Cherokee Nation seeds tradition: Over 8,000 heirloom seed packages will go to citizens

A lot of people across Green Country are anxious to get their gardens ready.

The Cherokee Nation offers a program every year to its citizens who want to grow traditional Cherokee crops.

The seed bank provides heirloom seeds for crops like corn and beans, and they’re getting ready to distribute them.

With these seeds, Cherokee citizens like Feather Smith can get back in touch with their roots.

“They’re sacred,” she said. “Because they take care of us, it’s our job to take care of them.”

Feather runs the Cherokee Nation Heirloom Garden and Native Plant Site, where they prepare heirloom seeds to send out to tribal citizens. 8,000 packages of seeds will go to Cherokee citizens across the U.S this year.

“It’s very, very rewarding, and then we are able to get these seeds back into Cherokee hands,” she said.

Feather loves to hear the experiences of those who get the seeds.

She and her team work year-round—from planting in the summer to harvesting in the fall—to cultivate these rare plants, which represent centuries of Cherokee tradition. There are dozens of varieties, and most of them trace back to before the Trail of Tears.

“We have tested it through genetic testing, and these are as pure as you can get in terms of the descendants of those seeds that our people used,” said Cherokee Nation Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr.

He says it’s a fun way to connect people to their culture..

Feather says they’re expanding with another garden site. And they want more groups to harvest seeds, so even more will be available to distribute in the future.

“This is such an important, integral part of our culture that getting to work with this is almost at some points in time kind of surreal,” she said.

A part of their culture they hope will keep growing in popularity, one seed at a time.

Seed packages can be requested online through the Gadugi Portal.

If you have Something Good you would like to share, email us at Somethinggoodnewson6@griffin.news