Robin Moore and Cebastien Rose, owners of Dryland Wilds

A NEW HOPE

Navajo Star Wars

May the 4—a play on "May the Force Be With You"—has become the unofficial day of celebration for the Navajo language and also what the “force” actually means to the Navajo people. The vision of dubbing Star Wars in the Navajo language began as a vision of hope to not only bring multiple generations together and to get the younger ones excited about their own native language but to save their dying language from extinction. Maintaining indigenous languages is not just about preserving tradition, it’s about preserving more complex beliefs about life and the interconnectivity of our world those languages so eloquently express.

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Prior to colonial contact, about 300 unique Native languages existed across North America, also referred to as Turtle Island. The Indigenous Language Institute estimates that only 20 of those will still be spoken by 2050.

The Star Wars space opera set in a galaxy far, far away, and its concept of the Force — a mysterious energy field that binds all living things together — resonates on the Navajo Nation. Even across the rest of Indian Country. “There’s this philosophy of how the universe is connected through the Force,” said Manny Wheeler. “And I think, generally speaking, that’s how Native people feel about our environment. Nature is something that we are part of, and is not just a resource.”

It was Wheeler, then-executive director of the Navajo Nation Museum, whose dream of dubbing “Star Wars: A New Hope” in Navajo became reality more than a decade ago. His ambitious vision finally materialized after 16 long years of waiting for Lucasfilm to answer his frequent pleas to translate this movie in the Navajo language, also known as Diné Bizaad. “Lucasfilm gave us a hand up to be part of their universe,” said Wheeler. “That really meant a lot to our Native people, you know, for us to be accepted.”

Wheeler remembered watching his mother, who spoke little English, react to his Navajo project at the premiere screening inside a Window Rock rodeo arena back in 2013. “Obi-Wan was her favorite character; he’s talking about these traditional beliefs,” said Wheeler. “Obi-Wan really has that definite Navajo elder quality, just the way he presents himself, how he greets Luke. That’s a big reason why 'Star Wars' resonated with our Navajo people.”

Find the full KJZZ article here.

SONGS OF RESISTANCE

Kokoroko - Colonial Mentality

Sofar Sounds live session by Afrobeat collective Kokoroko.

Kokoroko put their own spin on Fela Kuti’s classic ‘Colonial Mentality’. The horns and rhythm section fill the space, going beyond a simple cover and giving voice to a young generation keeping Afrobeat alive.

In the small venue, the music feels more intimate and powerful. The laid-back groove that makes you move is just captivating! ✨

THE MANDELA EFFECT

Cultivating Leadership

Most will know Nelson Mandela as a key leader in the anti-apartheid movement of South Africa. He lived a rare and textured life as the son of a chief and a warrior for his people’s freedom. While incarcerated on Robben Island as part of his life sentence (of which he served 27 years), Mandela had devoted much of his time to his hard won garden. For years the warden had rejected his requests to have a garden plot but eventually gave in. It was a humble corner of the prison yard that required a great deal of work to excavate because it sat on on top of a former trash dump. The tedious process of removing large rocks and other debris, then planting the few seeds he was given and tending them until they yielded some small amount of food, the cultivating of greater and greater harvests over time, the sharing of that food with the other prisoners and prison guards… all were aspects of the further cultivation of the man he was and would become as a much beloved leader of his people. Nelson Mandela was the first democratically elected leader of his people and later Nobel Peace prize recipient, an acknowledgment he shared with the man who had released him, President Frederik Willem de Klerk, because they had agreed on a peaceful transition to majority rule. The prize was given “for their work for the peaceful termination of the apartheid regime, and for laying the foundations for a new democratic South Africa“.

This is a short excerpt from his autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom.

“The Bible tells us that gardens preceded gardeners, but that was not the case at Pollsmoor, where I cultivated a garden that became one of my happiest diversions. It was my way of escaping from the monolithic concrete world that surrounded us. Within a few weeks of surveying all the empty space we had on the building’s roof and how it was bathed the whole day, I decided to start a garden and received permission to do so from the commanding officer.

“Each morning, I put on a straw hat and rough gloves and worked in the garden for two hours. Every Sunday, I would supply vegetables to the kitchen so that they could cook a special meal for the common-law prisoners. I also gave quite a lot of my harvest to the warders, who used to bring satchels to take away their fresh vegetables.” “A garden was one of the few things in prison that one could control. To plant a seed, watch it grow, to tend it and then harvest it, offered a simple but enduring satisfaction. The sense of being the custodian of this small patch of earth offered a taste of freedom.

