Further Adventures of Gete Okosomin, #PetCelebritySquash
The Further Adventures of Gete Okosomin, My #PetCelebritySquash.
What is an “Heirloom” Seed? How does growing them help ensure the Biodiversity and Multi-Cultural Identity of Diverse Indigenous Tribes? What is the role that growing Heirloom Seeds can play in your own Unfoldment as a #SacredSeed” destined to help establish “Diverse City” —Diversity-- in an year when deep respect for Multicultural Pluralism is needed, as dictated by Nature? Read on the ##PlantYourDreamBlog “The Further Adventures of Gete Okosomin, My #Pet Celebrity Squash. Mother Earth is speaking. Are we listening?
Date: 1/2/2017 12:15:55 PM ( 7 y ) ... viewed 2568 times
January 2, 2017
HEIRLOOM STORIES
The Further Adventures of Gete Okosomin, My #PetCelebritySquash
BAKER CREEK HEIRLOOM SEED COMPANY OFFERS GETE OKOSOMIN SEEDS IN THEIR 2017 CATALOGUE
FROM THE BAKER CREEK HEIRLOOM SEED ONLINE CATALOGUE:
(January 5, 2017)
(C. maxima) This is the squash that gained fame online and became known as the “800 year old squash” which according to legend seed was found in a “clay ball” at a historic site in Wisconsin. But, other stories state that this squash was found in a cave by the Miami nation. Whatever the story is we know that squash of this type have been grown by Native people in North America for hundreds of years, and likely came from the Guatemala area, possibly over 1000 years ago. This fabulous Native American squash first came to our attention in 2015, at the 5th Annual Heirloom Exposition in Santa Rosa, California. The magnificent fruits ran about 2-3 feet long and weigh to 18 pounds. The color is a rich, bright orange, with lighter range striping running the length of the banana-shaped fruits. The surface was mildly bumpy; the overall appearance was amazingly beautiful. Gete-okosimin also proves to be delicious--sweet, with hints of melon, and possessed of a wonderful smooth texture. We thank Roger Smith for bringing this squash to our attention. We will for 2017 donate all proceeds from the sales of this squash to Native American garden charitable organizations.
I heard about Gete Okosomin, before I ever met her. She is an Heirloom variety of squash, in an age when more and more people are beginning to understand the meaning of the word "Heirloom." There is still a lot more education to do. Through sharing this #PlantYourDreamBlog, and my research, I hope you too, discover the wonders of Heirlooms, and why they are so significant.
HAVE YOU HEARD ABOUT THE NATIONAL HEIRLOOM EXPO AND BAKER CREEK HEIRLOOM SEED COMPANY?
The Squash Tower at #HeirloomExpo is a site to behold!
Come and see September 5-7-2017 at the Sonoma Fairgrounds, Santa Rosa, California.
Heirloom seeds hold the biodiversity of our gene pool. The Squash Tower is an exciting demonstration of the diversity that is our heritage and legacy. My very own #PetCelebritySquash was grown out for the National Heirloom Expo. She is of the Gete Okosomin variety and one of my Tteachers for 2017.
THE ENCHANTED GARDEN MOBILES JOURNEY TO WIN BACK OUR SACRED SEEDS
Photo by David Abrams
Every year for the last five years, I have traveled from San Diego to Santa Rosa, CA, a distance round trip of 1700 miles (including side trips). I go to the National Heirloom Expo. The 2017 event is September 5-7, 2017. I am so inspired by this yearly event, that I want to make sure it is on your radar. I want to personally invite you to this very special event that has the flavor of an Old Fashioned Country Fair. The National Heirloom Expo--#HeirloomExpo--is organized by Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company, that has two primary locations--Mansfield, Missouri, the headquarters, and the Petaluma Seed Bank--its California Western Headquarters. The purpose of my journey is to educate more and more people about Heirloom Seeds and the relationship of growing Heirloom Seeds to revealing our own #SacredSeed Nature. My pilgrimage is called s.The Enchanted Garden Mobile's Journey to Win Back Our Sacred Seed.
Along the journey I give away #PlantYourDreamSeeds, and I travel (one the way home) with squashes grown out for #HeirloomExpo.
You can follow my journey on Facebook.
HERE IS AN HEIRLOOM SEED STORY ABOUT MY #PETCELEBRITYSQUASH, A GETE OKOSOMIN
When we begin a Love Affair with any particular seed, the story of that seed begins to unfold for us, giving us the opportunity to further develop the history of that particular #SacredSeed and unfold our own relationship as a #SacredSeed. I use the term "SacredSeed" as synonymous with living our life as a Soul in a harmonious relationship to Nature. Heirloom Seeds are seeds that have history. They bear a relationship to a culture. They keep that unique culture alive.
