by Chris Azbell
Hesci readers, Happy Holidays and welcome back to another edition of “Chewing the Cud with CMN Extension”. Our Extension program is officially 12 months old and boy did we have a bumper crop this year. We went from not having a desk in November of 2023 to putting on a full food sovereignty summit in November of 2024. CMN Extension made some gigantic steps forward and is primed for a great year in 2025. As some of you may know, we have been working closely with Mvskoke Media to produce the first ever Mvskoke Gardening series featuring our very own, Ms. Courtney Natseway. Over the last year, we produced and released nine episodes comprised of horticultural information ranging from initial planting to harvesting to pest management to the importance of native pollinators. The series has been well received and we believe the sky is the limit as we inject creativity and new ideas into season 2. In 2025, the goal is to enhance the production by focusing on Mvskoke citizens. We want to highlight traditional ecological knowledge and focus on indigenous agricultural practices. The idea is to have an “Oklahoma Gardening” type of feel with a Mvskoke twist.
The challenge is connecting to the various citizens who would like to share their knowledge on various practices. Do you have knowledge about Mvskoke peaches? Does your family use a special type of corn for sofkee? Do you have any historical context on the making of blue dumplings? Where do possum grapes grow? There is an amazing amount of information out there and some of it can be shared to educate the upcoming generations and preserve some of our historical agricultural practices.
Eventually, the videos will be linked to our new website that is currently under development: www.extension.cmn.edu. The goal is to develop “fact sheets” on agricultural and horticultural related items that are important to the Mvskoke Nation. These have to be done in a cultural sensitive manner thus each fact sheet will be properly reviewed and vetted. For example, we have a plan to develop our first fact sheet highlighting “Yaupon – ilex vomitoria” and its connection to the Nation. This is the original caffeinated drink of North America and was especially important to the tribe.
With that said, we need your help on developing ideas for the Mvskoke Gardening Series as well as making requests for the development of specific fact sheets through CMN Extension. Our goal is for CMN Extension to become an information clearinghouse for anyone doing basic research on Mvskoke related items. There are a number of wonderful things happening at CMN Extension, hope to have another fruitful year. Email questions or ideas to extension@cmn.edu.