It’s a cool August morning at the Dream of Wild Healthfarm, 20 miles north of St. Paul, Minnesota.Soon after they arrive from their inner city homes, the

Native American teens, known here as ‘Garden Warriors,’make their way to the picnic table where bananas, cinnamonbread, and peanut butter and jelly await for a morning snack.In preparation for their busy day, they talk quietly with eachother, snack, fill water bottles, and greet their teachers.

First they will harvest the cucumbers, then clear thearugula beds. They will weed vegetable beds. The boysplan to dig a ditch.

A crew of the teens will help prepare lunch,chopping and measuring vegetables and herbsharvested this morning for this meal: tortilla soupand cedar tea. In the afternoon they gather forcultural teaching combined with creative activitysuch as watercoloring or rock painting.

Wednesday they harvest. Thursday theygo to market and sell the produce theyhave grown back in their own cityneighborhoods.

But first, to begin this day(and each day here),everyone gathers in a

April 21, 2013 Vol. 25, No. 27 • 4th Sunday of EasterPRAY Life-givingGod, thank you for thebeauty and diversity ofEarth, our home. Help uswork to become onehuman family, one Earthcommunity that cares forall that you give us. Amen.

Dream ofWild Health

by Julie Surma

circle—the shape of Nativetradition—for prayer.

“In our culture we believe thingsare not lost,” says Ernie Whiteman,Native American cultural teacher andmentor to the Garden Warriorsseated in a circle around him. “Webelieve things can be recovered.Dreams are important—they canbring back things that are long gone.”

A teen brings a small bowl ofburning sage around the circle,holding it out to each person.

They wave their hands through thesmoke, moving it towards them andover their heads in a cleansingmotion. They then reach intoanother bowl for a bit of driedtobacco. Later it will be sprinkled ona small pine tree as an offering.“Tobacco is like the medicine we useto help our prayers reach theancestors,” Ernie explains. “We offerit to them while thanking them forletting us reap the benefits ofharvest.”

The teens come to the farm fourdays a week for a month or two

during the summer.The program rulesmake the farm a placelike no other: no junkfood, no cell phones,no ipods, no swearing,no fighting, noweapons, participate inthe farm work, talk toeach other, live in andlearn from nature,respect the tools andsupplies, respect othersand yourself. At the end of their

time the teens receive asmall stipend. Sincethis is the first job formany of them, they alsoget advice on opening abank account, and theadvantages of savingmoney.

K nown as the‘Three Sisters,’corn, beans,

and squash were staples of the Nativediet in the past. This traditional diethelps curtail diabetes, now nearlyepidemic among Native Americans.The 10-acre farm includes a Three

Sisters garden, a women’s medicinegarden, a bean research garden, anindigenous garden, a market garden,and a small plot of tobacco grown foruse in sacred ceremonies.

“Organic gardening is nothingnew to Native Peoples,” Ernie says.“What we are doing here is simply

recovering what we’ve done forthousands of years. Part of that istaking care of the earth, taking careof the water.

“People think gold, diamonds andoil are the most precious things onthe earth,” Ernie continues. “But I’venever seen anyone eat a bowl ofdiamonds covered in oil. I tell thekids that they are the keepers of all ofthe earth. It has to start now.”

As Kayla, Danielle, Tatiana,Sydney, Rose, and Ivy work at weedingand harvesting, their voices rise withthe rich scent of the garden:

“I’m all dirty now.” “I hate watermelon.” “Cilantro tastes exactly like it

smells.” “I like doing this stuff.” “I smell like onions—the bugs will

stay away from me now.” “I come for the food.”

I n March 2000, five months beforeshe passed over, Potawatomi elderand native seed saver Cora Baker

wrote:“I had prayed and prayed that

someone would take this gardeningup again. I am very pleased to learnabout your project (Dream of Wild

Health). I feel that the GreatCreator has answered my humbleprayers. I wish that some day thechildren will come to realize theimportance of the garden.” A seed saver is someone who

saves precious seeds from fallharvest to spring planting andfrom one generation to the next.Cora Baker was a keeper of theseeds who gave her 94-yearlifetime collection of indigenousseeds into the guardianship of thefarm. Among the heirloom seedsare a diverse variety of the Three

Sisters vegetables.

