In the most recent Bean Box I sent Tepary, Phaseolus acutifolius, sourced from the Indigenous farming project: Ramona Farms. https://ramonafarms.com/ . In the first box I sent P vulgaris, which is the common bean we all know, from green beans to pintos and cannellini and more. In the next box I’m sending Lima Beans, P lunatus, and Runner Beans, P coccineus.
In the box that’s about to be released I’m sending peanuts, Arachis hypogaea, and in the box I just sent, I included the Mesquite. There are many other notable bean family plants in the Americas, such as Hopniss, the other Locust Trees, Red Bud, and so on.
The recognition of the genocide against the indigenous communities to this land should always be front and center in our own developing relationship with this place.
Every month I give money to the Chinook Nation to help in their fight for unceded land at the mouth of the Columbia River. Where possible, in this bean project, I’ve tried to source from indigenous lead projects, like Ramona Farms, and I am eager to learn about and support more.
Because of the ubiquity of the common bean, each of us interacts with a primary crop cultivated by Native Americans almost every day. Each day we have a moment to learn about and remember history, even if it is difficult, and, in the place where we are now, with the resources we have, we have an opportunity to strengthen our relationships and help our families, neighbors, and communities gain back the land that was stolen from them.
Do not be bogged down by thinking about these issues to the point of in-action, rather, give them their space and move now to help. If you breath this air, walk in these forests, and mountains, and plains, and deserts, if you eat this food, you have a role in helping.
Considering the abundance of beans, squash, corn, chilis, tomato, potato, peanuts, and so on during this time of year it is an extreme insult to celebrate the originating point of the genocide and Great Exchange (a term for the “Columbian Exchange” that attempts to de-center Europe).
It is also important to remember that modern national boundaries, like interstates, arbitrarily cut communities that, on the land, are not separate. As Joan Baez and Bob Dylan sang in Plane Crash Over Los Gatos Canyon aka Deportees,
We died in your hills, we died in your deserts
We died in your valleys and died on your plains
We died ‘neath your trees and we died in your bushes
Both sides of the river, we died just the same.
To that end, especially given the assault on indigenous people in their own land working as farmers, I support the UFW, United Farm Workers, every month.
What matters most is the next choice we make, and I hope sometime this week if you’re not already engaged in helping our neighbors regain their place on this land then, wherever you are, find a project, like how I support the Chinook Nation or how I seek out indigenous museums or events or food, and begin something to help. From donating to helping with an ICE protest to visiting a tribal museum.
This is all still something that I am thinking about, I don’t have any good answers, I try to follow what our leaders in these communities teach us, but I can’t let another one of these holidays go by without acknowledging its harm in the small platform I have with this project.
Please let me know if any of this is out of line or totally off base,
Brian
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