Colorado Plateau Advocate magazine, Spring 2015
Rose Marie Williams looks out on her family’s cornfields with a shy smile, reciting her family’s farming story to an esteemed group of intertribal elders. She explains how her grandfather used to wake her and her siblings early, insisting they follow tribal teachings and run amongst Haasch’eelti’I, the morning gods. She tells of the grueling discipline required to lay out each field correctly, to capture every drop of water and withstand the winds and sandstorms, to bank the strongest seeds, and apply natural pesticides.
She tells of her youthful struggles to follow this path, her wanderings, the allure of leisurely city life.
Rose Marie’s traditional methods yield a harvest sought after at the local farmers market. She has also played a pivotal role in countering the trend of Native youth being acculturated into “easier” western life, instilling her passion and work ethic in her grandson Richard, a handsome and poised young man who is quietly following in her footsteps.
Yet, it is their methods and understanding of water, wind, soil, plants, insects, and ancient songs and prayers, that offer the area tribes, and humanity, the best chance for survival.
Over the past two years, the Intertribal Gatherings process has supported farmers from twelve tribes, encouraging them to share their traditional farming methods as a hedge against the forecasted impacts of climate change. Their stories and methods are now featured in an exhibit, “Preserving Our Seeds and Farmer Knowledge,” at the newly opened Intertribal Learning Center at Moenkopi Legacy Inn across from Tonaneesdizí ("web of springs spreading out amongst the fields"). Moenkopi Village, near present day Tuba City, where the new learning center is located, was a historical transit point for those traveling from the eastern Hopi Mesas to the Grand Canyon.
