GREEN DREAMS ESSAY CONTEST WINNER
Farmland for Everyone by Ms. Shaneyka Yazzie of Shiprock, NM
As a resident of
the Shiprock community, my concerns are the future of the farmlands
and the usage of the San Juan River. I feel compassionate about food
sovereignty and teaching my people the importance of growing your own
food source. The dangers of process meat, genetic modified organisms,
and environmental pollutants are a major threat to my Dine tribe. My
Native American heritage allows me to understand the full nature of
food. I come from a history of farmers, sheep herders, ranchers,
herbalist, and medicine men. My green dream is to educate my people
while producing food for my family.
In
my community, I would promote Native traditional farming by allowing
community members, young and old, to be involved in creating a farm
and sustaining a farming lifestyle. Bringing my people together would
promote the traditional upbringing while engaging in organic and
traditional farming by practicing the language, stories, songs, and
prayers that it takes to uphold a traditional farming lifestyle. The
community farm would allow community members to be engage in
workshops involving preparation of a farm, types of traditional foods
to grow, beehive workshops, and permaculture workshops.
The
construction of the farm will include teachings of operating a
tractor, installing a drip irrigation system, and building an Earth
oven dome and/or pit. Physical farming techniques will be taught and
spiritual teachings of the farm will be acknowledged. Formations of
the constellations can be measured to ideally when to begin the
planting and harvest. I envision the crops will be distributed among
the volunteers and community members. I would encourage a seed bank
from the harvest and compile the natural plant waste for a compost.
Utilizing all products of the land will be sustainable and efficient.
Green houses and gardens can be implemented for year around food
supply. Beyond farming is the cooking aspect of food
Obstacles
that would keep me from reaching my goal of promoting a sustainable
farm would vary from our contaminated river, youth and elder
generation gap, materials and tools to help begin the project. On
August 5th, 2015, our river located on the Navajo reservation had
been contaminated from the Gold King Mine Spill with 3 million
gallons of toxic materials effect our farms, discouraging local crops
to be grown, and resulting in loss of crops. With our generation gap,
we have youth who are not too involved with learning their Navajo
language or culture and resorting to fast food restaurants and
television.
My
plan for overcoming these obstacles in the next five years would be
getting support from local coalitions to our community chapter in
support of this project. I would also organize a donation drive to
gather materials to be used in getting the farm started, as well as
recruit volunteers manual labor. My next goal would be getting the
interest of the community and committing to promoting food
sovereignty to provide security of our local businesses and families
needed to support the farming lifestyle. Over the next five years
would be commitment in bringing food sovereignty back to my people
here on Navajo land and that can be accomplish by educating myself as
well as my people.