The Iroquois White Corn Project

Iroquois White Corn

by Amy Brandlin and Lou Sinesio

The Iroquois White Corn Project got into full swing this summer. We processed and packaged about 100 pounds of corn flour and whole white corn. The one pound bags were sold at the Ganondagan Dance and Music Festival in July.

What is Iroquois White Corn?

The Iroquois White Corn is a special variety. It is especially significant, because the corn plants are descendents of the corn which was grown by the Haudenosaunee who lived in the town of Ganondagan in the 1600's. The French military torched the stores of grain, but all the corn was not destroyed in the fire. Generations of Seneca men and women have continued to grow this variety, saving the genetics.  This corn is now grown all over the region by Haudenosaunee farmers who meet regularly to exchange seeds and talk about issues related to their crops. We began the project in part to build a sustainable market for them.

Iroquois White Corn

Most people, when they think of corn, picture in their mind "sweet corn." Sweet corn is sold fresh, processed in canneries, and sold as frozen corn. Field corn (not sweet and usually the "Number 2 Dent" variety) is used as feed for chickens, cows and pigs and in the production of corn syrup, and corn meal. If you are driving and looking at the corn fields in the area, it is probably Number 2 Dent corn that you are watching grow. The growing of so much Number 2 Dent has created what is known as a monoculture. Monocultures are not good for any species. Variety is the spice of life, but also it is important for the survival of a species. Genetic diversity within a species creates strength against disease and adaptability to environmental changes. Typical American agricultural practices today have largely created a corn monoculture. The Native American agriculture, however, is very diverse with many types of maize or corn. The focus of the Iroquois White Corn Project is the Iroquois White corn variety. The seeds are shared and exchanged throughout the community, ensuring adequate genetic variability to ensure plant health.

Where Does the Corn Come From?

Native American farmers here in our region grew the white corn for the project. After being harvested by hand in the fall, it must hang to dry. For this, it is braided in the traditional way. After it has dried a few months, the kernels must be removed from the cob. This is done manually by pushing the kernels off the cob with one's thumb. Some people use a tool to remove the kernels.

How Is the Corn Processed?

If the corn is to be made into roasted white corn flour, it is roasted, ground and bagged. The White Corn Project uses a large coffee roaster for the creation of the Roasted Corn Flour product. The nutritional advantage to our white corn products is that the germ is not removed, so the products are whole grain. The flour should be refrigerated, as the oils in the germ need to be kept fresh. The germ contains vitamins and minerals, as well as fiber.

White corn to be used in soup or stew (as hominy) must be treated in a lye bath to remove the outer hull on each kernel. This process is known as nixtamalization. Many people follow the traditional way to create a lye solution with hardwood ashes. That is done by rinsing the corn using a corn basket, which is a traditional tool still made by Native basket makers. These baskets are constructed of ash splints that are sized and spaced specifically for the corn washing. Throughout the region, Haudenosaunee people are still using and teaching this method.

One of many hand-crafted steps in processing the corn

Many people though, find the work involved in preparing the corn in this manner difficult. And with modern hectic and busy lives, many people just do not have the time.  The White Corn Project is using a culinary lime or calcium hydroxide to create that lye solution. The corn is brought to a boil and simmered until the hull becomes loose and is able to be washed off. The treated corn is then rinsed in a wire basket with fresh water. We are also exploring reliable sources for clean hardwood ashes.

After the corn is rinsed free from the outer shell covering and the lye, and drained, it is placed in the dehydrator. The corn takes about 4 hours to dehydrate. These kernels are bagged to be sold as Hulled White Corn. To use in a soup or stew, they must be soaked overnight, drained and then cooked according to the recipe, until soft. After dehydration the corn can also be ground to into White Corn Flour. This flour can also be used as a substitute for corn meal or blended in combination with other types of flour in recipes.

Why Iroquois White Corn?

Besides connecting connecting people with local agriculture, the Iroquois White Corn Project also connects people with history and ancient traditions.

For some, it is also a personal connection with with their ancestors. As one of The Three Sisters, this corn is sacred to the Haudenosaunee people. We thought of Sister Corn as we finished up our work - her portrait hangs in our workspace and smiles down as if in appreciation.

Trailguides Needed

Ganondagan is looking for a few more people who are interested in becoming trail guides. Being a trail guide is a wonderful way to share the history of the site and of the Seneca people with visitors. Trail guides will lead visitors on guided trail walks and can be an important part of a visitor's experience of Ganondagan. Training is provided to all potential trail guides.

