Seeds of Resistance, Seeds of Hope: Place and Agency in the Conservation of Biodiversity

3. Food from the Ancestors: Documentation, Conservation, and Revival of Eastern Cherokee Heirloom Plants

65 CHAPTER THREE Food from the Ancestors Documentation, Conservation, and Revival of Eastern Cherokee Heirloom Plants James R. Veteto and Kevin Welch Southern Appalachia is one of the most biodiverse temperate forest regions in the world (Braun 2001; Cozzo 2004) and has been widely studied by botanists and ecologists (e.g., Martin et al. 1993; Pittillo et al. 1998). A lesser known and studied phenomena is that southern Appalachia has one of the highest currently known levels of agricultural biodiversity in the United States, Canada, and northern Mexico (Veteto 2010). The high levels of forest and agricultural biodiversity in southern Appalachia reinforce the correlation between mountain marginality and biocultural diversity worldwide (Rhoades and Nazarea 1999; Stepp et al. 2005; Rhoades 2007). Recent attempts at reviving the U.S. Biosphere Reserve program in southern Appalachia have recognized agrobiodiversity as a key component in their conservation efforts (Gilbert 2009). The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians has the oldest living agricultural tradition in southern Appalachia. The Eastern Cherokee live on approximately 56,000 acres of land in the southwestern part of Appalachian North Carolina and have close to 13,000 active members in the tribe (Perdue 2005; Finger 1991). When first encountered by Europeans in the sixteenth century, the Cherokee were an agricultural people relying 66 Marginality and Memory in Place-Based Conservation heavily on the “three sisters” plant guild of corn (Zea mays), beans (predominately Phaseolus vulgaris and P. coccineus), and squash (Cucurbita spp.), supplemented by hunting and gathering a wide diversity of wild foods. Throughout years of exchange with Europeans, they also gradually began to adopt introduced crops such as potatoes (Solanum tuberosum), sweet potatoes (Ipomoea batatas), cabbage (Brassica oleracea), and cowpeas (Vigna unguiculata). The historical pattern of Cherokee agriculture was for men to clear the fields and help with the planting and harvesting and for women to oversee the day-to-day management of the fields (Greene and Robinson 1987). The women worked the fields twice yearly with bone or stone hoes attached to a stick as was prescribed by the Selu corn origin story. Most of the work time was spent protecting the crops from animals such as crows, rabbit, and deer. This task was generally undertaken by older women, who would sit upon high scaffolds overlooking the family gardens to scare wildlife away. Historical Cherokee life was choreographed by an agricultural ceremonial calendar that featured numerous celebrations . For example, the Green Corn Ceremony was a big harvest festival of thanksgiving that featured rituals, feasting, and dancing for several days, as well as the forgiveness of all crimes committed during the previous year, except murder (Greene and Robinson 1987). Today in Eastern Cherokee life, such festivals are still celebrated but on a much smaller scale. Agriculture as a way of life has greatly declined as Cherokee people have sought off-reservation work, tribal government jobs, or work in the tourist industry of Cherokee, North Carolina. Among those Eastern Cherokee who still grow food today, men and women generally work together in small homegardens tended by older generations. Recent years have seen a revival of interest in Cherokee gardening and heirloom seeds, and we focus here on several aspects of this ongoing trend. First, we provide a detailed overview of existing Eastern Cherokee agrobiodiversity and examine farmer decision making related to the resilience of heirloom cultivars. Second, we discuss the use of Cherokee agrobiodiversity in tribal culinary practices as a prominent example of how culturally salient traditions promote the continued in vivo use and circulation of Cherokee heirloom seeds. Finally, we describe two tribal institutions, the Cherokee Indian Fair Agricultural Exhibit and the Center for Cherokee Plants, as examples of how in situ conservation is accomplished by emphasizing culturally salient motifs that encourage the continuation of threatened agricultural lifeways in vivo among the tribe. Food from the Ancestors 67 Eastern Cherokee Agrobiodiversity and Farmer Decision Making In the fall of 2008 we jointly conducted a study in collaboration with the Center for Cherokee Plants to investigate the survival of Eastern Cherokee heirloom food plants. Participants in the study were recruited by the Center for Cherokee Plants from growers they had worked with previously , and a chain-referral sampling methodology was used to identify and recruit additional participants. In all, fifteen Cherokee heirloom gardeners participated. In-depth oral history interviews were conducted to document biological and cultural aspects of Cherokee heirloom food plants and to investigate the underlying motivations...