Have you assessed needs in your community? If so, how?
Files:
Spring Garden Workshops (pdf)
Seed Distribution Event
For several years, the Menominee Tribal Clinic and a host of other local service providers have worked collaboratively to distribute garden seeds to Menominee community members and to encourage local growing. Each spring during the early years of this Menominee Wellness Initiative, we would leave boxes of seed packets at locations throughout the community so that people could pick them up for their home gardens. While giving away seeds was a good effort, we were missing an opportunity to engage with the community and learn together. Over time, the Menominee Wellness Initiative began moving towards connecting language and culture to the collective work we were doing and the seed distribution evolved into a large annual event where Menominee cultural values were integrated with the seed distribution. This large event continued to evolve and grow through developing partnerships with the Menominee Wellness Initiative. The following are descriptions of ongoing intentional planning efforts that reflect community values: Seed selection. Seeds selected for community distribution must be heirloom and saveable for future growing seasons. Research was conducted throughout the winter of 2019 in collaboration with the University of Wisconsin-Madison so that cultivars appropriate for this growing zone were selected. All seeds were native to the area, open-pollinated, and organic. Community education. At this event, local service providers are invited to set up booths and tables to share information about their department. This also helps build relationships between community members and service providers. Our only ask of our service providers every year is to share tips with the community on how to be healthier. Menominee language. Key to connecting to the land is building relationships with the Menominee language. For all seeds selected, we tied the Menominee language to the fruit or vegetable grown and provided growing and harvesting instructions.
Menominee spirituality. Each year, a Menominee elder shared a prayer to bless the seeds and hopes for a good growing season. A community feast was held to celebrate the start of the growing
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