“In some ways, I saw the garden as a metaphor for certain aspects of my life. A leader must also tend his garden; he, too, plants seeds, and then watches, cultivates, and harvests the results. Like the gardener, a leader must take responsibility for what he cultivates; he must mind his work, try to repel enemies, preserve what can be preserved, and eliminate what cannot succeed.”

Find a fuller excerpt from his book here.

More of his biography here.

HISTORY REPEATS

Decolonizing the Mind

Colonization in Africa was much more than a land grab. It was a project to replace — and even erase — local cultures. To label them inferior. Music, arts, literature and of course language. In other words, it permeated everything. So how do you undo that? How do you unlearn what you’ve been forced to learn? In this hour, produced in partnership with the Consortium of Humanities Centers and Institutes (CHCI) and Africa is a Country — we learn what it means to decolonize the mind.

WEEDS OF THE MIND

Fanon

Fanon is a short film by Marcela Pizarro, Heloise Dorsan-Rachet and Pomona Pictures that explores the fascinating story of Frantz Fanon, one of the first intellectuals to expose the effects of racism on the psyche. His writings on settler colonialism, resistance and revolutionary action remain seminal texts around the world. This film is part of an animation series: Race Historized. It reaches into the archives of Black intellectual thought and showcases the work of towering figures who have contributed to the anti-racist struggle in theory and in action.

GREEN COLONIALISM

THE SAMI SONG OF SURVIVAL: Indigenous Activism on the Northern Frontier

The Sami people, based primarily in Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia, continue their struggles against oppression and colonialism, old and new. For centuries, they have been fighting institutionalized racism, marginalization, and the repression of their culture and language. Although they have won recognition and respect, their work has not ended. Through artistic means and cultural resilience, the Sami are asserting their rights to exist and thrive in their native lands.

Trailer here; full film here.

How are the Sami people connected to the Palestinians? Roots of the indigenous heart run deep and they are all connected. Follow the money to find who is sowing seeds of the monocrops that have been choking out the biodiversity of our indigenous cultures for centuries now. A clip from the Al Jazeera interview with the film’s director and cuts from the film here, article here.

THE SEWERS

What Happens When Embroidery Becomes Resistance?

Through embroidered maps, families in the Sierra Tarahumara keep their homeland alive. In Chihuahua City, Mexico, Rarámuri families from Coloradas de la Virgen keep their home in the Sierra Tarahumara alive through ritual, memory, and thread. This episode follows their narrative embroidery, showing how, amid violence and displacement, storytelling turns into a form of remembrance, resistance, and survival.

To read more about Coloradas de la Virgen and the history of the embroidered map project, check out anthropologist Margarita Rivera Arrivillaga & photographer Raúl Fernando Pérez Lira's work here: https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/...

SEEDS OF HOPE

SEED: The Untold Story

As many irreplaceable seeds near extinction, SEED: The Untold Story reveals the harrowing and heartening story of passionate seed keepers as they wage a David and Goliath battle against chemical seed companies, defending a 12,000 year food legacy. SEED features Dr. Jane Goodall, Vandana Shiva, Andrew Kimbrell, and Winona Laduke.

The award-winning SEED comes from the creators of Queen of the Sun: What are the Bees Telling Us? and The Real Dirt on Farmer John. SEED: The Untold Story is Executive Produced by Marisa Tomei, Marc Turtletaub (Little Miss Sunshine), and Phil Fairclough (Grizzly Man, Cave of Forgotten Dreams).

About the film here.

FOOD SOVEREIGNTY

Seeds of Vandana Shiva

Many of us remain trapped in the “monoculture of the mind” while contributing to our destruction. We must broaden our understanding and acknowledge that we can create biodiversity while feeding the world and we can work towards addressing climate change while fostering biodiversity, these pursuits are not mutually exclusive.

For The Wild conversation: Dr. Vandana Shiva on the Emancipation of Seed, Water and Women

BBC interview with Vandana Shiva on why the food we eat matters.

HEART & SOIL

Kiss the Ground

It’s not just about confronting the realities of climate change, it’s about land stewardship, food freedom, empowerment of the common people and creatively responding to global challenges that affect us all…

Another must-watch is their follow-up film Common Ground.