If you would like to learn more about our trail guide program, please see an article written by one of our long time trail guides about her experiences and the program.

If you are interested in this volunteer opportunity, please contact our Volunteer Coordinator.

Lily of the Mohawks

Kateri Tekakwitha (Source: Wikimedia)

In February of this year, Pope Benedict the XVI announced that Kateri Tekakwitha would be canonized on October 21, 2012. She would be the first Native American to reach sainthood.

Kateri Tekakwitha was born in 1656 to a Mohawk father and Algonquin mother in the Mohawk village of Canaouaga or Ossernenon (modern day Auriesville) in upstate New York. She converted to Christianity at early age and led a devout Christian life.  She died on April 17, 1680.

Immediately upon death, her body was said to have lost all of the disfiguring facial scars of smallpox - the same smallpox which killed the rest of her family when she was four years old - and her corpse become very beautiful. Other miraculous occurrences and indeed, miracles have been attributed to Kateri when people have used relics of hers or prayed to her for intercession on their behalf.

Sainthood is a very long process and her canonization began in 1884. On January 3, 1943 she was declared venerable by Pope Pius XII and was beatified on June 22, 1980 by Pope John Paul II. On December 19, 2011, the Congregation for Causes of Saints certified a second miracle through her intercession. The process will complete with her canonization this October.

I urge you to read more about this interesting woman and her sainthood from the sources listed below.

-kim

Learn more about Kateri Tekakwitha from the following sources:

YouTube:
"Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha"

Websites:
Wikipedia: Kateri Tekakwitha
National Kateri Tekakwitha Shrine
Shrine of Our Lady of Martyrs
Blessed Kateri, Model Ecologist

News Articles:
Montreal Gazette (Dec. 20, 2011): Sainthood Nearer for Kateri Tekakwitha
Montreal Gazette (Feb. 20, 2012): Kahnawake's Kateri Tekakwitha to be Canonized Oct. 21
Times Union (Feb. 20, 2012): Kateri to be Canonized in October

Books:
A Lily Among Thorns: The Mohawk Repatriation of Kateri Tekakwitha by Darren Bonaparte

Native History Month

In honor of Native History Month, our public television station WXXI-TV is airing an extraordinary range of programming throughout November, featuring the men and women who shaped the Native American experience. We’d like to share these opportunities with you.  For complete details, please visit: http://interactive.wxxi.org/native-american

If you are not in the Greater Rochester, NY television viewing area, please see the listings of your local PBS station for possible air dates of these programs.

