Season 33 (2022)
BOOKSHELF + COMMUNITY
“The one who plants trees, knowing that he will never sit in their shade, has at least started to understand the meaning of life.”
We stayed with friends at their lake house near Park Rapids, Minnesota recently, and they thoughtfully created a stack of books that focused on the area. The book that caught my attention was The Seed Keeper by Diane Wilson. Maybe it was the beautiful cover or my love for gardening that encouraged me to pick it up, but when I began reading I found myself immersed in Rosalie’s world and read the book for the rest of our trip.
I wasn’t able to complete the book before we needed to leave, but that meant that we had even more reason to visit Birch Bark Books in Minneapolis, Minnesota and purchase my own copy of The Seed Keeper before heading back home to Austin.
There are so many excellent independent bookstores in Minnesota. We visited Birch Bark Books in Minneapolis and Beagle & Wolf Bookstore in Park Rapids (both can be found on the map of Minnesota’s independent bookstores).
As a gardener, I’ve always marveled at the way seeds emerge even under the most difficult circumstances. While reading The Seed Keeper by Diane Wilson, I was reminded of how our life experiences shape us and ask us to face the strong winds, pouring rain, intense sun while still finding a way to grow.
“They tried to bury us. They didn't know we were seeds.”
- Mexican Proverb
Rosalie’s story is a journey in finding her roots so that she doesn't feel she was drifting “like a dried leaf in autumn blowing in a new direction with each gust of wind.” Inside of her was a latent ancestral desire to grow plants. As Rosalie gardens and gathers both the medicinal plants of her youth and the stories of her family, she begins to awaken the whispers of her ancestors and the role that seeds have played in her own story.
Taken into foster care after her father’s death from a heart attack early in the story meant the timing of the removal from her home and the life she knew was before the passing of The Indian Child Welfare Act in 1978. Until that date children were not placed first with their own family or someone in their tribe and often put into the foster care system without having contact with family members.
Over time, Rosalie makes her way back to her childhood home, but her formative years were filled with questions of belonging and identity.
“After so many years, I felt the slow rise of a river that would carry me away from the life I knew.”
“Coming home was like swimming upstream, searching for the beginning, for the clean, unmuddied waters of my childhood.”
-Rosalie Iron Wing from The Seed Keeper
On our visit to Minnesota, we were able to admire the tiny stream in Itasca State Park that is home to the headwaters of the Mní Sota Wakpá (Mississippi River). So much of the book is about those waters. How we respect or pollute the Mní Sota Wakpá along the way affects its path all the way to the Gulf of Mexico.
“We all depend on each other to survive. The plants we gather give their lives; the deer gives its life. Someday we will give ours, too. You have to be respectful knowing that a plant’s or animal’s life is a gift that allows us to live. You never take more than you need.”
-Rosalie Iron Wing from The Seed Keeper
Woven through the book are historic facts about the European settlement of Minnesota which involved the US-Dakhóta War of 1862 where Dakhóta people were removed from their land by gunpoint (and “lucky” families who survived the war and relocation were “allowed” to repurchase that land later). Soon after the families had returned home, children were often forcefully taken from families (some as young as 4 years old) to attend residential schools where priests and nuns demanded the students change the way they prayed as well as had their language and culture ripped away from them in order to assimilate to European and Christian standards. Many students were abused by those same priests and nuns.
“I had never thought about my family’s story in that way. The seeds were saved by generations of women who believed their work was essential to their families’ survival. Not just as food, but as an expression of who they were.”
-Rosalie Iron Wing from The Seed Keeper
Sown into the hems of their skirts, the courageous Dakhóta seed keepers ensured that the future generations would not be without food by tucking those seeds into a safe place. I’m moved by this book because through this telling of a multi-generational story, we are able to understand the way trauma, wisdom, and a sense of belonging and identity move through a family. The historical reality helps us to understand each other, have empathy for those who have experienced immense pain, to take action for future generations, and to embrace caring for this earth we share. Rosalie’s story is the story of a seed emerging once it connects with its roots.
“History might have cost me my family and my language, but I was reclaiming a relationship with the earth, water, stars, and seeds that were thousands of years old.”