SUBVERSIVE ECOLOGY

He Planted Food in the Wild… Now It’s a Federal Case

He carved the words “EAT ME” into the land using native seeds—what looks like destruction may actually be restoration. Michael calls it: “Terra-Ist — planting weapons of mass creation.” This is a deeper look into wild tending, land stewardship, and a radically different relationship with the natural world—one where people participate with the land instead of extracting from it.

This moment has become something bigger. There is now a petition aiming to establish the right to “wild tend” and recognize the importance of restoring native food systems. The goal is 100,000 signatures. Michael’s first court date is May 4th in Boise, Idaho, at the federal courthouse next to Veterans Park. Those who feel called to support can be present nearby in the park. This isn’t just about one person. It’s about whether people have the right to restore the land they live on.

For more of his renegade wisdom and lifestyle… Join Michael Ridge as he gives us a little tour and education in Traditional indigenous food gardens.

GUERILLA GARDENING

The devastating cost of America’s favorite plant | A guide to the revolution

Lawns are choking us to death. This is a handmade blueprint for fighting back.

get the zine here: https://mixam.com/print-on-demand/69b...

For more like this check out ‪‪@CrimePaysButBotanyDoesnt‬

Chapters: 0:00 Intro 1:34 Drastic Measures 2:28 Gravity of the Situation 3:10 The Plan 4:43 An Entangled Life 7:30 A Disentangled Life 9:33 The Plan Takes Shape 11:16 The Dirt on Lawns 14:40 How the Plan Will Work 16:05 The Final Lawn Problem 19:23 The Final Step in the Plan 20:55 Finishing the Job

A RETURN TO ROOTS

Decolonizing your plate | Deeply Rooted

Colonization and assimilation took away customs and traditional foods from native communities. Now, local farmers, educators and nutritionists are bringing back indigenous knowledge of food systems. Growing and serving traditional, locally sourced foods helps people reconnect to the land and to their history, in the process making choices better for both the environment and their health.

LOCAL INDIGENOUS FARE

Dawn Butterly Café: A Recipe for Healing in Taos Pueblo

TAOS, N.M. — Shipping containers sit on family land belonging to Carpio J. Bernal Jr., who goes by CJ, outside Taos Pueblo. After overcoming numerous obstacles and delays, those shipping containers are now a restaurant—130 seats, a full kitchen, a year-round operation…!

“I don’t call myself a chef,” Bernal said. “I just have a big interest in food and how it affects us as people.”

To understand Bernal’s vision, order his signature porridge, the “Red, White and Blue.” The name is intentionally loaded and comes with certain expectations: Fourth of July picnics, maybe a toothpick flag planted in the bowl. What arrives is a striking bowl of Hopi blue and white corn, bisected down the middle. One side is bright and sweet, with wild blueberries and a drizzle of local chokecherry honey. The other offers a savory, aromatic counterpoint: a fine dusting of juniper ash, created by roasting cedar and juniper branches over an open flame. The result is a quiet, edible land acknowledgment, made with ingredients that have populated the high desert for millennia.

“It has all the colors of the American flag in it,” he explains. “But it represents the decolonizing of food.”

Full article here.

You can enjoy the fruits of CJ’s vision and support his endeavor to educate and returning his community to healthier ways by visiting the new Dawn Butterfly Café restaurant. Their grand opening will be this July 18th!

Reserve a table for their grand opening.

Hours:
Tuesday to Thursday 8am-2:30pm
Friday to Sunday 8:30am-3pm
Closed Mondays

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Explore more Taos Pueblo cuisine at the Tiwa Kitchen.

Debbie and Ben Sandoval are part of generations of Taos Pueblo - a Native American community that has inhabited New Mexico for over a thousand years. Together they own and operate Tiwa Kitchen, a restaurant serving indigenous cuisine with a blend of New Mexican flavors. They bake bread in their handbuilt horno - an outdoor oven that has been part of Taos Pueblo culture for hundreds of years - and offer other menu items that incorporate local ingredients like piñon nuts, chokecherries, plums, blue corn and squash.

WILD & FREE

Wild Mushroom Hunting in Northern New Mexico

Longtime Taos residents Vreni Kronenberg and Pavel Lukes have been hunting for mushrooms in the mountains of Northern New Mexico for decades, collecting pounds of chanterelles, king boletes and white caps during monsoon season — from mid-June through September. Learn about their love of collecting edible fungi in this short documentary by the Taos News. Filmed and directed by Daniel Pearson; edited by Daniel Pearson and John Miller.

