KW Buffalo Bird - Fischer/Scheuerell PDF

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Forests & Farms- Winter 2019 Buffalo Bird Woman’s Garden  Seminar Assignment 1/14/19

1. “We cared for our corn in those days as we would care for a child; for we Indian people loved our gardens, just as a mother loves her children; and we thought that our growing corn liked to hear us sing, just as children like to hear their mother sing to them.” Very little is known about the possibility that plants have the ability to receive sound. Humans and other animals have evolved our sensory organs to be equipped with the tools we need to process sound- ears that receive sound waves and transmit them to eardrums, which in turn causes a chain reaction of vibrations that result in the creation of recognizable sound. As far as we know, plants do not have these kind of sensory organs or any physical hearing capabilities. However, the practice of singing and talking to plants lovingly and encouragingly is a common practice amongst indigenous farmers. Although there is no scientific evidence that can definitively prove that this practice has a direct benefit on growth or is even received by plants, as a farmer, the practice of caring for your crops as you would your children is to me, could only yield positivity. Question: Does a farming practice have to be supported by scientific evidence to be legitimate? 2. “Building the drying stage was women’s work, although the men helped raise the heavy posts and floor beams.” Throughout the book, Buffalo Bird Woman references the Hidatsa gender dynamic in traditional agriculture. To outsiders, the concept of men and women’s work can seem sexist or divisive, but in traditional societies, gender roles play a key part in ensuring that every member of the community have a fair and equal contribution. Balance is the ultimate goal in introducing this concept. It makes sure that everyone has a job, and their own responsibilities, and that each generation has a definitive group of people to acquire skills from. In Western societies, agriculture is not looked at as “women’s work”, and even in 2019, it is enforced that the home is women’s primary domain, and that raising children is their primary obligation. Traditional matriarchal societies go beyond this construct- women do have the responsibility to take care of a home and raise children, but that goes beyond a physical living structure. Since crops are seen as children, raising them becomes a women’s task as well. Raising children and crops is hard work, but it is reciprocated by the tasks that men are charged with in a traditional society. Question: Are gender roles inherently harmful?

3. “We believed wooden rakes caused worms in the corn. These worms, we thought, came out of the wood in the rakes; just how this was, we did not know.” In farming corn especially, worms can be a huge problem. Not only for impacting good yield for food, but also in potentially harming a good seed resource. I think this observation could be plausible- a worm could definitely take up residence in decomposing wood, and when that wood is used to make a tool, find a new home in the soil it comes in to contact with, and reproduce. Question: What precautions can be taken with tools to avoid introducing pathogens or pests to an agroecosystem?...