M any seeds in the collectionhave their own story, such asgrains of Cherokee corn

carried on the Trail of Tears. TheTrail of Tears was the forcedrelocation of Native Americans,

Nurturing Cora’s preciousseeds into renewed life,nurturing the NativeAmerican teens into anew vision of themselves

and theirfuture,this farmearns itsname:Dream ofWildHealth.

Garden warriors learn to make salad.

beginning in 1831, from theirhomelands to Indian Territory: a 1,000mile walk from Georgia, Tennessee,North Carolina, and Alabama topresent day Oklahoma. Many NativeAmericans suffered from exposure,disease, and starvation while walking totheir destinations, and many died,including 4,000 of the 15,000 relocatedCherokee.

Other precious seeds in Cora’scollection include the 100-year-oldArikara corn sent from North Dakotathat arrived wrapped in tissue paperwith a note explaining, “Grandma hadbeen saving these seeds foryears. Now that she haspassed, she wants you totake care of them.”

This year the farm grewout nine varieties of rarecorn including Cherokee

Flour, Lenape Blue, Bear Island,Mandan Blue, Cree, Quapaw, AmberChip and Red Lake Hominy corn.Most grew well, although raccoonsnearly decimated three varieties.The corn is hand pollinated andthen bagged to prevent crosspollination. Three varieties ofsquash were grown out, along withfive kinds of beans. Growing out theseeds from the collection maintainstheir viability and increases the seedstock.

Not only are these seeds preciousbecause of their historical andcultural significance, but they havebeen proven to be more nutritiousthan modern-day varieties. Scientificresearch conducted in partnershipwith the University of Minnesota,General Mills, and the USDA showthat the heirloom seeds have 20times the antioxidants and moreprotein than commercial foods.

P articipating in culturaltradition, as well as workingin the garden, helps

reconnect city teens with the earth.The work of planting, caring for,harvesting and eventually eating thevegetables guides the teens inreturning to the healthier lifestyle oftheir heritage.

“All of our teachings revolvearound the circle,” Ernie explains tothe teens, later on in the afternoon.“You know about the four directions,you have heard about the circle oflife. The sun is a circle, the planets

revolve in circles, theseasons are a circle, ourlodges are circular, andwe dance in a circularpattern. Our whole lifeas native people is acircle. We are born

and our life is like a circle, so in theend, birth and death are right nextto each other. When somethingdies, something is born.”

At the farm, the circular patterncontinues. Native teens nurtureCora’s precious seeds into renewedlife, and in turn, learn a new visionof themselves and their future. Thisfarm earns its name: Dream of WildHealth.

QUESTIONS1 What do Garden Warriors learn

beside gardening skills? 2 What

traditions influence how you live?

How important are these traditions to

your future? 3 How do you connect

with and care for Earth? 4 What is

the relationship between a shepherd

and sheep? 5 How is Jesus a good

shepherd? 6 What does Jesus

promise in saying no one can snatch

a sheep from God’s hands?

Jesus Is a GoodShepherd.

SUNDAY GOSPEL4th Sunday of Easter

My sheep hear my voice.I know them,and they follow me.I give them eternal life,and they will never perish.No one will snatch them out of my hands.What my Father has given me isgreater than all else, and no one cansnatch it out of the Father’s hand. The Father and I are one.

John 10.27-30

“I liked the farm because itwas quiet and DOES NOTHAVE THE NOISE ANDTROUBLE FROM THE CITY. Iliked getting away from thedrugs and drunks. I get tolearn how to be a gardener,and HOW TO EAT HEALTHYFOR MYSELF and learnabout diabetes by eatingless sugar, drinking lesspop, eating a lot ofvegetables and no fast food,and exercise a lot. The staffis fun. THEY TEACH ME ALOT OF THINGS about myculture, staying healthy andstaying out of gangs anddrugs. I think people aresad and angry because theirland is taken. I do not knowhow yet, but I WANT TOHELP OUR PEOPLE.”

—Garden Warrior programparticipant

Garden warriors learn to make salad.

T he Father and I are one,” Jesussays in the gospel. One of ushumans is one with God. No

one will snatch away the sheep of hisflock. They will not perish.