• History Detectives. Friday, November 18 at 6 pm on WXXI World (cable 524/DT21.2) In California, a History Detectives viewer owns an American Indian pipe that family legend suggests was given to her ancestor by the famous warrior Chief Red Cloud.
• We Shall Remain: American Experience: After the Mayflower. Friday, November 18 at 7 pm on WXXI World. This groundbreaking mini-series establishes Native history as an essential part of American history. Four 90-minute documentaries spanning 300 years tell the story of pivotal moments in U.S. history from the Native-American perspective. This first episode explores the polar strategies — peaceful diplomacy and warfare — the Wampanoag people employed in their struggle to maintain their identity.
• We Shall Remain: American Experience: Tucumseh’s Vision. Friday, November 18 at 8:30 pm on WXXI World, part two of four features Shawnee warrior Tecumseh, who rose to become one of the greatest American leaders of all time.
• INDEPENDENT LENS: We Are Still Here – Âs Nutayuneân. Sunday, November 20 at 11 pm on WXXI-TV/HD. This tells the remarkable story of the recent cultural and linguistic revival of the Wampanoag tribe of Southeastern Massachusetts. Their ancestors ensured the survival of the Pilgrims — and lived to regret it. Now they are bringing their language home again.
• Before There Were Parks: Yellowstone & Glacier Through Native Eyes. Sunday, November 20 at 11:30 pm on WXXI World. This film explores modern indigenous perspectives on the great wilderness areas now called Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks that go far beyond their recent status as National Parks.
• Columbus Day Legacy. Sunday night, November 20 at 12:30 am on WXXI-TV. Navajo filmmaker Bennie Klain explores the quintessential American issues of free speech and ethnic pride against the backdrop of the ongoing Columbus Day parade controversy in Denver, Colorado. 
• History Detectives. Tuesday, November 22 at 9:00 pm on WXXI World. A mysterious bible laced with Cherokee writing provides insight to the "Trail of Tears" march.
• We Shall Remain: American Experience: Trail of Tears. Friday, November 25 at 7 pm on WXXI World, part three of four. Despite decades of struggle to keep their land, in 1838 thousands of Cherokee were forced from their homes in the southeastern United States and driven to Oklahoma. More than 4,000 died of disease and starvation along the way.
• We Shall Remain: American Experience: Geronimo. Friday, November 25 at 8:30 p.m. on WXXI World, part four of four. An indomitable Chiricahua Apache warrior and medicine man, Geronimo remains one of the most complex historical figures of the American West.
• Smokin' Fish. Saturday, November 26 at 1 pm on WXXI World. Cory Mann, A young Tlingit man makes a pilgrimage to his ancestral home and is forced to confront the dichotomy between his history and the world he lives in.
• Aleut Story. Saturday, November 26 at 10 pm on WXXI World. The incredible, untold story of Aleut Americans' decades-long struggle for human and civil rights, this story was developed, researched, filmed and edited for national television over five years.
• Unconquered Seminoles. Saturday, November 26 at 11:30 pm on WXXI World. This film traces the history and identity of Florida's resilient Seminole tribe, one deeply rooted in a pattern of obstacle and challenge, survival and success.
• Independent Lens: Reel Injun: On the Trail of the Hollywood Indian. Sunday, November 27 at 11:30 pm on WXXI-TV/HD. Cree filmmaker Neil Diamond takes an entertaining, insightful, and often humorous look at the Hollywood Indian, exploring the portrayal of North American Natives through a century of cinema and examining the ways that the myth of “the Injun” has influenced the world’s understanding—and misunderstanding—of Natives.
• The Long Walk: Tears of the Navajo. Tuesday, November 29 at 7 pm on WXXI World.  In a lost chapter of our nation’s history, 8,000 Navajo men, women and children were marched at gunpoint through the scorched desert of the American Southwest to a barren reservation along the Texas border in a 300-mile forced relocation during which hundreds died.
• Choctaw Code Talkers. Tuesday, November 29 at 8 pm on WXXI World. Called by some the "original Code Talkers," this is the story of the important role Choctaw soldiers played in WWI in using their Native language as a powerful tool against the German Forces.
• Contrary Warrior: The Life and Times of Adam Fortunate Eagle. Wednesday, November 30 at 7 pm on WXXI World. The story of Adam Fortunate Eagle, a contemporary activist, artist, author, ceremonial leader.

The Great Pumpkin Sacrifice

Over the weekend we made our "sacrifice" to the pumpkin gods and carved up our pumpkins for Halloween. What would Halloween be with out the carved jack-o-lantern? Not the same to be sure, but the pumpkin is a New World addition to the Halloween traditions that originated in Europe. Before the pumpkin, turnips or rutabagas were carved into the vegetable lanterns.

The pumpkin is a New World vegetable that has been cultivated by the Native peoples of the Americas since ancient times. While the exact origins of the pumpkin are not known, pumpkin-like seeds have been found in Mexico dating back to 7000 and 5500 BCE. With what the pumpkin has to offer why wouldn't it be grown for thousands of years? It is a very easy to grow plant that provides copious amounts of nutritious, long-keeping food (both the flesh of the pumpkin and its seeds.) And as with many food plants, there are medicinal uses and healthful qualities beyond the simple nutrition it provides.

Back to our carving of the pumpkins, not all of our parings went into the compost bin. We saved the seeds for toasting and the pieces carved out for roasting. Some like the pumpkin flesh roasted with salt and olive oil. In my opinion that would work well with a pie pumpkin but not so with the bland flesh of pumpkin grown for carving. (What's the difference?) A little salt, black pepper, butter, and brown sugar is the way to go - you have to give it some flavor and my favorite way to cook a variety of winter squashes fits the bill.

And if you have never toasted the seeds, what are you waiting for? These are truly divine! Here's a recipe for toasting your Halloween pumpkin's seeds:

Toasted Pumpkin Seeds

• 2 c. Raw, whole pumpkin seeds
• 2 Tbsp. butter, melted
• Salt to taste

Wash the pumpkin seeds and drain well. Toss seeds with butter and salt. Spread the seeds in a single layer on a baking sheet and bake for about 45 minutes in an oven preheated to 300 degrees. Be sure to stir occasionally and toast until golden brown.