Such is the case with one of my main seeds of the year for 2017, the Gete Okosomin.
Amazingly, I adopted this specimen in September at the National Heirloom Expo. Every where we traveled, the squash became a celebrity and brought joy!
Little did I know at until January 2017, that activist Winona LaDuke had any relationship to this particular squash. As is quoted below, "LaDuke gave the squash its contemporary name: Gete-okosomin, an Anishinaabe word which means “really cool old squash.”
I had met Winona LaDuke a few years ago, in 2015, when she spoke at the GreenFest Earth Day festival at nearby SDSU. I believe I invited her to join the Enchanted Garden Club, my international network. We took a photo together. I was impressed with her work.
I did not discover that she had named the squash until I began to do deeper research in January of 2017.
Here's another kicker! I read on the internet that she and I were both born in Los Angeles. Her mother was of Jewish decent. So is mine.
Then I discovered that I knew Winona LaDuke's father! He was called Vincent LaDuke at the time of her birth. I knew him as Sunbear. Sunbear was esteemed in my circles. He was one of the first Native American teachers to begin to teach Native American Teachings to people who were not Native Americans. At the time, we heard that there controversy because he did this. I attended a number of his Medicine Wheel gatherings. In this post, he makes it clear that his vision of the Medicine Wheel was distinct from the Traditional Medicine wheel of Native American Tribes.
At the Mandala Conference of 1983 or 1984, he was the closing speaker. I closed the conference with a poem right after him. He died in 1992, I believe.
In a closing ceremony at #MartinLutherKing Day, January 16, 2017, one of the seeds of Gete Okosomin was planted at the @WorldBeat Cultural Center, San Diego, by Makeda Dread. The packets of the seeds arrived in the previous week, as well as the new 2017 Whole Seed Catalog and copies of the 2017 Free Seed Catalog.
This poster card from the January 16 is attached to a BPA free Eden Foods can.
Martin Luther King said #LetFreedomRing! in his "I Have a Dream" speech. I am adding #LetFreedomReign! "Reign" is a play on words. We have been in drought. I am playing with using, "LetFreedomRain."
How did it get that name, "Gete OKosomin" and what does it mean?
WINONA LADUKE NAMED THIS SQUASH GETE OKOSOMIN
This is a photo of (L to R) Ewe, Winona LaDuke's son; Winona LaDuke, and me, Leslie Goldman, taken at her SDSU talk in April 2015.
The squash was named, according to internet research by Winona LaDuke, a very important activist, who founded the organization, Honor The Earth.
After sitting in a clay pot for 850 years, ancient squash seeds are bearing fruit. In 2008, archaeologists uncovered a sculpted clay ball used to store seeds at a dig site on the Menominee reservation near Green Bay, Wisconsin. Within this seed ball, seeds from a previously unknown variety of squash were found. Squash-growing pioneers successfully germinated these ancient seeds and produced the first Gete-okosomin squash crop in centuries. The seeds of this squash are now being distributed to indigenous communities throughout North America.
Among the oldest domesticated crops in the Americas, squash has been satisfying hungry humans for thousands of years. The wild ancestor of squash predates humans in the Americas and was likely domesticated in southern Mexico. Although consumers may be most familiar with zucchini or butternut, Cucurbita, or squash, is an incredibly diverse genus that includes up to 30 different species. The original domestic variety spread and was adapted through the varied climates and conditions of the Americas. In the following centuries, even places like Japan developed their own local varieties of squash.
The squash seeds found in Wisconsin were given to a few individuals and organizations, including Winona LaDuke, Native American activist and Green Party vice-presidential nominee in 1996 and 2000.
LaDuke gave the squash its contemporary name: Gete-okosomin, an Anishinaabe word which means “really cool old squash.” White Earth Land Recovery Project, an organization founded by Duke that advocates for Native food and land sovereignty, distributed seeds to other Native organizations and individuals. The squash is a pivotal part of Native agricultural heritage and its revival represents hope to those fighting for their roots and a better future.
