Arizona Project Preserves
Native Seed Varieties

July 17, 2002

VEGGIES WITH A PAST: Corn, beans, melon, squash, and peppers
are among the traditional native-American crops of the Southwest.

A seed-saving project sprouts in the Southwest
Ancient native American crops are being saved from extinction.
By Carole McCray | Special to The Christian Science Monitor

TUCSON, ARIZ. ­ To most folks, a bank is a building where people deposit
their money, an organization that supplies food to the needy, or a place to
donate blood.

But one bank in Tucson doesn't fit any of those descriptions. This bank is
filled with thousands of seeds. Not just any seeds of course; Big Boy tomato
seeds are so common they wouldn't need to be kept in a vault.

Instead, these are endangered native American seeds ­ some of which date to
prehistoric times. They include beans with purple stripes and speckles, a
black chili pepper, and corn with red, white, and blue kernels.

The repository of all these unusual seeds is known as Native Seeds/SEARCH
(Southwestern Endangered Arid-Land Resource Clearing House).

It is a nonprofit conservation, education, and research group formed to save
regional crops. Because its mission is solely to preserve and pass on
Southwestern seeds, Native Seeds/SEARCH (NS/S) has become a leader and
specialty clearinghouse devoted to gathering, storing, and distributing rare
native American seeds.

It all began when ethno-botanist Gary Nabhan and activist Mahina Drees
worked for Meals for Millions, a hunger-fighting program of the United
Methodist Church. Volunteers collected food by harvesting the remains of
crops abandoned in fields following the main harvest. Then they distributed
the gleanings among a southern Arizona native group known as the Tohono
O'odham.

Thinking that they would help the tribe even more by encouraging them to
grow their own vegetables, Meals for Millions workers decided to give
vegetable seeds to the Tohono O'odham.

The reaction wasn't what they expected. According to Barney Burns, a
cofounder of NS/S, the recipients responded, "It's real nice of you folks to
offer us radishes and broccoli, but what we're looking for are the plants
that our grandparents used to grow."

So Mr. Nabhan and Ms. Drees began a search for heirloom seeds by making
inquiries among Tohono O'odham elders to find those who had seeds from their
gardens or from old gardens.

This is harsh growing country, with elevations of 3,500 feet and higher, and
summer temperatures regularly exceeding 100 degrees F.

Despite the region's marginal growing conditions, native American farmers in
the region have raised many varieties of food through the centuries. As late
as 1925, the Tohono O'odham people cultivated 10,000 acres with traditional
floodwater methods, dependent on summer rains.

But cultural changes, land transfers, and environmental destruction resulted
in fewer and fewer farms and gardens being planted. Today, only a few
scattered plots remain.

As the importance of agriculture diminished in the tribe's life, traditions
were lost. Also, according to some researchers, turning away from native
crops had an adverse effect on the health and nutrition of the people.

This was the trend that Nabhan and Drees hoped to reverse when they began
their search for surviving native seeds that had been passed down from
generation to generation.

At first, the seeds they were given by tribal elders were passed around to
other interested gardeners, and a sample of each was saved. Soon, their
collection of seeds grew, so that they were able to pass along seeds of
squash, peppers, melons, corn, beans, and other traditional crops to other
native Americans in the Southwest.

In the early days of the project, the founders stored the seeds in their
home freezers. Then they kept some at the Tucson Botanical Garden. But in
1983, Native Seeds/SEARCH was founded to consolidate the seed-saving and
-distributing activities.

By 1995, NS/S had three locations, including Sylvester House, an old adobe
house in central Tucson. One of the two buildings on the 3/4-acre property
was turned into a seed bank. It holds five large freezers filled with seed
samples and a separate cold room containing several hundred jars and buckets
of seeds.

The group now has 2,000 accessions (an accession is one seed collection from
a particular place and time). They represent 99 species of crops from 17
tribal groups ­ Apache, Chemehuevi, Cocopah, Gila River Pima, Guarijio,
Havasupai, Hopi, Maricopa, Mayo, Mojave, Mountain Pima, Navajo, Paiute,
Pueblo, Tarahumara, Tohono O'odham, and Yoeme.

Half of the collection consists of varieties of corn, beans, and squash.
These important crops were known to the Indians as the "three sisters"
because when they are planted together, each crop benefits from and enhances
the others.

Corn stalks, for example, become trellises for climbing beans planted around
them. Beans are legumes and fix atmospheric nitrogen (a necessary nutrient)
into forms usable by the corn. The large leaves of the squash and its
spreading vines shade the ground and help keep it cool and moist.