In the U.S. today few people areshepherds, leading their sheep to greenpastures and clean water. But a growingnumber of people are like the GardenWarriors at Dream of Wild Health, whocultivate the soil and plant and saveheritage seeds to preserve Earth’sdiversity.

Our attitudes are greening. Werealize we must preserve Earth or perishtogether with all Earth’s life forms. Werealize our Christian traditions call us tocare not only for each other but for allthat is, for the gift of life from God.

The Earth Charter came to birth in2001 with a vision of sustaining life onEarth. This document recognizes Earth,its people, its creatures live ininterdependent life systems.

The preamble to the Earth Chartersays, “The future holds great peril andgreat promise. To move forward wemust recognize that in the midst of amagnificent diversity of cultures and lifeforms we are the one human family andone Earth community with a commondestiny. We must join together to bringforth a sustainable global societyfounded on respect for nature, universalhuman rights, economic justice, and aculture of peace.”

H ow did the Earth Chartercome to be? The1992 United

Nations Conference onEnvironment andDevelopment in Rio deJaneiro, Brazil, pressed foran Earth Charter butnations hesitated. In 1994,the chair of this Rio EarthSummit, Maurice Strong, andMikhail Gorbechev, then president

of Green Cross International, launchedthe Earth Charter Initiative. Consultationspread worldwide across cultures andreligious groups and made the EarthCharter a people’s document.

The Earth Charter builds on theUniversal Declaration of Human Rightsmade in 1948. In this statement, theUnited Nations hoped to end war anddeclared the dignity of every humanperson. It describes the rights andduties of people to each other throughoutthe world.

The Earth Charter includes principlesthat the Catholic Church teaches in itsPastoral Constitution on the Church inthe Modern World from the Second

Vatican Council, written in 1965.This document sees in Jesuswhat human persons canbe, our sacred dignity andpurpose. It affirms thedignity and equality ofevery human person. It

describes the commongood, “the sum total of social

conditions that allow people asgroups and individuals to reach

their fulfillment” (#26). It namesuniversal and inviolable rights personshave to what they need to live.

Form a council to write an Earth

Charter. Brainstorm together the

principles you want to state in your

charter. Find the Earth Charter online

or in a library. Compare your principles

with the 16 in the Earth Charter.

Identify an action to sustain Earth

and its life systems that you want to

commit to as an individual.

Identify an action in your

neighborhood or parish to which you

want to commit as a group.

Consider planting a community

garden to grow heritage seeds or to

enhance the beauty of your school or

parish church or to grow vegetables

and fruit for your local food shelf.

2

3

4

Earth is a sacred trust.

1 Respect Earth and life in all itsdiversity.A Recognize that all beings areinterdependent and every form of lifehas value regardless of its worth tohuman beings.B Affirm faith in the inherent dignity ofall human beings and in the intellectual,artistic, ethical, and spiritual potential ofhumanity.

2. Care for the community of life withunderstanding, compassion, and love.A Accept that with the right to own,manage, and use natural resourcescomes the duty to preventenvironmental harm and to protect therights of people.B Affirm that with increased freedom,knowledge, and power comes increasedresponsibility to promote the commongood.

3. Build democratic societies that arejust, participatory, sustainable, andpeaceful.A Ensure that communities at all levelsguarantee human rights andfundamental freedoms and provideeveryone an opportunity to realize his orher full potential.B Promote social and economic justice,enabling all to achieve a secure andmeaningful livelihood that isecologically responsible.

4. Secure Earth’s bounty and beauty forpresent and future generations.A Recognize that the freedom of actionof each generation is qualified by theneeds of future generations.B Transmit to future generations values,traditions, and institutions that supportthe long-term flourishing of Earth’shuman and ecological communities.

Four principles form the foundation ofthe Earth Charter:

“

Nihil Obstat: George W. Brucker Imprimatur: +Howard Hubbard, Bishop of Albany, July 17, 2012. SPIRIT ©2012 by Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet,1884 Randolph Avenue, St. Paul, MN 55105. Editor, Joan Mitchell, CSJ; Designer, Jennifer Poferl.

FAITH in ACTION

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OUR CATHOLIC FAITH: THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST IN SCRIPTURE