Currently in its fifth generation, the Gete-okosomin squash is not widely available at present. However, similar species of heirloom squash can be grown by even a novice gardener. For example, the green striped cushaw, or Cucurbita mixta, has been grown and cooked in the American Southwest for thousands of years. Adapted to the extreme heat found in this region, the cushaw is hardy against drought and pests, including the squash vine borer.
from Via Techly and Chicago Tribune
BIO INFO FROM WINONA LADUKE'S SDSU TALK 2015
East County News Service
April 16, 2015 (San Diego) — Internationally acclaimed Native American and environmental activist Winona LaDuke will be the keynote speaker at San Diego State University’s GreenFest on Earth Day, April 22nd. She will appear at Montezuma Hall in the Conrad Prebys Student Center at 4:30 p.m. The speech is free and open to the public.
LaDuke is the Executive Director of Honor the Earth, the largest Indigenous environmental organization in North America, and the author of 6 books. She is an Anishinaabe from the White Earth reservation in northern Minnesota. La Duke also served as Ralph Nader’s vice-presidential running mate on the Green Party ticket in the 1996 and 2000 presidential elections. In 2007, LaDuke was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame.
She is also a cousin of East County Magazine co-founder Leon Thompson.
In 1994, Time magazine named her one of America’s fifty most promising leaders under age 40. In 1997 LaDuke was named Ms. Magazine Woman of the Year. Other honors include the Reebok Human Rights Award, the Global Green Award, and the International Slow Food Award for working to protect wild rice and local biodiversity.
A rural development economist, she has testified at numerous forums as an expert witness, is a lead plaintiff in Honor the Earth v. Kerry, a lawsuit against the US State Department for an approval process of a tar2 sands pipeline, and is a leader in opposition to new extreme fossil fuels encroachments in North America.
She is a graduate of Harvard University, with advanced graduate work at MIT and Antioch University. With Honor the Earth, she works nationally and internationally on issues of climate change, renewable energy, sustainable development, food systems and environmental justice.
In her own community in Minnesota, she is the founder of the White Earth Land Recovery Project, one of the largest reservation based non-profit organizations in the country, working to to protect Indigenous plants and heritage foods from patenting and genetic engineering.
LaDuke’s books includeAll Our Relations, The Winona LaDuke Reader, Recovering the Sacred: the Power of Naming and Claiming, Food is Medicine: Recovering Traditional Foods to Heal the People and her latest, The Militarization of Indian Country. She has also penned a work of fiction, Last Standing Woman, and a children's book, In the Sugarbush.
GreenFest, presented by SDSU's Associated Students and SDSU's Enviro-Business Society, is a weeklong series of events to celebrate and encourage sustainability. There will be complimentary organic Oggi's pizza provided to all attendees.
GOOD ARTICLE ON WINONA LADUKE SPEAKING ON HEIRLOOM FOODS
This article expresses Winona's Food Ideas...iimportant!
Noted environmentalist sees dire consequences for food and energy missteps
The United States’ days as a global superpower will be numbered, unless her people learn to adopt more sustainable approaches to food, energy and caring for the earth.
That is what Winona LaDuke, founder and co-director of environmental justice agency Honor the Earth, believes. LaDuke, a member of the Anishinaabe Indian tribe, spoke on the topic of “Contemporary Indigenous Approaches to Sustainable Economies” at Wake Forest University on Sept. 23.
“The vast majority of your food is probably not from here. The average meal travels 1,400 miles from farm to table,” she told the students and faculty in Farrell Hall. [pullquote]“When the cost of fossil fuels goes up, what happens to the cost of food? It’s going to go up. This increases your food insecurity as well.”[/pullquote]
LaDuke, a resident of the White Earth Reservation in Northern Minnesota, said her people are forward-thinkers who are governed by a belief that all living beings are related. The tribe makes decisions based on the impact they will have on future generations and place the Creator’s laws above all others, she said. LaDuke credits this mindset with the survival of American Indians.
