This sixth episode of Season Four with Frank K. Lake and Lydia Jennings centers around Indigenous ecologies and their practical application. Frank Lake discusses the complex relationship between science, research, and resource management, and the policy changes needed to apply TEK in ethical ways. Lydia Jennings dives deeper into the need to decolo…

In the fourth episode of our limited series Knowledge Symbiosis: Can Biomimicry and Indigenous Science Harmonize?, Roxanne Swentzell and Anne LaForti engage in a conversation hosted by Sara El-Sayed, converging Indigenous ideologies and scientific understanding of soils, seeds, regenerative versus sustainable terminologies, and steps to healing our…

In the third episode of our limited series Knowledge Symbiosis: Can Biomimicry and Indigenous Science Harmonize?, PennElys Droz and Maibritt Pedersen Zari engage in conversation hosted by Lily Urmann, exploring cosmologies, paradigm shifts and how to be in good relationship while we co-create and design as humans within creation. They outline princ…

In this second episode of the limited series Knowledge Symbiosis: Can Biomimicry and Indigenous Science Harmonize?, Dayna Baumeister and Melissa K Nelson continue their conversation, hosted by Sara El-Sayed, exploring the common ground and mapping the divergences between Indigenous science and biomimicry. They dive into the nature of biomimicry and…

In this inaugural episode of the limited series Knowledge Symbiosis: Can Biomimicry and Indigenous Science Harmonize?, Dayna Baumeister joins Melissa K. Nelson and Sara El-Sayed in a conversation exploring the common ground and mapping the divergences between Indigenous science and biomimicry. Biomimicry, nature-inspired design, and Traditional Eco…

The speakers discuss how they are working with Tribes and First nations in the US and Canada and how they are elevating TEK in academia, research, and government. They specifically discuss the growing movement of TEK within the Ecological Society of America (ESA), the world’s largest community of professional ecologists. Ultimately, we encourage ev…

In this final episode of the season, we honor the voice and wisdom of Rose Imai, a beloved Tuscarora elder who passed into the spirit world on April 22nd, 2022. We recorded this episode in Rose’s home studio in the summer of 2021 and worked with her on shaping it along with her visual art series “The Children Series,” and the “Four Horses of Healin…

Guest Host Sara Moncada sits down with Chef Crystal Wahpepah in Wahpepah’s Kitchen, her newly opened Native-owned restaurant in Oakland, California. In a wide-ranging and intimate conversation, they discuss Crystal’s vision of what it means to be an Indigenous Food Warrior: nourishing community through cooking and serving Native foods and educating…

Host Melissa Nelson sits down on the land for a wide-ranging conversation with Ohlone leader Corrina Gould of the Sogorea Te’ Land Trust, discussing rematriating Indigenous homelands, the history and strategy of land trusts and Native land taxes, resilience hubs in the Bay Area, and much more. Corrina and Melissa talk about how to grow the network …

Host Melissa Nelson sits down with Becky Webster, Oneida farmer, seedkeeper and attorney. Their conversation explores the challenges and joys of being a Native farmer, cultivating recently rematriated crops, navigating both market and trade economies, and more. This episode is the third of three episodes focused on Seed Rematriation, and is a co-pr…

In this episode, Shelley Buffalo talks with host Melissa Nelson about the healing power of ancestral foods, feeding the community with rematriated crops and medicines, and her work with Meskwaki Food Sovereignty Initiative, Red Earth Gardens and Seed Savers Exchange. They also explore the power of art and the beauty of seeds. This is the second of …

Host Melissa Nelson talks with Jessika Greendeer of the Ho-Chunk Nation in this first of three episodes focused on Seed Rematriation. Jessika and Melissa discuss this important growing movement, seed keeping and agriculture, and her work as Seed Keeper and Farm Manager at Dream of Wild Health. This episode is a co-production of The Cultural Conserv…

