Abenaki scholar and paleoethnobotanist Fred Wiseman stumbled upon something incredible while working with Abenaki communities on a federal tribe recognition project almost a decade ago. He noticed that crops that had long been considered extinct were growing on the hillsides. This prompted him to start the Seeds of Renewal Project, VPR reported.
One of the first things Wiseman had to do was to track down native seeds. He then worked to preserve them and finally get them back into commercial production. “It's a very large variety of different types of crops,” Wiseman shared.
He added, “The main of course is corn. Corn was domesticated in the New World. We now have four –maybe five, this year –distinct varieties of corn. But we also have about eight to maybe 10 varieties of beans, [and] several squash. We also have sunflowers, as well as ground cherries, pumpkins, gourds, a lot of other things.”
An important aspect of Wiseman's project is to ensure that communities would raise only one specific type of crop. Cross-pollination would spoil the ancient genetics of the vegetables as various squashes and pumpkins would cross-pollinate very easily.
He found several communities that were very keen on joining the project. The Koasek community was particularly interested in planting these seeds. “One of the bands that recently achieved state recognition was the Koas band. They're over in the Connecticut River Valley in the Haverhill, New Hampshire, and Newbury, Vermont area and I asked them about their crops they had received back from some old hill farmers in the area.”
“The original Koas corn. And that got them really excited and started thinking about their identity as woven into their crops and their agriculture. I was able to go over and give lectures and talk about my work. I gave them the seeds. And they started growing them and so it's been a wonderful success.”
The fact that culture is intertwined with the crops also gave Wiseman insight into tribal ceremonies. Apparently, specific folk rituals are directly connected with the original crops of these communities like the green corn dance.
