Harvey Knight, President of the Co-op explains: “My job as a gardener is to develop a relation with the plant, to see the plant as equal to me, to bring ourselves up to that level. It’s an approach where we make an agreement with the plant. We’ll nourish you, we’ll bring you up, we’ll take total care of you, so that you’ll grow up to be healthy and strong, and in turn, his part of the agreement is to give us Life.
How we observe that original agreement is through Ceremony. We have Corn Ceremonies, we have Potato Ceremonies, we have cermonies with virtually every plant that we grow for food. Many of the vegetables that we eat today, like potatoes, corn,beans, squash to name a few, these vegetables were first developed by Indigenous Americans thousands of years ago, and we’re reclaiming that heritage. The overall vision is our determination to reclaim a long rich heritage of indigenous agriculture that goes back to antiquity.”
Corinna Buller had been in the area for about a month and when she saw the Co-operative advertising for workers she applied immediately. “I think it’s so important for people to be working, that it ads a lot to experience. The toughest part of this job, the most complaints I hear about is the bending..the back” Co-worker Stephen Bear agrees “The work is hard, a lot of thistle, a lot of weeds but its actually pretty fulfilling when you watch the plants and see them grow and actually get to taste them.”
Above: Joe Munroe, Founding Member, Muscoday Organic Workers Co-op
Wisdom of the Three Sisters
“We have our three sisters plantings over there,” says Corinna, sharing some indigenous planting techniques: “those are quite interesting, they’re a traditional way of planting – you make a hill, kind of like a volcano crater and put your corn and your beans in the middle, and then you plant your squash on the outside and their roots interconnect and intertwine and they support each other, the beans will climb right up the corn stalks.”
Co-op worker Lynda Sanderson voices her concern about the importance of growing food organically: “All the other vegetables and that have chemicals in it and I think that’s what’s hurting people, what’s getting them sick, because the chemicals that are going into their bodies, so I think everybody should do it this way.”
“We’re taking people in the program that have generally not been in the work force ever in their life, or very little, or have a very poor experience in the work force.” says Joe, “These people have been on welfare, they’re learning job skills, they’re learning life skills and the capacity of the co-op is being developed”
“Maybe they could plant another 10 more acres next year and put twenty workers in the field”
“We have over 20,000 acres at Muscoday and this co-op has a quarte section here, 160 cultiated acres and another 350 acres across the road available, certified organic as well, we just haven’t got the financial means to farm it right now.”