Host Melissa Nelson sits down with famous Acoma Pueblo writer, poet, and storyteller Simon J. Ortiz to discuss the intricacies of traditional tribal identities, the wonder of our traditional foods, and our role as Indigenous peoples in the future of ‘green’ urban development on our traditional territories. Simon’s gentle ease and wise words amplify…

Renee shares her experience of being changed while writing her book Kanaka Hawaiʻi Cartography: Hula, Navigation, and Oratory (2017), which explores Kanaka Hawai’i place-name and spatial knowledge systems. We are met with the breadth of Hawaiian, place-based language and knowledge of ‘Aina – the land-food matrix. Deep in intimate conversation, toge…

On a sunny fall afternoon in the shadow of Mount Tamalpias, Seed Pod host Melissa Nelson and producer Sara Moncada sat down with Wikuki and Tania for a cup of tea to talk stories of land and foods across the Pacific. From the masterful Indigenous sciences of land and ocean, food and water (known to Maori peoples as kai wai), to the many foods of Ao…

Redbird teaches how Native Californians co-created the landscape using "mild disturbance," fire, seeding, and seasonal harvesting rotations to increase diversity and cultivate an ecosystem so vibrant and abundant that it was able to support huge populations of people and animals previously thought impossible without conventional agriculture.…

After a full day of harvesting, teachings, and community during The Cultural Conservancy’s annual Harvest Day gathering, Melissa Nelson catches up with knowledge keeper Redbird (Edward Willie) on the beautiful back acres of our partner, Indian Valley Organic Farm & Garden in Novato, California.By Redbird (Edward Willie)

By Lois Ellen Frank and Walter Whitewater

On a winter morning in Reno, Nevada, on the homelands of the Washoe nation, host Melissa Nelson has a conversation with Native chefs and health educators Dr. Lois Ellen Frank (Kiowa) and Walter Whitewater (Navajo). They all converged in this area for a “Food Sovereignty and Native Peoples Health” event at the University of Nevada, Reno, hosted by D…

For this final episode of season one of the Native Seed Pod we featured the voices of four strong Native American food sovereignty leaders talking about critical food relatives: Jacquelyn Ross (Coast Miwok/Jenner Pomo) on Abalone, Marlowe Sam (Wenatchee) and Jeannette Armstrong (Okanagan) on Salmon and Moose, and Winona LaDuke (Anishinaabe) on Wild…

Dive deep into agroecology and the Native plant wisdom of Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) Keeper and medical herbalist Sage LaPena (Noptipom Wintu). This episode is unique in that it is based on a public lecture and hands-on teachings of Sage LaPena earlier this year. We learn about the sacred Oak and Peppernut trees of the North Coast lands…

For this episode we sit down with California Native chefs and educators Vincent Medina (Chochenyo Ohlone) and Louis Trevino (Rumsen Ohlone), to talk about their journey revitalizing Ohlone languages and foods in the heart of the San Francisco Bay Area community and across the globe. Tucked into the quiet corner of a busy Berkeley bookstore we joine…

We feature husband-wife team and Traditional Knowledge Holders Dave and Wendy Bray from the Seneca Nation in Western New York. Dave Bray is a traditional corn farmer and teacher and Wendy Bray a professional educator, cook, and keeper of Oneo-gen, Seneca white corn. Together, and with their daughter, Kaylena Bray (who worked with The Cultural Conse…

In this intimate dialogue, Potawatomi botanist Robin Wall Kimmerer explores the beauty and sophistication of seed germination and how plants use their inherent intelligence to locate their regeneration niches to thrive in place. Robin shares her vast botanical knowledge and insight to discuss the generosity of berries, ant farmers that embed trilli…

Update: We want to acknowledge that since this episode's airdate, it has come to light that Elizabeth Hoover has misrepresented her identity as an Indigenous person. As a result of this new information, The Cultural Conservancy has chosen to end our professional ties with Hoover. We also acknowledge the harm this news has caused throughout the Indi…