Last week, three members of the Elderberry Wisdom Farm team, Rose High Bear, Dair Dorman, and Lora Lyn had the opportunity to visit Yakama and attend the NW Tribal Food Sovereignty Coalition gathering. This was an amazing 3-day experience-based learning opportunity for us to connect with our indigenous communities. For the team, we were able to step outside of our comfort zones, and step into our roles as mentors and connected with many inspiring individuals.
Day two and three was the meat and bones of the coalition—where everyone was together to eat, pray, learn, and listen. They started the second day out by introducing a beautiful collection of hand-made baskets from many moons ago. Each basket made for function, not display, by Native Americans in different tribes along the Northwest throughout the millennia. We were reminded of their importance and their uses, their fragility, but resilience to last all these years.
Host, Marylee Jones, introduced the baskets and called people on stage. She said something that stuck out— “come and listen,” she said, “they are waiting to have conversations.” Marylee explains the baskets were held from the public in a private collection for years. That the spirits tied to it were ready, now more than ever, to talk. And we were all there to listen. It was like you could hear the stories told around the baskets and visualize how they were carefully crafted and used. This was followed by stories told by the elders, Ramona Kiona and Marlene White. They told us about their own experiences with basketry, and huckleberry picking. The struggles of growing up in a changing time for American Indians, and their resilience through it all. Just like these baskets. Fragile, but resilient.
After the introductions, the coalition broke out into smaller groups for more intimate learning. Much like pre-colonial, indigenous times, the day was spent learning, listening, and interacting with the community around you.
From talks about setting up teepees from the likes of Tim Spotted Horse Walks on Ice to learning about the versatility of salmon through the experience of Brigette McConville— there was so much to learn and so much to do. There were also fun, low-key activities like the Water Room which provided a space for anyone to relax and take a break by weaving or writing prayers. As well as a room solely dedicated to medicinal and traditional plants used by Native Americans. All the while, there was even an Indigenous Food Fair Contest, where people attending the coalition put their skills and recipe to the tests for the OSU Extension.
The event also included two tours, one of which our team got to join. Our team went along with some of the other participants to tour Yakama Nation farms with Jonalee Squeochs. There, we learned the history; learning that it had started as a Japanese immigrant-owned family farm who have worked closely with the community-including the Yakama reservation-since 1907. Within recent years, the family has since retired and gave the land back to Yakama Nation, who have been running the farm since.
They ended day two with a special meal, made from the First Foods of the Plateau tribes. The meal included biscuit root, yampah, salmon, deer (that was tanned and butchered as a lesson earlier in the day), huckleberries, and moss pudding. While we enjoyed our meals, we were delighted to see the regalia of different tribes. Both days they offered a morning nature walk to start the day out, in a little patch of greenery which they described as a “natural urban forest” which was a small oasis situated amidst fields of farmland.
The third day was dedicated to the importance of children and youth in our communities. Touching upon traditional ways of childcare and medicine. They finished off the event by announcing the winners of the food contest and a giveaway. All in all, it was an amazing experience being surrounded by so many important people. Getting to know the stories of each teacher who was kind enough to share their wisdom, and being able to share our own experiences and knowledge was a grounding experience. We are excited about attending next year's conference!
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