-Rosalie Iron Wing from The Seed Keeper
*Find content warnings for this book and many others on StoryGraph
*The audiobook version is on sale for $5.99 as of 8/12/22 ($)
*Be sure to check out Libro.fm’s Instagram post highlighting Indigenous narrators like Bronwyn Szabo, Erin Tripp, Gary Farmer, Rainy Fields, Isabella Star LeBlanc, Cara Gee, and Shaun Taylor-Corbett.
Stolen: Surviving St. Michael’s - A podcast series (there are 8 episodes) about how Connie Walker, an investigative journalist, and her Cree family fit into the history of the residential school system in Canada and the trauma that has been passed down from her father’s abuse at St. Michael’s. (St. Michael’s was one of the last residential schools in Canda to close and later burned down in 2001).
*Due to the abuse that happened at residential schools, there are many triggers in these podcast episodes to be aware of before you listen. Specific content warnings are listed in the introduction in the link below. (Thank you to @nehiyanahk_creations on Instagram for mentioning this resource on her IG feed)
HOME + TRAVEL
The beginning of a new school year always feels like a fresh start. A new season beckons when the days are a little stale after a long hot summer.
I’ll share Back-to-School ideas in next Friday’s blog post, but for now, I’m savoring the last week of summer break and taking what I learned from reading The Seed Keeper and holding it close to my heart as I process the wisdom of seeds and plants and the heartbreaking realities of our nation’s history. I’m using this time to learn how I can take action for future generations.
Vacation time over, but still wish you were traveling? Here are a few Travel Memoirs to Take You Around the World From the Comfort of Your Couch.
GARDEN + NATURE
Painted buntings and a young cardinal take their turns at our birdbath this summer
Don’t forget that bird migration begins August 15th here in Texas. Join your community in turning out the lights from 11pm-6am to help birds migrating through our area. Find out more at Lights Out Texas! On the website you can get images for social media or print out signs to alert your neighborhood using their ready-to-use artwork.
I’ve been noticing a few hummingbirds and titmice collecting material for nests, so I’ll be placing my order soon for more alpaca fur ($) to fill up the nesting balls hanging in the back of our yard. Have you ever seen a hummingbird nest in person? It’s truly a work of art.
Interested in learning more about Minnesota’s outdoor adventures, protecting natural resources, and planting forward? Be sure to check out America Outdoors with Baratunde Thurston - Minnesota: A Better World
Eugenia Diaz and her YouTube channel video reminded me of the beauty of waking up early, tending to the garden, and taking time to enjoy the harvest as the garden slows in the late summer months asking us to take a pause. (*video has sound)
WELLNESS + CREATIVITY
“If you can’t find joy in a cup of coffee, you won’t find it in a yacht”
I had to laugh at this very true statement from a recent Malama Life YouTube video. Fulfillment is often found in what may appear to be mundane daily tasks. The opportunity to feel contentment is always abundant in the simple moments in life. We don’t have to chase it down. Simple living helps us appreciate those small moments.
I’m sharing videos from some of my favorite YouTube channels in this week’s blog post as a way to remind this community to find time every day where you notice and appreciate the simple joys in daily life, those often found in nature and with the people we love.
“Sometimes the source of your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile is the source of your joy.”
-Thich Nhat Hanh quotation from Malama Life’s You Tube video on simple joys
“You must fall in love with life again and again.”
-Paola Merrill from The Cottage Fairy on YouTube
A sunset over the lake on our vacation in Minnesota.
I’d love to hear about your simple joys in life right now. Share in the comments below this post. Enjoy your weekend!
I read once that if there is something that you want to do, but you're not sure how to get there, just begin.
Writing blog posts for 52 Seasons is a creative journey into the expressions that come from my heart: writing, photography, tending a garden, immersing myself in nature, reading stories from voices that need to be heard and sharing them with others, keeping a home, being an advocate for education and basic human rights, and sharing resources with others.
Get involved in your community. VOTE. Speak out. Volunteer. One small action can create momentum for change.
“Do your little bit of good where you are. It’s those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.” -Desmond Tutu