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Seed Rematriation
Jessika Greendeer, Seed Keeper, shares her top five tips for growing happy, healthy corn
“ The corn is one of my greatest teacher , ” says Jessika Greendeer , a Ho - Chunk Nation tribal extremity from Baraboo , Wisconsin , and a Deer Clan member who served as a seed steward and farm managing director forDream of Wild Health . The Minneapolis - ground system work to recover knowledge of and access to sizable autochthonous solid food , medicines , and lifeways .
In 2020 , Jessika link Seed Savers Exchange and fellow Midwestern farmers Shelley Buffalo with the Meskwaki Settlement in Tama , Iowa , Becky Webster on the Oneida Reservation in Wisconsin to grow autochthonic varieties of corn , bean plant , and other crops to repay to their culture of origin ( through the Native American Food Sovereignty Alliance [ NAFSA ) ] rematriation program ) . “ You ca n’t have solid food reign without seed reign , ” she says . “ That is why this work is so crucial . ” The programme has been generously supported by North cardinal - Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education ( NC - SARE ) .
What is your preferent corn assortment to grow?Being asked this question is like asking a female parent about her favorite child ! All Zea mays varieties I have grown have their own traits , growing habits , and , most significantly , their own exceptional gift that they desire to apportion with the world . Last season , I looked in on a plot of ‘ Country Gentleman , ’ and this year , I am growing with her . I do delight the stories of each cum , but this seed in special — her account is only skin - recondite , and I get the feeling there are layers of intricate history woven in between each kernel .
Jessika Greendeer holds an Indigenous corn variety; photo by Matika Wilbur.
Can you share one fun fact about corn — something most multitude potential would not know?If you do not found something in between each miscellanea of corn , the varieties will attempt to cross - pollinate with each other with no regard to their suggested maturity dates .
What are your top five wind for growing healthy , happy corn?1 . set forth with goodish and felicitous soil . I use a compounding of cover craw to repose the beds in the declivity and soil solarisation in the spring to prepare the bed for planting . In the raised bottom areHügelkultersystems ( layer of woody cloth and other compostable materials ) to supply constitutive subject in the soil for the plants . I also incorporate both finished compost and horse manure , when needed .
2 . Companion plant whenever potential . ( Companion planting involve the near planting of unlike plant that heighten each other ’s growing or protect each other from pest . ) I extremely recommend planting edible corn with beans and squash — the “ three sisters , ” as they are ordinarily referred to , have been planted together since time immemorial .
3 . green goddess as often as require . edible corn can be a very down - maintenance plant relative , though she need a thorough weeding or two until her canopy make grow . I have used hay mulch to cover the territory and track cropped walkways in between rowing but have also had bare ground when no other crop is grown with the corn . Different styles of planting can be used , but let your suspicion conduct you as you plant and always call back of what your methods will do to the Earth you grow upon .
4 . Water when necessary . When grow for cum , I do not irrigate the corn . If there is a juiceless spell that lasts more than two hebdomad , I will see watering depending on the corn ’s stage of ontogeny . By not irrigate , you are helping to grow stronger and more resilient seeds for the hereafter .
5 . shoot the breeze your plant every twenty-four hour period . Whether you are in the garden for a few hours or just enough time to walk around , discover what is give out on in and around your garden or game .
Originally published on June 04 , 2021 , by Sara Friedl - Putnam . Edited March 25 , 2025 .
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