Agriculture has always
influenced Citizen Potawatomi Nation member Jeremy Bennetts
life. From being active in his local FFA chapter as a kid to assisting
with the 2014 Farm Bills language as a young adult, he enjoys
being involved with the industry.
My upbringing,
my roots and my passion is agriculture, Bennett said.
I have always been
very interested in this field my background is in Native
American agriculture and environmental policy issues because both
of them correlate to each other.
For his masters
degree at Oklahoma State University, he focused on environmental
policy and Native American health issues, linking both back to food
concerns.
I heard a lot about
food deserts, and I wondered how it impacts minorities, and in particular,
how it impacts Native Americans, he said. I started
looking, and there is a lot more literature and research on food
deserts in the traditional reservations versus Oklahomas.
This prompted Bennett
to ask himself, What kind of food scarcity or food insecurity
do Oklahoma tribes have? After receiving his undergraduate
degree in 2011, he began his charge to capture this much-needed
data within CPNs original jurisdiction.
He used the Department
of Agricultures food insecurity questionnaire and developed
supplemental questions to determine whether certain triggers influence
food access.
The study provided
valuable information regarding the impacts of various national issues
such as health, education, employment status and financial well-being
within the Tribe, he said.
Food security classifications
for his study include without hunger, with hunger, moderate hunger
and severe hunger.
His research indicated
in 2013, around 30 percent of adults and 10 percent of children
in Citizen Potawatomi Nation households were food insecure.
There are different
degrees and levels of food insecurity, but among households that
were surveyed in CPNs territory, over 35 percent of CPN households
were considered food insecure to some degree, he said. This
is higher than the national level of nearly 15 percent for all U.S.
households.
At that time, it
was also higher than the national level of 23 percent for American
Indians and Alaska Natives, Bennett said. Approximately
11 percent of those surveyed had food insecurity with hunger present.
When examining
various household characteristics among different food security
statuses, obvious differences were observed, he said. It
was no surprise that the food insecure households did not consist
of any household that had earned a college degree or higher and
had a household income level of $75,000 or greater.
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Kaya
works in the community garden.
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Attaining
food sovereignty
Bennetts research
also determined the Tribe could help curb negative statistics by
increasing food access. CPN created the community garden, Gtegemen
(We Grow It), and recently hired Tribal member Kaya DeerInWater
to head its operations.
DeerInWater is a botanist,
working toward a masters degree at the State University of
New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry (SUNY-ESF),
where he studies under Tribal member Robin Wall-Kimmerer, Ph.D.
Dr. Kimmerer is a pioneer in the field of botany. She combines scientific
data and empirical, or long-term cultural and spiritual consideration,
in efforts to restore and conserve land, communities and peoples
relationships with the earth.
Im studying
the communitys needs and concerns around Tribal food sovereignty
and traditional plant knowledge, DeerInWater said. This
is important because everyone needs to eat and, not to be cliché,
but food is the best medicine. So many of our health problems could
be solved with reconnecting with our lands and our indigenous food
systems.
Coupling the need for
healthy foods with getting people outside doing physical activities
is one of DeerInWaters driving goals, he said. He hopes that
applying his passions and skills will have a positive effect on
cultural revitalization efforts taking place within the greater
Citizen Potawatomi Nation.
If you look at
our ancestors, they were strong people. They made it through famines,
and they made it through super harsh winters and blizzards. The
rate of diabetes was nothing; cancer was practically nonexistent,
he said. And all those diseases that we struggle with today
as Native people getting connected with our food and where
our food comes from, especially for Native people, food sovereignty
is a huge movement.
DeerInWaters studies
while in Oklahoma include examining Cultural History Center archives
and ancestral writings. He plans to speak with volunteers and community
members about how and why they grow and eat what they do.
The research part
comes in because there are very little written records of Potawatomi
plant use, he said. I am interested in empowering people
to get them excited about learning from our oldest teachers
the plant nations. This can take many forms, from growing traditional
heirloom crops in backyard gardens or farms to harvesting wild foods
and medicine using the principals of the honorable harvest.
He has big hopes for
CPNs community garden and for learning more about the
Indigenous concept of reciprocal restoration. He said plants are
teachers, healers and elders.
I am interested
in ways to connect people with the land so that we can retain our
connection with it, he said. The idea that really struck
me is that if we have adapted, how have we adapted?
While showing the Hownikan
the current gardening efforts, he pointed to a plot where wooden
markers list Potawatomi and English words for each plant. I
think these would be fun for gardening immersion with kids in language
class, he said. Because thats the way we learn
by doing.
Were planting
Three Sisters (corn, beans and squash) over here on one of these
plots, too, he added. Thats the thing about gardening.
There are so many different ways to do it; so many different teachings.
A lot of this garden
is about educating people about gardening practices, DeerInWater
said. Hopefully, thats why, by having more volunteer
opportunities, well get more community members engaged and
have a broader impact.
How
to help
Bennett enjoys seeing
suggestions from his studies come to fruition and witnessing the
CPN community come together.
Im so glad
to see more community gardens, and Oklahoma is in a very unique
position because of the cooperative extension that Oklahoma State
University has in all 77 counties, Bennett said.
In fact, Oklahoma extension
agents are ready and willing to assist in all aspects of gardening,
from plot to table, said Sonya McDaniel, Pottawatomie County Oklahoma
State University Cooperative Extension Service family and consumer
science extension educator.
If they need advice
on what to plant, how to plant, how to fertilize and site selection,
thats definitely stuff that we can provide either through
workshops or one-on-one, McDaniel said.
For avid gardeners, implementing
Plant a Row for the Hungry encourages gardeners to grow extra that
they can take and donate to either a food pantry, school or
church and be able to contribute that to others, she said.
Extension educators also
offer food preservation training.
We do have information
that we can just give to individuals, and then we do workshops from
time to time as well, McDaniel said. We do canning
water bath canning, pressure canning, freezing, drying all
the above.
Bennett encourages CPN
members out of state to reach out to their local extension agents
for assistance.
One of the greatest
things Ive learned (from Dr. Kimmerer) is that we need to
shift our worldview away from one dominated by fear and resource
extraction, DeerInWater said. Its taught me a
lot about creative ways to approach some of our Native communitys
health problems and at the same time care for Segemekwe (Mother
Earth) in a way that is respectful to those ancestors traditions
as well as kenomage (learn what we get from being on the land).
Everyone can assist in
food security efforts, whether thats participating in the
community work parties at CPNs Gtegemen, reaching out to elected
officials, volunteering at another local community garden or planting
extra. A variety of options exist to get involved across all communities.
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