Members of the Muskoday Organic Farm Co-operative hosted the first day of the North American Indigenous Food Symposium held in June.
They shared their success and vision with a crowd bused in from Saskatoon, about 100 kilometres southwest of the reserve. The second and third days of the event were held in Saskatoon.
“We are taking important steps to reclaim our traditional relationship to food” said Harvey Knight of the reserve.
The tour stopped at a special Elders Garden that was planted and will be tended by children working with elders of the community. The elders are expected to bring a spiritual dimension to the project.
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“We are re-establishing relationships to our brothers and sisters, the food crops that live with us” said Knight. “It’s not just planting. In the past there were ceremonies, and the elders are helping to bring that back. We are beginning to understand what that heritage means.”
Muskoday has been a farming community since the reserve was established, said Knight.
“We’ve been under a lot of pressure to give up farming and gathering and hunting. Now we are training our people to grow food again.”
MOFC is providing training and employment through a project developed with Heifer International.
Joe Munroe of the Muskoday band said people from Muskoday, Flying Dust and James Smith First Nations who are collecting welfare can apply for six months employment and training. This gives people enough employment insurance credits to qualify for further training funds. The program has been successful, with less than five percent of participants returning to welfare.
Other community members work in the vegetable plots for credits that can be used in fall to buy the garden products.
The crops grown at Muskoday are primarily indigenous to the Americas. They have 17 acres planted to potatoes, as well as other plots with tomatoes, corn, squash, beans and sunflowers. They also have 65 bison, and grow oats for milling, and as a rotational crop.
The potatos were being planted during the NAIFS tour.
A specialized four-row planter delivered registered and certified organic Red Norland seed potatoes to almost kilometre-long rows. Later, potatoes would have to be hilled, and 10 people working full time will keep the plots weeded.
A spring fed dugout will allow irrigation, using rented equipment. A diversity of wildflowers will be transplanted around the potato fields, to encourage beneficial insects that will keep the Colorado potato beetle under control. This proved a successful strategy last year.
The project is also supplying composters and rain barrels to each house on the reserve.
Eventually MOFC hopes to haul the collected materials to the fields with horses.
All the agricultural land at Muskoday is certified organic. The community was concerned about its high cancer rate, which some people linked to the use of chemicals on the land. When they decided to return to farming, it was easy and natural to start organic.
According to Eric Bear, of the band, “organic is the number one thing on Muskoday.”
The MOFC is working with other bands to expand their successful model. As well as seven acres of potatoes for the Muskoday group, another 10 acres have been planted by members of the Peter Balantine First Nation.
Peter Balantyne trucked seed potatoes from the Outlook, Sask., area. Muskoday and Peter Balantyne First Nations are partnering with the James Smith First Nation to convert a local skating rink into a potato storage facility.
The MOFC is also working with the Child Hunger and Education Program to help secure markets.
Muskoday does not want to depress local markets, so is targeting hospitals, schools and other institutions that generally import product.
They will also market to their local store, to First Nations reserves, and temporarily, while local markets are being established, they hope to sell seed potatoes into the United States.
The tour then took participants from the fields to the school where elders spoke of the connection of spirituality, food and community.
All of these were shared as we enjoyed bison steaks and vegetables prepared by David Wolfman, hosts of the television show Cooking with the Wolfman, as well as moose stew and muskeg tea brought by members of the community.
Brenda Frick, senior research and extension associate for Organic Agriculture Centre of Canada at the University of Saskatchewan, welcomes comments at 306-966-4975 or organic@usask.ca. OACC articles are archived at www.oacc.info.
Organic field days this summer
July:
17: GO Alberta’s annual field day, Lamont, Alta., contact Randy Gubersky, 780-477-1146.
18: Parkland Organic Crop Improvement Association, annual field day, Stenen, Sask., (near Canora), contact
Kim Tomilin, tomilfarm@yahoo.ca, 306-277-4924.
18: Alberta Organic Producers Association, Crop Improvement Association, annual field day, Barrhead, Alta., contact Kathy Petterson, 780-939-5808, aopa@cruzinternet.com.
19: Organic Crop Improvement Association annual field day, Govin, Sask., contact Robyn Hamann, lrhamann@yourlink. ca. 306-781-4701.
21: University of Saskatchewan Crop Development Centre annual field day, Saskatoon. This event is not an organic field day, but it will include organic trials and information relevant to organic producers.
22: NorthEast Organic Crop Improvement Association annual field day, Muenster, Sask., and Guernsey, Sask., contact Carol Lowndes, 306-327-4753, jclowndes@xplornet.com.
23: University of Manitoba, Organic Field Crops Laboratory, Carman, Man.
24: Agriculture Canada Semi-arid Prairie Agricultural Research Centre organic field day, Swift Current, Sask. To register, call 306-778-8285.
29: Organic Crop Improvement Association, University of Manitoba field tour and Moose Creek organic farm field day, Oxbow, Sask., contact Joanne Thiessen-Martens, 204-474-6236, j_thiessen_martens@umanitoba.ca or
Ian Cushon, 306-483-5034, coldridge@sasktel.net.
August:
6: Organic Producers Association of Manitoba field day, Grande Clariere, Man., contact Laura Ellis in the OPAM office, 204-748-1315 opamlaura@mts.net.
12: University of Manitoba annual Glenlea field day, Glenlea, Man., contact 204-474-6236, j_thiessen_ martens@umanitoba. or www.umanitoba.ca/outreach/ naturalagriculture/articles/gltr_wheatnutrient.html.
13 -14: Saskatchewan Organic Producers Association annual crop tour, Yorkton, Sask. For details contact Harvey at 306-746-4575.
