Learning the Ways of the World
I hold close memories of hunting and gathering with my paternal grandmother as a kid, the wisest soul I've had the delight of crossing paths and walking with on this mortal coil. Her layered blue eyes, brighter than the skies; rest atop her Cherokee cheeks that protrude out like blushing plums. Her thin dark hair usually pinned back, still retains its black pigment through her seventies. She used to ask me often if I wanted to mosey down the railroad tracks with her, to just outside the city limits where a person stops being bombarded with imported landscaping and eases into local flora and fauna. Plants that have grown here for lifetimes, each with a special purpose. I never once declined one of these invitations. The whole way along she would point out and identify plants and teach me about this perfect earth our loving god designed for us and how EVERYTHING has a use and a reason for being; from grapevines and buck-brush for baskets and wreaths (which we made, and she sometimes sold at the flea market), tiny wild cherries for the the critters to eat who in turn propagate the seed creating children and grand children for the tree, to the mud puddle being a reserve of water god intended for birds to drink and splash in. These walks down the tracks gifted to me, my most valued worldly and spiritual knowledge and thought. These gems of knowledge (in addition to my gram-muh's life experience through trial and error) were in large part passed-down to her from her grandmother, who was a signatory on the Dawes Roles (one of my families main links to our native ancestors, remnants of the Southeastern Ceremonial Complex) These valuable grains of information amount to a sea of knowledge. It is our proud obligation; yours, mine, our siblings, our whole generations to preserve natures secret forgotten powers through sharing recipes and remedies, methods, and uses. I'd like to use this platform, in part; to share, compile, and document our inherited knowledge. By revitalizing this information and these ideas and customs with input from population pockets that retained various cultural aspects we are truly honoring our ancestors.
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thank you for sharing! I am following along as learning to forage for food and herbs for medicine has been on the top of my list of life skills I want to have.
If we do not share our knowledge it will be lost, and secrets do not feed us or treat our ailments. I'm really fond of your planters @madpotters , inspires me to experiment with concrete. Thanks for your response.
I love that - secrets do not feed us or treat our ailments. Well said! And thank you for checking out my planters :) I am hoping to get enough courage to do a little video on how-to and the step by step process I take...but its really pretty easy. And a lot of fun. I encourage you to try it out! Its on the cheaper side of experimenting with a new hobby, too, which is a nice bonus lol.
Please do share what you know - all that you can. I'd be so honored to be made privy to any of it at all.
The Cherokee are a wise people. All our native tribes were, and what remains of them still holds such vital and worthwhile information worth sharing with the rest of us - in our modern society so often disconnected from the earth.
And after all the hardship they've seen and all they've suffered, that they would still retain (as in yourself) the heart and mind of helping and reaching out to others as a way of living, as a natural expression of their culture, I think, stands as a real testament to who they really are at heart. You know as well as I do, that's what made your grandmother so beautiful.
It can't be killed, maybe attempted to be discredited, silenced, rendered irrelevant, but that beautiful soul always reveals itself and rises to the top above whatever might be there to destroy it. It's just who they were, a beautiful people - connected to the earth - and that's the most original, authentic and unadulterated way to be human.
You're very right, it's information to be treasured.
@medicinewheel I cringed at myself a little after writing this comment, for my tone, but I'm leaving it up because it's how I really feel. I hope you didn't take my tone for condescension. The history of how North American natives were, and still are, treated in this country makes my stomach turn with sickness and sadness. I don't think I'll ever know the right words to say regarding that issue. But I see true beauty in the cultures. It's so apparent, you have to either be full of prejudice or ignoring it not to see it. But yeah, the realities today surrounding these cultures, there's some really sad reality there. I guess that's why doing positive work to honor the past is so important or maybe such a noble thing to do, even an act of positive resistance to hate. That's just how I see it, but I do see the full picture, and I just want you to know I meant no disrespect with my comment. Honestly, as the stories have gone in my family, I might have Cherokee roots, myself. Not taking for granted that every third white person below the Mason Dixon line stakes that same claim. I'm really not sure, but I have heard talk from older relatives. Definitely have very deep Southern roots in my family. The old folk ways do need to be preserved.
I'm so sorry I didn't respond sooner, my hard drive bit the dust three days ago and I lost 2 unpublished articles and now I'm on a borrowed tablet that's hard to navigate, and I'm just able to get back to Steemin' today. You're so right on. There is so much knowledge already lost, and we all, Native or not, must put out the effort to preserve the remains of our inherited wisdom. Your words touched my heart, and I couldn't have worded it better myself. You're amazing with words, you communicate on such a deep level. I'm following you and anticipate learning about you through your future posts! Have a blessed week, @intspekt!
Oh that's fine. I feel like I should say sorry to you, for what happened.
That sounds terrible. I've accidentally deleted my writing before and, I swear, I've about had a heart attack from it. Your brain goes numb, and you freeze thinking, "what. did. I. just. do?" "I did not just DO what I know I just DID!" Sure enough, it happens. I'll save you the crude language, but it happens. Lesson learned: always keep a backup. There's power in redundancy....always keep a backup. I learned that the hard way myself. Anyway, I like your writing; I hate that you lost all your work.
And thank you for the kind compliment. I simply love to write, almost as much as I love to read. And I love to cut through all the static and get to the heart of things, and people. I like to connect, and I'm glad that we did. I hope you have a great week too @medicinewheel!
If you're up for in @intspekt, I've nominated you for the Black and White Photo Challenge!
You described Gram perfectly. I know that someone who’s never seen her would picture her beautiful face when they read your description.
Hi I am Ojibway and I agree so much with your post. I have been growing my own food in the backyard for a few years because I want to get of the corporate food grid, and have full trust in what i am eating. I must tell you there is a Canadian seed seller who is almost all heritage seeds...I bought some Cherokee Trail of Tears bean seeds. I grew them the last few years. They are called this because they were originally found being carried by the deceased women. They have been preserved as heritage seeds each year since. I think you need to grow these beans. For Honor. Thats why I grow them ever year. I save some seeds every year for the next season. https://www.rareseeds.com/cherokee-trail-of-tears/
I love Baker Creeek’s seeds! I order from them every year. But I’ve not ordered any beans from them, so I haven’t ran across these. I’ll have to look into them. Thanks for posting the link. :)
Thanks for your reply @houseofcouchie! The Cherokees annually open their seed bank up to the tribe and offer each citizen two selections for free. I noticed that the trail of tears beans were listed and i read about starting the seeds but I never heard the story behind them; makes me want to check out your link and submit an order. Spring is coming up so quick!! (self affirmation). I especially love using the heritage seeds for exactly the same reason your motivated to harvest your own food, something you can have full trust in. And its so much more delicious from the garden! Thank you so much for your recommendation, you will know you planted the idea as a seed, in my mind when you read the posts about my beans this spring!
You've introduced to me my new favorite seed site @houseofcouchie! The selection is overwhelming. Now I'm going to have a lot more tilling to do! I read something about a spring planting festival on that site that is located just a couple of hours away from me! Your giving me some great blogging ideas!
Fantastic!! Glad to help. I invite you to take a look at my first post in a series i plan to cover Called how to be more creative on Steemit. Have a great evening!