by Chris Azbell
Hesci readers….Hope you are resting up from a fun filled Mvskoke Festival. I can’t believe it is already over. Always seems to take forever to get here and it is gone before you know it. I guess, that is kind of like life. My grandma used to say, “Live it up. Treasure your friends and family. It goes by so quick.” In the spirt of her advice, I want to talk about building “community” around agriculture.
Community is built via shared space, shared experiences, shared interests, and shared language. Over the last five months, I have taken the opportunity to speak with many Mvskoke citizens directly and there is an emerging trend that reflects a strong desire to engage in traditional agricultural activity. The world following the Covid-19 pandemic seems to have released the inner spirt of humanity to re-focus on the things that matter most such as food sovereignty, food security, and ending food scarcity.
Remarkably, Mvskoke people have been doing these things since the beginning of time. Today, it is reflected in such activity as three sisters gardening, canning, gathering, aquaponics, hydroponics, ranching, and freeze drying to name a few. The issue that we have currently is that many people are several generations removed from what was once considered to be common knowledge. How do you properly can tomatoes? How do you pickle beets or cucumbers? How do you ensure food safety when engaging in food preservation techniques?
As an Extension Coordinator of the College of the Muscogee Nation, my job is to bring this training and education directly to the people and that is exactly what I plan to do. Are you interested in bee keeping? Poultry management? Safe processing techniques and selling of chicken eggs? Regardless of the program, we will eventually have it available for you. The real challenge is prioritizing educational programs that will be immediately impactful and meaningful to the people. This is where I need your help. E-mail me your programming ideas: cazbell@cmn.edu. All ideas are accepted. Wild onion gathering. Blackberry harvesting. Jelly making. Cannister gardening. Cattle ranching. It could literally be anything agriculture related. The list of possibilities goes on and on. We just need your input.
The CMN Extension Program is relatively new and we are currently laying out our programming schedule for the next year at this very moment. Now is the time to impact our decision making. At the end of the day, always remember that CMN Extension is your Extension. Let’s build some community together.