I hope you enjoyed this look at the pumpkin and perhaps you may now consider it to be more than just something for decoration and pies. I wish you a happy Halloween and a wonderful Samhain!

-kim

2010 Educators' Day - Iroquois Confederacy

Ganondagan's Educators' Day is our annual conference that focuses on a particular theme related to the history and/or culture of the Iroquois people.

This year's conference will be held on 8/26 and will feature the theme "The Iroquois Confederacy."

While the event is geared for teachers and other educators, anyone may register and attend. Life-long learners are always welcome!

There is limited seating so register soon or you may miss out on this year's event!

For further information or to register, please see our Educators' Day webpage at:

www.ganondagan.org/programs/EducatorsDay.html



-kim

The Wheel Keeps Turning

Monday is the Summer Solstice - well, Monday at 7:29am to be exact for our location. It is a special day - it is the longest day and shortest night of the year. After Monday, our days begin to get shorter again and keep doing so until the Winter Solstice in December.

With each solstice, equinox, and some of the other seasonal year markers like May Day and Halloween, I take note of the specialness of the day. It makes me feel different. It makes me feel part of something bigger and I guess I am since I am a passenger on our great Mother Earth as she makes another circle around the Sun.

Depending upon the season I celebrate the day in different ways - for May Day, I visit a park and enjoy the Spring wildflowers and the regreening of the Earth. For the Winter Solstice, I go outside at night and let the quiet stillness of Winter and the icy, twinkling stars fill me. And since the Summer Solstice is all about the Sun, I rise as early as I can to greet the Sun as it sets off to make its journey across the sky.

Our ancestors throughout history and throughout the world have also taken special note of these times as well. Not only did they take note, but they built markers, monuments, and sacred sites to note our yearly path around the sun and other astronomical events. They created giant calenders and celestial observatories made out of stone, wood, and earth - some of these surviving to our modern day.

The ancient Britons built Stonehenge, Newgrange, and others. The Mayans built the pyramid "El Castillo" at Chitzen Itza where shadows on the Fall and Spring equinoxes make the "serpent come down from the sky." And many others throughout the ages and around the world including those created by Native Americans. The picture above is of Medicine Wheel in Big Horn County, Wyoming. It is a precolumbian stone structure known as a "medicine wheel" and it is one of many such structures throughout North America that were built by Native Americans. The Bighorn Medicine Wheel is also one of these ancient stone and earth calendars. It marks the Summer Solstice as well as the rising of the stars Sirius, Aldebaran, and Rigel. And without a doubt, this site will herald in the Summer Solstice this upcoming Monday.

So while you may not have Stonehenge in your backyard or the Bighorn Medicine Wheel around the corner, the Sun will rise above your home just the same as these special places come Monday. Rise early. Greet the Sun and be thankful for the Sun's warming rays. Be thankful for being a passenger on the great yearly trip around the Sun once more. Be thankful for all the blessings that are yours. And if you have a special place in your yard or garden, take 2 sticks. Push one into the ground. And as the Sun breaks the horizon Monday morning, line up the Sun, the first stick and the second stick. Push the second stick into the ground. Later find two special rocks and replace the sticks with those rocks. They will mark not only the Summer Solstice for you all year long but the blessings you have to be thankful for as well.

-kim

The Gift of Food

We have recently re-designed our Recipebox web page. It now has a greater focus on the foods indigenous to the Americas. Besides recipes, we also have a brief introduction to the history and origins of the food items. Some of the foods that were cultivated and harvested by the Native peoples of the Americas may surprise you. Did you know that the peanut and chocolate were first grown and harvested in South America and Central America respectively?

We have also doubled the number of recipes we are offering and have included images of the various food items. We hope you will enjoy this new resource and try some of the recipes. Also, be sure to check back often since we will be adding additional New World food items as well as new recipes!

Speaking of the traditions of food, I recently picked up a magazine that featured "heirloom," forgotten recipes - recipes that have been made for generations but have largely been forgotten. We all have recipes that have been passed down to us. I included one such recipe (Scalloped Corn in the corn recipe section). This recipe has been made in my family for at least 4 generations. It is a simple recipe that takes canned sweet corn - something put away during the harvest season and adds a few common farm-fresh ingredients to create a something-from-nothing dish. It is simple but tasty. And in eating it, you can appreciate the creativity of our ancestors to stretch what simple and sometimes meager food items they may have had into something more.

