Indegenious cultures have historically practiced agriculture from a position that is deeply centered in a particular landscape. There was little difference between “wild” and “farmed” in cultures indegenious to the land called Turtle Island. This led to relationships which sought to understand and work within the natural cycles and patterns of the elements, plants and animals, supporting and caring for them in ways yielded the food supply needed to sustain the many people who called the land home.
Hopi corn is an incredible example of this style of observational and interwoven relationship between people and food. Corn is a staple (core) crop to the peoples of the southwest. Having been cultivated starting 9,000 years ago from grass to the rich caloric and nutrient source, the corn we know today today has been grown for 2,000 years without irrigation. By planting in areas where the corn would most benefit from water as it cycled through the landscape, and carefully choosing for genetic traits that exhibited beauty and abundance, the Hopi were able to not only grow food within the natural cycles of the land where they lived but also grow it in such a way that enhanced the functioning of those cycles.
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