Food Gathering in town
Attendees at Tkà:nios’ last Haudenosaunee Food Gathering - this year’s event takes place tomorrow at the Mohawk Trail Longhouse. Courtesy Brooke Rice
From making maple sugar and planting tobacco, to bartering with guests from other nations, the Mohawk Trail Longhouse is set to be a hub of food sovereignty this weekend, as the second Haudenosaunee Food Gathering comes to town.
The event, which will take place from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. tomorrow, March 28, is organized by Tkà:nios, a local organization founded by community member Brooke Rice.
“The goal is collaboration, partnership, community, if we can get like-minded people and find alignment in our work, we can really get people excited to see what others are doing,” Rice said. “We’re trying to create that space for people who work with food who are interested in learning from others who have been doing it, and really build a network.”
Rice said that she wants the gathering to be a space not just for community members already working in the field of traditional foodways, but also for people who might not know anything about harvesting or food sovereignty, who are interested in learning more.
“I want people to just have courage to show up, because it’s a very welcoming, inviting, inclusive, warm space. We used to not know what we were doing, but someone handed us corn one day, and it’s been a journey ever since,” Rice said. “With it comes failure, you can lose a crop, lose some seedlings, but what matters is that you keep planting, and you learn from those mistakes.”
Rice has been planning the gathering with Ashley Morris Lyons, a project coordinator at Tkà:nios.
She said that she’s particularly excited for the invited speakers at the gathering - Angela Ferguson of the Onondaga Nation and Dr. Rebecca Webster, who is Oneida, will be giving keynote speeches about preserving traditional foodways, seed-keeping, and addressing climate change.
There will also be a discussion panel with Janice Brant, who is Mohawk from Tyendinaga, Kanehsata’kehró:non Atéhrhanonhne’ Rice, and Kahnawa’kehró:non Elaine Delaronde.
“We’re really bringing people together from different areas of the community, whether they’re already growers or hunters or fisherman, or maybe they’re just getting into it,” said Lyons.
“At Tkà:nios we really have a strong belief that everybody’s voice is important, and everybody brings a thread of knowledge to weave together.”
Lyons said that she’s excited to build on the success of Tkà:nios’ last gathering.
“There’s really strength in these gatherings and in coming together and bringing together people’s knowledge. There’s also space for healing in that,” she said. “I think on a local level, it really promotes discussion and awareness, and it builds our knowledge as a community.”
The event was initially inspired by Rice’s experience at a food gathering in Akwesasne, and Lyons said that having an event in Kahnawake is an important opportunity to build connections across communities.
“We’re inviting not just from our community and sister communities, but also other nations within the Confederacy, and other nations outside of the Confederacy as well,” she said. “It’s about bringing people together and reaffirming our relationships we have with one another.”
Rice said that she hopes each year Tkà:nios can build upon the success of their food gatherings, ultimately creating space in Kahnawake to build more connections around food sovereignty.
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“It’s inspiring, it’s motivating, and it’s exciting to have a vision and believe in that vision, to go through the growing pains and the hardships, but also to celebrate the successes of what it’s like to create a grassroots initiative,” she said. “This is a really dedicated team, and this isn’t just a job for us, it’s a way of life.”