Winona (meaning "first daughter" in Dakota language) LaDuke was born in 1959 in Los Angeles, California, to Betty Bernstein and Vincent LaDuke (later known as Sun Bear[2]). Her father was from the Ojibwe White Earth Reservation in Minnesota, and her mother of Jewish European ancestry from the Bronx, New York. Though LaDuke spent some of her childhood in Los Angeles, she was primarily raised in Ashland, Oregon.[3] Due to her father's heritage, she was enrolled with the Ojibwe Nation at an early age, but she did not live at White Earth, or on any other reservation, until 1982. She started work at White Earth after she graduated college, when she got a job there as principal of the high school.[2]
After her parents married, Vincent LaDuke worked as an actor in Hollywood, with supporting roles in Western movies, while Betty LaDuke completed her academic studies. The couple separated when Winona was five, and her mother took a position as an art instructor at Southern Oregon College, now Southern Oregon University at Ashland, which was then a small logging and college town near the California border.[2] In the 1980s, LaDuke's father Vincent reinvented himself as a New Age spiritual leader and went by the name Sun Bear.[2]
While growing up in Ashland, LaDuke attended public school and was on the debate team in high school. She attended Harvard University, where she became part of a larger group of Indian activists, and graduated in 1982 with a degree in rural economic development.[2] When LaDuke moved to White Earth she did not know the Ojibwe language, or many people, and was not quickly accepted. While working as the principal of the local Minnesota reservation high school she completed research for her master's thesis on the reservation's subsistence economy and became involved in local issues. She completed an M.A. in Community Economic Development through the distance-learning program of Antioch University.[2]
I KNEW HER FATHER, WHO CAME TO BE KNOWN AS SUNBEAM
He was a friend.
I have/had a copy of his book "At Home in the Wilderness." He knew native American ways. I attended one or more of his gatherings. One was at Camp Marsden in Julian in the 80's.
This says he was Chippewa.
Ojibwe White Earth Reservation
The Ojibwe, Ojibwa, or Chippewa are an Anishinaabeg group of indigenous peoples in North America. They live in Canada and the United States and are one of the largest Indigenous ethnic groups north of the Rio Grande. In Canada, they are the second-largest First Nations population, surpassed only by the Cree. In the United States, they have the fourth-largest population among Native American tribes, surpassed only by the Navajo, Cherokee, and Lakota-Dakota-Nakota peoples.
SeedFest, March 25, 2017. Wonder if my #PetCelebritySquash will be present, or on to seeds to be planted? In any case Gete Okosomin will be here, as well as other Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company in one form or another!
David Solomon, caretaker at Terra Madre Gradens, with My #PetCelebritySquash, at the San Diego Permaculture Action Day with #StandingRock, December4, 2016.
THE FURTHER ADVENTURES OF GETE OKOSOMIN CONTINUES
NOTE: THE DATE OF THIS EVENT IS MARCH 25, 2017
This poster needs to be updated
PHOTO ALBUM OF MY @PETCELEBRITYSQUASH ARE HERE ON FACEBOOK
Tim Red Bird, Chipowa, an ally in ceremony for #StandingRock, a friend of the @WorldBeat Cultural Center. In Ceremony November 26, 2016, We were together again, NYE 2017,
In the late 1970's I had a vision of the Medicine Wheel, an ancient stone circle which has been used for thousands of years by Native people as a place for prayer, ceremony and self-understanding. At one time there were some 20,000 medicine wheels on the North American continent alone. Today the remains of a few of those old ones — in Wyoming, in Canada, in Minnesota — are studied by scientists and curiosity seekers. It sometimes makes me smile to think that there is such an air of mystery surrounding the old medicine wheels: How were they used? Why did they have a particular number of stones arranged in a certain way upon the ground? And so on. When you understand that the basis for all vision is your very personal relationship to the Creator, and that vision is a strong part of the medicine wheel, then you should understand, too, that there are probably only a few absolute rules for placing the stones into one of these sacred prayer hoops. Whatever guidance came through visions and dreams moved the builders of these circles to build them in accordance with the universal laws they represent and honor.
It's important, I think, for me to explain two things to you here. The first thing is that when I speak of the Medicine Wheel, I'm talking about two things simultaneously: a circle of stones placed on the ground ... and a set of symbols which have definite meaning in terms of your life. The second thing I want to make clear is that my vision of the Medicine Wheel, as I describe it to you, is highly personal. It came to me through the Great Spirit; through my observations (and those of other members of the Tribe) of our relationships with the human, animal, plant, and mineral kingdoms; and through some reading about the 6bservations of other medicine people. To the best of my knowledge, my version of the Wheel and how it's used is not the same as any other. In my version, for example, some major stones are placed to honor the Four Directions, and the Center of the Universe. In one of the ancient wheels in Wyoming, the major stones seem to be placed to honor six directions.
Many of the Teachers who shared Native Anerican teachings came into a head to head controversy with traditional Native American Teachers. As the decades progressed, it is good to see the evolution of teachings being shared more and more. #StandingRock has been a pivotal healing, both for the Tribes as well as a time of relationship building. I call coming together of the 300 Tribes at #StandingRock, "The Victory of #StandingRock."
#PlantYourDreamBlog
Leslie Goldman
January 7, 2017
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