November EarthCare Update

November is the month of All Saints and All Souls. It is also national Native American Heritage Month, highlighting the languages, stories, arts, and traditions of 574 federally recognized tribes. In the former designation, there’s the honoring of holy ones who have gone before us and who continue to walk with us; in the latter, the honoring of seeds as sacred, living relatives, as ancestors and keepers of cultural memory. Both observances are linked through the practice of remembering what has been sown.

While mainstream agriculture acts as if seeds are just another commodity that farmers purchase to produce their crops, Native American and Indigenous communities view seeds as cherished relatives with whom we have a reciprocal relationship. We care for seeds and they in turn take care of us and sustain human life.

Many of us are familiar with Robin Wall Kimmerer, a botanist, Citizen Potawatomi Nation member, and author of Braiding Sweetgrass and The Serviceberry. She views seeds as our teachers and relatives, as carriers of inherent intelligence and ancient memory. Kimmerer highlights the importance of traditional Indigenous stewardship to revive genetic diversity and to repair broken human-plant covenants.

This month of November holds an invitation to embrace Indigenous-based practices that are rooted in gratitude, reciprocity, and relationships with life sustaining seeds as sacred gifts. And perhaps we might go a step further when, after sowing seeds next spring, we adopt the Haudenosaunee tradition of singing seed songs into the newly planted soil. The Haudenosaunee believe that these songs honor the life-giving mystery held within each seed and are powerful enough to awaken seeds from their slumber.

Please join our EarthCARE committee in wishing pleasant dreams to the seeds on our IHM land or wherever you might be, including seeds that are sleeping through the winter months as well as seeds that will be planted next spring. We invite everyone to join in remembrance and in song at some time in the new year to come.