"In north-western New Mexico, traditional Indigenous farming methods are being passed down to protect against the effects of climate crisis".
"On a windy winter day in Acoma Pueblo in north-western New Mexico, Aaron Lowden knelt beside a field near the San Jose River, the tribe’s primary irrigator for centuries.
“The soil has been building up,” said Lowden, an Indigenous seed keeper and farmer, pushing his hand into the soft, dark dirt at the base of a stalk of dried Acoma blue corn. In the summer, this otherwise dry stretch of land turns into a “food forest”, said Lowden, pulling up a photo on his phone showing lush rows of corn, intercropped with Hopi yellow beans, and Acoma winter squash – the “three sisters” of Pueblo agriculture.
On the edges of the field are giant heirloom sunflowers – used to attract pollinators – and rows of amaranth. “By companion cropping, you’re replicating those systems you see in nature,” said Lowden, describing the traditional Indigenous practice of interplanting crops to deter weeds and pests, maintain moisture and enrich the soil. “This is thousands of years of knowledge passed down,” he added.
For the past decade, Lowden, 34, has worked to restore traditional crops and farming practices in Acoma. As program director for Ancestral Lands, a non-profit that supports land stewardship in Indigenous communities, he reintroduced traditional Acoma crops into the community and created a bank of 57 arid-adapted seeds native to the region."
Samuel Gilbert reports for the Guardian April 18, 2022.
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