RPN Today - S2E6 - Food Sovereignty
Russell Shaffer
Author
04/05/2024
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10
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Description
While the majority of Nebraska’s communities revolve around agriculture, many students in the Lincoln and Omaha metropolitan areas do not feel a connection to the land or their food sources. But for Nebraska’s Native tribal members, not only is that connection a tradition, it’s part of their culture. This is why dozens of Native American middle and high school students gather each Saturday to work a community farm on East Campus part of Rural Prosperity Nebraska’s Indigenous Youth Food Sovereignty Program. Learn more about the program at ruralprosperityne.unl.edu
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- [00:00:00.171](bright music)
- [00:00:23.220]While the majority of Nebraska's communities
- [00:00:25.110]revolve around agriculture,
- [00:00:26.790]many students in the metropolitan areas
- [00:00:28.860]do not feel a connection to the land or their food sources.
- [00:00:32.400]But for Nebraska's native tribal members,
- [00:00:34.680]not only is that connection and tradition,
- [00:00:36.930]it's part of their culture.
- [00:00:38.820]This is why dozens of Native American
- [00:00:40.770]middle and high school students gather each Saturday
- [00:00:43.590]to work at community farm on East Campus
- [00:00:46.230]as part of Rural Prosperity Nebraska's
- [00:00:48.480]Indigenous Youth Food Sovereignty Program.
- [00:00:51.180]We wanted to get the Native American youth involved
- [00:00:55.350]in growing their own food for their communities,
- [00:00:59.010]to create some food sustainability,
- [00:01:01.710]healthy food sustainability
- [00:01:03.630]for both them and their families
- [00:01:05.160]and the indigenous community here in Lincoln.
- [00:01:08.010]And also to reconnect them
- [00:01:09.490]with the relationship with the Earth and the plants
- [00:01:14.280]that we traditionally had.
- [00:01:16.350]The one-year program began in 2021
- [00:01:18.480]and has since grown to include 25 students
- [00:01:20.880]from Lincoln and public schools.
- [00:01:22.800]20 students are already signed up for this year.
- [00:01:25.020]We have Christian Stevenson and Christian Elowsky
- [00:01:28.500]from Kasner coming in
- [00:01:30.330]and offering their expertise
- [00:01:33.030]on the Western science part of growing.
- [00:01:35.430]Then we have indigenous elders come in
- [00:01:37.170]and talk to these young people
- [00:01:39.810]about their traditional relationships
- [00:01:43.200]with the earth and with the plants.
- [00:01:44.520]So they're getting both worldviews
- [00:01:47.220]as we go through this program.
- [00:01:48.810]It gives us a chance to give people food.
- [00:01:52.170]Like, there's a lot,
- [00:01:54.330]I remember the powwow recently.
- [00:01:57.960]A lot of people are excited when we were like,
- [00:01:59.677]"Yeah, it's free produce."
- [00:02:01.740]In addition to the $500
- [00:02:03.330]per quarter stipend they earn,
- [00:02:05.010]they also learn to maintain a healthy garden
- [00:02:07.080]and preserve the food they grow.
- [00:02:09.090]Students are allowed to take home food
- [00:02:10.920]for themselves and their families,
- [00:02:12.690]but they produce more than they can consume.
- [00:02:15.270]At the powwow, students gave away 300 pounds of produce.
- [00:02:19.620]Recently, Thielen, the program's coordinator,
- [00:02:22.080]donated an additional 300 pounds of peppers
- [00:02:24.840]to the Food Bank of Lincoln.
- [00:02:26.700]This isn't just about teaching them how to grow food.
- [00:02:29.430]This is teaching them...
- [00:02:31.920]Well, these are urban kids.
- [00:02:32.753]They don't get to spend all the time in nature.
- [00:02:34.380]In this setting, we can watch and make sure they're safe,
- [00:02:37.500]but also let them experience a little bit of
- [00:02:41.220]what they don't get to, you know.
- [00:02:42.600]We're teaching them not only how to feed themselves,
- [00:02:44.550]but to feed their community
- [00:02:47.580]and hopefully take care of it as well,
- [00:02:50.070]form those strong bonds.
- [00:02:51.330]And I don't know, that's pretty indigenous to me.
- [00:02:54.450]We get more involved with the caretaking of this earth
- [00:02:58.740]and kind of the harvest what the earth gives us.
- [00:03:02.250]Then we're going to be walking in this world
- [00:03:04.560]in a healthy manner
- [00:03:05.850]that's not only just physically, but also emotionally,
- [00:03:09.720]mentally, and spiritually.
- [00:03:11.040]So it's a holistic relationship
- [00:03:14.880]that we're trying to teach these young people.
- [00:03:16.838](bright music)
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