CINCINNATI IS HOME TO THOUSANDS OF NATIVE AMERICANS
THIS LAND ALONG WITH PLANT RELATIVES HAD BEEN CULTIVATED FOR MANY THOUSANDS OF YEARS.
And yet today, the Indigenous people who live here lack access to fresh foods, sacred seeds, and land to plant those seeds. Over the past year, the coalition has been working with donors in the Cincinnati area to reclaim urban spaces to grow and distribute foods and medicines for locals by building garden beds. Our goal in creating these spaces is to increase access for all, reduce dependence on chemicals and commercial growing that does not honor the land, and to expand knowledge of traditional food ways.
In August of 2020, the UNC presented to the Ohio Sustainability Conference in building a regenerative region through the use of our urban gardening methods. Ecological gardeners like us at UNC, those who garden with Indigenous plants including perennials, gardens for birds, pollinators and other wildlife, and regenerative food gardeners who grow organically and consider the needs of pollinators and beneficial insects are already practicing natural climate solutions. Their land is probably already functioning as a carbon sink, rather than being a carbon source, as so many conventionally managed, chemically dependent landscapes are. Our program can shift the city of Cincinnati to Native American wisdom for all.
As a part of our presentation to the Ohio Conference, presenter, Shane Creeping bear said, “Working in a garden develops your relationship to the land. Our ancestors understood that gardening can transform our sense of scarcity and insecurity into feelings of abundance and control – something we all need these days.” Native Americans have some of the highest rates of food insecurity, health problems, poverty, and more. With more than 70% of all Native Americans living off the reservations, we are in need of solutions- especially for urban Natives.
The UNC Urban Garden Project restores the multi-tribal / inter-tribal urban-Indian community of Cincinnati to physical well-being and a spiritual relationship to the Earth. "food sovereignty is the right of Native Indigenous Peoples to reclaim our own food and agricultural systems as well as our right to access nutritious traditional foods that are produced using sustainable practices rooted in Indigenous values,”says Ami Lane, Program Director for UNC. An urban upbringing can mean our youth and community lose track of our old way of walking on this Earth. Our goal is to relearn this knowledge. In the process, the UNC activities help the community reclaim food sovereignty – ready access to healthy, affordable, culturally appropriate food – and we meet this need by distributing crops. Our longer-term goal is to participate in farmers markets, deliver household shares of produce to locations in Native neighborhoods, and partner with other community organizations, such as the Black Liberation Movement of Cincinnati. If you would like to get involved with the project, please let us know.