In the corn collection are 500 accessions, strikingly beautiful in diverse
sizes, shapes, and colors. Stunning colors catch your attention ­ Navajo
Robin's Egg, a soft grinding corn dotted with blue speckles on white kernels
intermixed with solid white and blue kernels. Also, Cocopah, a sweet-eating
corn with red, white, and blue kernels, which was originally collected in
1868 from the Colorado River Indians and saved by prospectors in northern
Arizona.

Like many of the crops grown by native Americans, corn wasn't ­ and isn't ­
just for eating fresh. Tribe members may grind corn into flour or for atole,
a hot porridge; make it into posole (hominy); or use it as animal feed.

Corn is also important in ceremonial events, and various colored kernels are
selected for ceremonies and feast foods. Hopi blue Sakwapu, for instance, is
ground to make ceremonial piki bread. Hopi farmers plant plum-colored
kernels of Hopi Greasy Hair "Wiekte," which matures early, so the harvest is
ready for the Home Dance ceremony in July.

Sylvester House holds 275 accessions of beans. A traditional complement to
corn, beans are a diverse and main crop in native American farming. Fava,
garbanzo, lima, tepary, and wild beans are among the legumes banked at the
seed storehouse and made available to native American communities in the
Southwest and to gardeners worldwide through the Native Seeds/SEARCH
catalogue, which is now mailed to 12,000 customers.

The group has also saved 220 varieties of squash. These are a versatile food
crop because the flowers, seeds, and growing tips of vines are all edible.
Seeds of green-and-white-striped cushaw squash are toasted for snacks or
ground to prepare Pipian sauces. Some tribes craft musical instruments from
the cushaw's thick, hard shell.

The flavorful salmon-colored flesh of Mayo Kama butternut and Magdalena Big
Cheese are often turned into great soups and pies.

Other rare varieties are preserved in the seed bank. These include
amaranths, small-grained seeds grown by the Aztecs and by Southwest Indians.
In central Mexico, a confection known as alegria is made by mixing popped
blond amaranth seeds and honey. Hopis use the amaranth's red flower bract as
a natural scarlet dye to color piki bread.

Sonoran panic grass, once believed to be extinct, is now available at the
seed bank. This grass is used as forage for horses and cattle, and the tiny
seed is harvested for grain.

One of the big favorites with the NS/S staff is the Melon de Castillo from
the Sierra Madre in Mexico, which is very sweet.

Because of the growing need to ensure future survival of the "deposits" in
the seed bank and to allow NS/S to make larger quantities of seed available
for distribution, the group acquired 60 acres of rich farmland in 1997.
Located 60 miles south of Tucson in Patagonia, Ariz., the Conservation Farm
allows the staff to demonstrate the potential of ecologically safe and
sustainable agriculture.

A smaller, garden that emphasizes typical Native American crops from the
southwestern US and Mexico is located at the Tucson Botanical Garden, which
is near the seed bank.

Plants grown by the Tohono O'odham are featured. The summer garden showcases
varieties of corn, beans, squash, melons, and chiles. The winter garden
yields wheat, onions, and greens.

One of the more unusual plants in the garden is known as devil's claw, a
dramatically shaped plant. The black fiber from the plant's fruit or "claw"
can be woven into a basket for a striking effect. It is a favorite with the
O'odhams, who are known for their exquisite baskets. The young fruits of the
plant can also be cooked as an okra-like vegetable.

Each September, the botanical garden sponsors an all-day educational event
to honor and celebrate the traditions of the O'odham people. The celebration
features dancing, storytelling, singing, basket weaving, traditional plant
foods, and Indian fry bread.

An expert at harvesting saguaro cactus from the desert may explain how long
saguaro rib poles are used to gather the fruits of the cactus, which are
then cooked down to make a syrup.

Such support of Indian values and culture is also a key element in the work
of Native Seeds/SEARCH. Angelo Joaquin Jr., former executive director of
NS/S, who is of Tohono O'odham heritage, tells of a tribal elder's
experience on a tour of the seed bank.

The elder inquired about the Gila River mottled bean, which she had not seen
since her youth, and was overwhelmed when a staff member presented her with
a jar of the beans. She was overjoyed to take home beans just like the ones
grown years ago by her parents and grandparents.

"The seeds represented a tangible connection to her youth, grandfather, and
her ancestors," Mr. Joaquin says. He is now affiliated with San Xavier Coop
Farm, south of Tucson, where traditional O'odham crops are the focus. When I
visited him at the farm, he said: "The seeds are tangible links to our
ancestors. We honor [our ancestors] by putting the seeds into the ground."

? For further information about Native Seeds/SEARCH, see the website,
www.nativeseeds.org, or e-mail info@nativeseeds.org. To obtain a copy of the
group's seed catalogue, send $1 to Native Seeds/SEARCH, 526 N. Fourth
Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85705. Tours of the seed bank are available. Call (520)
622-5561.