Episode 122 – Valoree Gagnon & Karena Schmidt – On the Food & Culture of Indigenous Gardens

Posted April 15, 2022

The colonizing of America separated Indigenous people from their nourishing “first foods,” plant and animal species that native communities relied upon for subsistence, ceremony and medicine. More than a decade ago, the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community (KBIC), Michigan Technological University (MTU), and the Western UP Planning and Development Region came together to create a space that celebrated and preserved the knowledge and cultural identity of tribal people living in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. From this collaboration came the Debweyendan Indigenous Garden (DIGs), a place to grow foods and medicines and drive the community toward food sovereignty.

In the latest episode of the Make Meaning Podcast, host Lynne Golodner interviews two important DIGs contributors:  Valoree Gagnon, Assistant Professor in the College of Forest Resources and Environmental Science at Michigan Tech and Director for University-Indigenous Community Partnerships at the Great Lakes Research Center; and Karena Schmidt, an ecologist with the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community Natural Resources Department.

In this episode, Lynne, Val, and Karena discuss: 

• The creation & growth of DIGs
• How to define native foods 
• The importance of food sovereignty 
• The native communities of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula 
• How to be an ally to Native Americans
• Loving the land you come from
• Finding the foods native to your community
• Your role in achieving food sovereignty

Links and Resources: 

• History of First Foods 
• Diabetes & the Native American Diet 
• Remote Indigenous Gardens Network 
• Debweyendan Indigenous Garden
• Keweenaw Bay Indian Community 
• KBIC Natural Resources Department 
• Michigan Technological University (MTU)
• Western UP Planning and Development Region
• Great Lakes Research Center 
• University of Arizona 
• The Seed Keeper
• Elizabeth Hoover, Indigenous Food Sovereignty in the United States 
• Robin Wall Kimmerer 
• Potawatomi
• Anishinaabe
• Ojibwe
• Odawa
• Pow Wow
• Michigan Tribes
• Keweenaw Peninsula
• Dr. Martin Reinhardt
• Sean Sherman – the Sioux Chief

You can find all of the Make Meaning Podcast episodes on YouTube.