Keyboards, drums, flute, sound design: Colin Farish
Violin: Savannah Jo Lack
Cello: Robin Bonnel
Oboe: Paul McCandless
Recorded and mixed by Colin Farish at Stillwater Sound, San Francisco CA
(c)(p) Winds of the Muse ASCAP 2021. Used with permission.


This short film, highlighting the essence of the Seed Rematriation movement, is part of the collection of media that includes this podcast episode. It features Becky Webster and seeds that have been rematriated.

Seed Rematriation with Shelley Buffalo

Speaker: Shelley Buffalo | Air Date: October 8, 2021 | Run Time: 41mins | The Native Seed Pod: Season 3

Speaker: Shelley Buffalo | Air Date: October 8, 2021 | Run Time: 41mins | The Native Seed Pod: Season 3

Seed Rematriation with Shelley Buffalo

Tama Flint corn picked at the green stage, with its great variety of colors.

Tama Flint corn picked at the green stage, with its great variety of colors.

In this episode, Shelley Buffalo talks with host Melissa Nelson about the healing power of ancestral foods, feeding the community with rematriated crops and medicines, and her work with Meskwaki Food Sovereignty Initiative, Red Earth Gardens and Seed Savers Exchange. They also explore the power of art and the beauty of seeds.

This is the second of three episodes focused on Seed Rematriation, and is a co-production of The Cultural Conservancy and Native American Food Sovereignty Alliance’s (NAFSA) Indigenous Seed Keepers Network (ISKN). These episodes are part of a collection of Seed Rematriation media that we have co-produced with NAFSA and Rowen White.

This conversation was recorded on March 4, 2021.

Just embracing your ancestral foods really does give you that connection to your ancestors. You know, the boarding school era and the dispossession of land era and all of that, all of that just washes away. In one season and in one bite of that food, you regain that connection and it’s just an incredibly beautiful and powerful thing.
— Shelley Buffalo
Tama Flint corn picked at the green (milky) stage being cooked over fire. The corn is processed by parboiling for about 15 minutes. This is the first step in processing for dry storage. Once cool, it is shelled from the cob and the kernels are dried in the sun over several days.

Tama Flint corn picked at the green (milky) stage being cooked over fire. The corn is processed by parboiling for about 15 minutes. This is the first step in processing for dry storage. Once cool, it is shelled from the cob and the kernels are dried in the sun over several days.

About Shelley Buffalo

Shelley_Buffalo_portrait_2020.jpg

Shelley Buffalo is an enrolled member of the Meskwaki Tribe, also know as the Sac & Fox of the Mississippi in Iowa. Shelley served her community as Meskwaki Food Sovereignty Coordinator and now offers consultancy for food sovereignty and local foods initiatives. She is an advocate for indigenous food ways, food justice, and rematriation. A mother of two sons, Shelley made a living as a house painter and artist before finding her passion in farming and seed saving.

The Meskwaki are unique in that their land based community is a settlement, not a reservation. Established in 1857 with the purchase of 80 acres near Tama, Iowa, the Meskwaki Settlement has grown to approximately 8,400 acres.

Ruth Buffalo (Shelley’s mother) and Charlie Old Bear (Shelley’s stepfather) spreading out the parboiled Tama Flint green corn to sun dry

 

Additional Resources 

CREDITS

Host/Writer/Director: Melissa K. Nelson
Producer and Editor: Mateo Hinojosa
Co-Producer: Sara Moncada
Special Co-Producer: Rowen White
Sound Recordist: Mateo Hinojosa, Cale Stelken
Sound Designer and Audio Engineer: Colin Farish
Photography: Cale Stelken, Shelley Buffalo, Mateo Hinojosa

Meskwaki Tama Flint corn picked at the green stage

Meskwaki Tama Flint corn picked at the green stage

Song Credits

Mohawk Women’s Dance
Sung by: Rowen White
Field Recording: Mateo Hinojosa

Opening Interlude
Drums, flute: Colin Farish
Cello: Premdip Ted Lasker

Closing Interlude
Colin Farish, Premdip Ted Lasker, & Alexandrea Oswalt

(c)(p)2021 Winds of the Muse ASCAP
Used with permission

All Other Music
Music by: Colin Farish

Sun-drying strips of winter squash in Meskwaki

Sun-drying strips of winter squash in Meskwaki


This short film, highlighting the essence of the Seed Rematriation movement, is part of the collection of media that we have co-produced with NAFSA and that includes this podcast episode. It features Shelley Buffalo and many seeds that have been rematriated.

Seed Rematriation with Jessika Greendeer

Speaker: Jessika Greendeer | Air Date: September 6, 2021 | Run Time: 34mins | The Native Seed Pod: Season 3

Speaker: Jessika Greendeer | Air Date: September 6, 2021 | Run Time: 34mins | The Native Seed Pod: Season 3

Seed Rematriation with Jessika Greendeer

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In the first episode of Season 3 of The Native Seed Pod, our host Melissa Nelson talks with Jessika Greendeer of Ho-Chunk Nation, who is the Seed Keeper and Farm Manager at Dream of Wild Health in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Jessika and Melissa discuss the growing Seed Rematriation movement, seed keeping and agriculture, and her work at Dream of Wild Health.

This episode is the first of three episodes focused on Seed Rematriation, and is a co-production of The Cultural Conservancy and Native American Food Sovereignty Alliance’s (NAFSA) Indigenous Seed Keepers Network (ISKN). These episodes are part of a collection of Seed Rematriation media that we have co-produced with NAFSA and Rowen White of ISKN.

This conversation was recorded on October 8, 2020.

Being a seed keeper, it’s a big responsibility. It’s a heavy title to carry. Everything we do as Native people, we always think about our future generations: being able to hold the future in your hands and also being able to hold the past in your hands at the same time. It’s an amazing journey and I’m grateful to be on it.
— Jessika Greendeer
Red Beauty Corn

Red Beauty Corn

Additional Resources 

CREDITS

Host/Writer/Director: Melissa K. Nelson
Producer: Mateo Hinojosa
Co-Producer: Sara Moncada
Special Co-Producer: Rowen White
Audio Editor and Engineer: Colin Farish
Photography: Cale Stelken, Mateo Hinojosa

Song Credits

Standing on the Ridge
Music by: Colin Farish
Voice: Capomo
Keyboards, drums, sound design: Colin Farish
Violin: Savannah Jo Lack
Cello: Robin Bonnel
Oboe: Paul McCandless
Recorded and mixed by Colin Farish at Stillwater Sound, San Francisco CA, and at Forest Flower Studio, Mill Valley CA, recorded by Andre Zweers at Screaming Lizard Studio, Petaluma CA, and mastered by Sudhananda Paul Greaver.
(c)(p) Winds of the Muse ASCAP 2021. Used with permission.


This short film, highlighting the essence of the Seed Rematriation movement, is part of the collection of media that includes this podcast episode. It features Jessika Greendeer and seeds that have been rematriated.