Meditations with the Cherokee by J. T. Garrett

Author:J. T. Garrett [J. T. Garrett]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Inner Traditions/Bear & Company
Published: 2011-04-18T00:00:00+00:00

Lessons from Green Corn

It is my hope that the reader will never look at an ear of corn again without associating it with the elder woman Selu. The sacrifice of hard work and toil to plant, grow, and harvest our food should be good reason to thank our farmers for the gift of food. We are to eat slowly and give thanks for the nutritious and healing qualities of food as we share this special time with family and friends.

Many lessons for life can be learned from planting and growing food. Young people can learn discipline by working in the fields or in a garden. As a youngster, I had the chore of cutting down and preparing the planting area. I spent many hours raking out stones and finding broken arrowheads and pieces of pottery. The rows went from north to south, with the tallest plants on the north and east sides of the field. The early crops of lettuce, peas, and spinach were sown first, then space was made for crops such as tomatoes and peppers for the hot season. Succession planting began with early lettuce, followed by carrots or radishes, then beets. There was a design to our planting. Corn and beans shared the same space so that the bean plants could climb the corn stalks.

The elders said to me, “Sowing the seeds for food is the same as sowing the seeds of life. If you do not have a plan and discipline yourself to that plan, you will end up in trouble with a young lady and your life.” In the planting field there was time for families to talk about what was going on as everyone worked together. Preparing and planting the fields for food was a family time. We referred to this time as a time for planting seeds that will be food for our bodies, and it was also a time for the adults and teachers to plant “spirit” seeds in us for the “food of life.” Some of my fondest memories of my father are of our working in the garden. As a young boy I also had some wonderful conversations with my mother about life when we planted flowers. One of the most difficult things for me to do was to thin out the plants. I really hated to see any of them be pulled and left to go back to Mother Earth without seeing their plant life come to fruition. I also realized that unless the seedlings were thinned, the radishes would not form bulbs. I learned that lesson the hard way. Some of my carrots did not grow, and the lettuce did not produce when it was crowded. The elders said, “You are learning that there is a reason for everything we do. We learn these things from our ancestors so we don’t make the same mistakes. Such is life itself. Always listen to the wisdom of the elders. They understand life.”

The food of life was also the food of spirit.

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