Updates on our 2021 Growing Season

She:kon Sewakwé:kon,

We are so excited to share what we've been up to with you! With the guidance of our elders, mentors, and knowledge keepers, we have been following the Haudenosaunee Lunar Calendar to guide what ROSP does throughout the year.
​Check out our progress below!

Otsikhè:ta / Wáhta Wenhnì:tare​ (Sugar Moon)

During the Otsikhè:ta Wenhnì:tare we started our Tomato, Tomatillo, and Ground Cherry seedlings indoors. Since we don't have a winterized greenhouse (yet), Erin started them in her kitchen window. Seedlings like tomatoes and peppers take a really long time to grow, so we started them on the Half Waxing Moon (March 19th). The sugar run was kind of crazy this year, and those Wahta told us what we should expect for our growing season.

That being said, one of our long term goals is to have a small winterized greenhouse that can be run in the colder months to prepare all of the seedlings for the planting season. Seedlings are crazy expensive! Since its the sugar moon, We're also hoping to get a sugar bush running eventually. ​If you would like to donate towards this, please email us or donate here.

Ratiwé:ras Wenhnì:tare (Thunder Moon)

This is the time when the land is instructed to wake up by our grandfathers! Everyone around us begins to green and all of the plants begin to sprout from the ground. During this time we were doing all sorts of planning for the season. We hosted our T-Shirt Fundraiser, planned out what we hoped the garden would look like, figured out logistics for drought preparation, started preparing the soil, acquiring things like mulch, straw, manure, and networked with community and possible partnerships for the future.

Do you know the difference between healthy soil and unhealthy soil? Healthy soil has all sorts of bacteria, microbes, insects, and is usually a dark brown or black color. We are hoping to restore the soil health at the garden over time, and this requires adding all sorts of fun stuff. Mulch, manure, organic compost, leaves, straw, wood chips, etc... If you know anyone that would like to donate a truckload (or two, or five) of organic compost. Please reach out to us!

Tewayénthos Wenhnì:tare (Planting Moon)

On May 8th & 9th we added a strawberry patch to the garden and over the weekend of May 21st - 24th, we (13 Indigenous youth, 6 Adults, and 4 children under 10 years old) planted the majority of the Revitalizing our Sustenance garden. Holy Heck it was a lot of work! But oh man was it fulfilling. Check out the map below to see what we planted! Over the next few weeks we'll be tending to the garden, watering, weeding, and ensuring all of the seeds we planted have their best chance of survival. Many of the seeds we planted are Haudenosaunee varieties. Click here to see and learn more about them. In order to better serve their needs, we need a bigger irrigation system. If you would like to donate towards this, please email us or donate here.

​Covid Notes:
We keep our distance, and most of us have one or both vaccines. ​When at the garden, we don't have any large groups and since the garden is over 3 acres, there is lots of space to distance ourselves. 
​We keep up to date with the latest information from the Centre for Disease Control and the Haudenosaunee Confederacy.

Ken’ niyohontéhsha Wenhnì:tare (Strawberry Moon)

Its been busy over at the garden these days. Holy heck its been busy. During this time we went strawberry picking (Fitting. haha), but we also went Serviceberry Picking! Have you ever had a service berry? They also called Saskatoon Berries depending on where you are. If you've never heard of them before, we highly recommend checking out The Serviceberry by Robin Wall-Kimmerer. You should definitely try them, they are so tasty and Native to Turtle Island! We actually liked them so much that we asked @tree.logical to grow the seeds out for us, so that hopefully we can start a small patch of Service Berry Bushes at the garden!

During this moon cycle, we have also been tending to the garden. A lot. There are a good handful of about 10 of us that each spend 10 or more hours a week weeding. So. Much. Weeding. We started using Straw on top of the three sisters mounds to help with water retention and weed suppression. So far so good! Having the ability to give youth an honorarium for their hard work feels really good. A big Nya:wen to all of our current funders for supporting us through this.

Orhótsheri Wenhnì:tare (Green Beans Moon)

The garden is exploding with life! All of the rains have really helped all of the plants produce tons of food for the community. We've been spending time tending to the garden as per usual, but this moon cycle is the Green beans moon. Which means many things to Onkwehonwe (Haudenosaunee Peoples), but it also means that certain foods are ready for harvest! We've harvested green beans for longhouse ceremonies, and we've also harvested veggies like lettuce, peppers, and cucumbers for donation out into community food banks and food cupboards like:
-Ganohkwasra
-Six Nations Iroquois Lodge
-Healthy6Nay
-Six Nations Free Essentials Little Pantry

We've started to realize we're going to need a small tractor!
​If you know anyone who has a functioning tractor that they might like to donate, please have them contact us! We'd love to have one by next planting season.

Small Fact:
For those of you who have never been to Six Nations, did you know that there is no grocery store? That's right folks, even through it takes like 15 minutes to drive from one side to the other, our community doesn't have our own grocery store. Which is just another reason why growing food in and for the community is so important to us. For those in Six without a vehicle, accessing fresh fruits and veggies is nearly impossible. 

Okahseró:ta Wenhnì:tare (Green Corn Moon)

During the time of the Green Corn moon, is when all of the White corn is in its milk stage. Erin had the opportunity to spend some time with Elva Jamieson, one of the Cayuga Faithkeepers, to learn more about what needs to get done during this time in the garden. 
We learned very quickly that the green corn phase comes and goes really quickly! So next year we will be ready. We almost missed it! We harvested 180 cobs of green corn and then Erin and Elva prepared them in three different ways. All of the green corn we prepared will be saved for community feasts.

Hopefully in our future cooking classes we will learn how to prepare some of the foods the green corn is used in :) It smelled so good roasting in the oven, and we even had a mid day snack with lots of butter. Everything tastes better with butter.

Yeyenthókwas Wenhnì:tare (Harvest Moon)

For the next while at the garden it is the harvest moon, and that means its the most wonderful time of the year! All throughout this period we will be harvesting and hosting harvest workshops, we also had tons of fun meeting new people from other communities. We hosted corn harvesting workshops and other Indigenous youth from Hamilton, Toronto, Kitchener-Waterloo, and Ottawa came to visit us! Check out the photos.

A huge thank you (Nyawen'ko:wa) to our Funders and Donors

Revitalizing our Sustenance Project
Located in Six Nations of the Grand River Territory​
revitalizingoursustenance@gmail.com
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