So in our re-launch of our Recipe pages, we would like to offer you the opportunity to submit your recipes featuring New World food items for possible inclusion in our Recipebox page. If it is a family tradition or if it has an interesting story that can be briefly shared, please feel free to send that along with your recipe. It is sometimes those bits of color and history that truly make the recipe! Send your submissions to us at friends@frontiernet.net. Thanks and enjoy!

-kim

The Canandaigua Fire Must Be Preserved

We've just added a piece written by Doug George-Kanentiio on the Canandaigua Treaty titled The Canandaigua Fire Must Be Preserved. It is an interesting read - be sure to check it out!

-kim

Canandaigua Treaty

The Canandaigua Treaty is a treaty between the United States of America and the Six Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy - Seneca, Cayuga, Onondaga, Oneida, Mohawk and Tuscarora. This treaty was signed on November 11, 1794 and each year this treaty is celebrated on the anniversary of the signing, November 11, in Canandaigua, New York.

In order to help teach about the treaty and celebrate this event we have created a number of informational pages on our website about the Canandaigua Treaty of 1794, wampum belts, and more.

This year's Canandaigua Treaty Celebration features:

• A parade on Main Street
• A ceremony and keynote speakers at Council Rock
• A Native craftspeople and vendors
• A pot-luck dinner and social

All events are free and open to the public. We welcome you to come and join us in celebrating this wonderful historic event!

See our Canandaigua Treaty Celebration Event webpage for full event details and locations.


-kim

1794 brought to life

For the past year I have been working on a unique project with historic artist Robert Grffing. He approached me over a year ago concerning the project. He wanted to know if I could help him with a large scale representation of the 1794 Treaty. I encouraged him and was excited about helping bring the event to life. Foremost in my mind was to include the descendants of the people who were in attandance 314 years ago be a big part of the project.

The 1794 Canandaigua Treaty is the lasting agreement between the young United States and the ancient Haudenosaunee which continues to be commemorated each November 11th in the city of Canandaigua.

To this point there has never been an attempt at a faithful recreation of that historic event. It was my responsibility to research the treaty and many of the visual clues which we might use to structure a high quality recreation of what the treaty might have looked like. Tonia and I set up casting calls at Salamanca and Onondaga and solicited participants online as well. In the end, we had just under 30 Haudenosaunee people attend the photo shoot at the Seneca-Iroquois museum this weekend. Here are some glimpses into what will become a very impressive piece in the next two years.




"Niaweh" (thanks) to: The Seneca-Iroquois Museum staff, Jare, Robert, Tonia, Ward, James, Kobuck, Crowder, Don, and ALL the participant models.

We Shall Remain Begins Tonight

Tonight is the first episode of the PBS's American Experience, We Shall Remain. This 5-part television series shows how Native peoples resisted expulsion from their lands and fought the extinction of their culture - from the Wampanoags of New England in the 1600s to the bold new leaders of the 1970s who harnessed the civil rights movement to forge a pan-Indian identity. We Shall Remain represents an unprecedented collaboration between Native and non-Native filmmakers and involves Native advisors and scholars at all levels of the project.

For more on this series, please see the series webpage at

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/weshallremain

My DVR is set, how about yours?


-kim

Ohio Country Conference

I was invited to speak at the Bushy Run Battlefield-sponsored conference entitled, "The Ohio Country Conference" which is a scholarly conference that revolves around the Seven Years War in North America. I called my lecture, "A Good Salve for our Wounds- Native American involvement in the taking of Ft Niagara" and it seems to have been well received. I may condense the talk into a smaller article for the newsletter this summer.

A highlight of the lecture series was listening to Fintan O'Toole, author of "White Savage" a well researched book on the life of Sir William Johnson. What made Fintan's talk so interesting was his non-American view of the colonial period. He may have not been entirely in touch with current thinking or Native studies but he certainly was passionate about his subject.

We talked up the site and displayed Ganondagan's "banner" display and was able to pass out brochures to the 120-ish attendees.

I had mixed emotions upon attending because only a few day previous we learned that Pennsylvania was considering closing many historic sites across the state, including the Bushy Run Battlefield who were the sponsors of the conference! The Fort Pitt museum was also on the list as one of endangered sites. It is certainly a trend across the US for states to look at scraping money together from any source neccessary including historic sites. I hope in the future we can preserve our shared history in a responsible way and save these important places where our story is being preserved.

http://savefortpittnow.com/blog/