Unwrapping Mandan Bride Corn

This is one of the joys of this time of year: shucking the husks off the multicolored corn (wagméza/wagmíza/wamnáheza) that you’ve grown, and finding out what unique, beautiful color combinations lie underneath. When I was shucking corn at a friend’s farm earlier this week, another helper described this experience as being akin to unwrapping holiday

Winter Projects: Wagmíza Yukpáŋ

This was one of my waníyetu wíčhoȟ’aŋ, or winter projects, last year. After the flour corn has hung in braids inside my home for a few months, dried out by time and the heaters that parch everyone and everything indoors during these Northern Great Plains winters, it’s ready to be made into cornmeal. First, a

Corn Harvest in Porcupine, ND

This is a belated post. Last year the fall, I visited my friend Linda S.’s garden in Porcupine, ND, to help with the corn harvest. She grows her own corn blend, selecting for what grows best on her land. I’m not sure what all the parents of this corn line are, but at least one

Wagméza kačháŋ / Winnowing corn

Waníyetu wóečhuŋ / winter projects. When working with traditional foods and plants, especially in a climate like Standing Rock’s where we have at least 5 months of winter, the work we do is highly seasonal. Some people would assume this means that there is nothing plant-related to do for 5 months out of the year.

Two of the three sisters at harvest time

Mandan Bride Corn, with Hidatsa Shield Figure beans climbing on it at harvest time. Getting the beans to climb the cornstalks is often a goal of people who plant a Three Sisters garden. You have to get the timing of the planting just right (among other factors) for that to work — and I usually