SACRED ACTS OF LEGISLATION

A New Bill Could Help Protect the Sacred Seeds of Indigenous People

Traditional seed varieties cultivated for generations have far fewer protections than modified or hybrid seeds. Six senators have introduced legislation to level the playing field.

Clayton Brascoupé has farmed in the red-brown foothills of New Mexico’s Sangre de Cristo Mountains for more than 45 years. A Mohawk-Anishnaabe originally from a New York reservation, Brascoupé married into the Pueblo of Tesuque tribe and has since planted at least 60 varieties of corns, beans, squashes, and other heirloom crops grown for millennia by the area’s Native Americans.

For more than three decades, he has taught other indigenous farmers about sustainable agricultural practices, seed saving, healthy eating, and traditional food production. With seed diversity loss a grave concern in recent years, Brascoupé has been cataloguing the seeds stored by his own family. But earlier this spring, two of his tool sheds burned down, destroying several dozen varieties.

Read the full article here.

FAMILY HEIRLOOMS

Pueblo Seed Saving at Flowering Tree Permaculture Institute - Santa Clara Pueblo

Roxanne Swentzell, president and co-founder of Flowering Tree Permaculture Institute, has been saving seeds in the Pueblo region of northern New Mexico for the last 40 years. Flowering Tree Permaculture Institute (FTPI) was established in 1987 at the homesite of Roxanne in Santa Clara Pueblo located in northern New Mexico. This Native American woman-run nonprofit promotes Indigenous ways of living. It offers training, workshops, and hands-on learning about earth building, traditional agriculture, and climate resilience. The group works with tribal communities, farmers, and aspiring seed keepers from the region and beyond. FTPI operates from two homesteads and serves as a space for cultural and ecological education. FTPI has two seed banks that support Indigenous agriculture and seed saving at Santa Clara Pueblo in New Mexico. The first is at the home of FTPI president Roxanne and was built using passive design and materials like adobe, straw, and wood. It protects seeds from pests and also serves as a space to cure squash and gourds. The second seed bank, adjacent to the community space and lodging, holds a larger collection, including samples of rare Hopi corn. Some seeds come from Roxanne’s grandparents, and others were recovered from the ashes of a fire that damaged a neighboring seed bank. Roxanne, along with interns and visiting learners, tends the collection through harvesting, drying, germination testing, and careful storage. Learn more at https://www.floweringtreepermaculture...

CIRCLE OF LIFE

Seed Story: The Genius of Local

Canola. Soybeans. Corn. Flax. Buffalo berry. Pea shrub. Kochia. Russian thistle. Barley. Oats. Bearberry. Acorns. I pull the translucent, gummy skin of the crop, also known as a craw, from the turkey’s chest. This pouch extends from the esophagus of gallinaceous birds and is part of the mechanical digestion process. I tug the crop from the tubes and muscles that embed them within the slender throats of this and other upland birds I hunt. I twist the skin to seal the little pouches and set them to dry on the piano. The crops rest, like plump, translucent orbs, with the seeds inside pushing against the thin skein as it dries like a veiny shrink wrap around them.

The seeds within the bodies of these birds tell a story of time and place, of connection among plant, animal, and human, between domestic agriculture and wildlife habitat. Birds like pheasant, grouse, partridge, quail, and turkey sip from cool acequias and peck insects while cruising the fields. They meander between rows of cultivated food, in dense shelter belts that protect against wind and soil erosion, and traverse property boundaries, ducking under barbed wire and flying over barns. A flock of twenty-three turkeys moves like methodical grazers from a cottonwood bosque through an alfalfa field in Springer, late winter snow melting into their iridescent wings and fringed tails. The landowner tells me they’re there all the time. She can’t believe anyone would find it hard to hunt them. “They’re everywhere!”

Read the full article here.

BE A SOWER

Local Resources

Our local Sangre de Cristo Audubon Society offers native plant services that can offer guidance and resources for what to plant in our area and for what purposes; contact: President@AudubonSantaFe.org

Southwest Seed Partnership - SWSP is an excellent resource for effectively reseeding portions of our GW community (particularly to avoid seeding with invasive species or otherwise tainted commercial seed blends supposedly customized for our region).

For a community seed dispersal project, find out “How to make a seed ball” here.

Michael Crofoot – Native Seed Harvest and Sowing - expert in bioremediation efforts and making seed balls! - (505) 934-8818