Native American Heritage Group

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Comment by Glenn Fletcher on October 19, 2009 at 1:26pm

Hi Jane
You are the first person that i have heard of who is growing the beans, besides myself. They have done really well and grew just as you describe. [See photo]
I bought mine from this site in England. One of the reasons i tried them was the sad tale associated with the beans.
I now have two jars of dried beans and i definately need some recipes for them. How would you cook them?

Comment by Glenn Fletcher on July 20, 2009 at 6:56am

This year i,m growing "Cherokee Trail of Tears Beans"

The following are notes from the seed supplier " The Real Seed company" in the UK.

'Cherokee Trail of Tears' Pole Bean
Simply the best bean there is. This bean was originally from the native North American Cherokee people.

In 1838 they were driven out of their homelands in the state of Georgia by the US government to make room for more European settlers , a forced march known as the 'Trail of Tears'. This bean is one of their heirlooms they managed to keep with them and has been passed on from generation to generation ever since.

We can see why the Cherokees valued it so much! It is incredibly prolific, cropping over a long season. We plant lots each year for our own use & feedback from all of you is always positive.

Precariously, there is very little seed in existence (about 10 barrels of seed on the whole planet). We have for the past few years been working closely with the Seed Savers Exchange, who are bringing this valuable bean back into circulation, and we are now very proud to be able to offer a new 2008 crop of reselected, certified organic seed, grown in northern Europe.

Comment by Rose Keppler Moradian on July 19, 2009 at 9:12am

Greetings! I'm in California on the Central Coast. I am a vegetable and flower gardener by trade. I do for others what I can't do at my own home. Eventually, I will relocate and live where I can grow for my self and others.
I noticed questions about smudge sage; "Salvias" are the correct name for all sages. There are tens of thousands. White salvia or smudge sage, is a native plant to us here. It is very beautiful and tall, with thick leathery leaves, white and grey color. In the spring it blooms tiny white flowers along the top tips. It is very difficult to germinate seeds, but yet it spreads via seed in the wild. I've done cuttings with some success. This salvia dislikes summer water.
It probably can be lifted to over winter, but keep it in a light soil medium.
If you do get seeds, be patient and don't over water. I use Coir as its amore forgiving medium. Good luck!

Comment by Kathryn on July 19, 2009 at 3:19am

Thankyou for the invite look forward to joining into some interesting discussions

Comment by Natalie Lawson on June 26, 2009 at 3:54pm

Hi, I "followed" Sandra Anderson in here & I like your style! I live in the southwest. I know a number of skills that were useful to ancient Native Americans in the desert. I'd love to learn about folklore surrounding food/plants/gardening as I already immensely enjoy the Native American stories surrounding the stars/constellations (just don't ask me to remember any of those). - - - it's good to see this group on here, thanks, all!

Comment by Beva on June 20, 2009 at 2:26am

Hi Rebecca,
Yes, we do use lime to sweeten the soil here. Most of what I grow does OK in our soil, and I have amended it with lots of compost. I have blueberries both wild and domestic and they love the wood chips from the pine!
I would love to try growing some prairie sage, but I don't know what soil conditions need to be.

Comment by Rebecca Mills on June 19, 2009 at 8:36am

Hey Beva,
I have some gardening spots that border a patch of pine trees too. It seems that lime helps me out. On the other side of that patch, I just let it stay acidic and planted blueberries. hehe

Comment by Beva on June 17, 2009 at 6:08am

I sure wish I could grow prairie sage, but I really don't know what the soil conditions need to be. With all the surrounding pines, our soil is acidic. I would think it could survive in our cold weather.. what we have here can't be much different than the cold that Wyoming has in winter. How much humidity would affect it, I don't know. Perhaps Penelope could weigh in on this question where she lives in the high desert?

Comment by Kate E on June 15, 2009 at 5:19pm

Does anyone grown prarie sage in their garden? It is what I always used for smudging when I lived out west, but it seems white sage is all you can buy here in the east.

Comment by Beva on June 15, 2009 at 3:49pm

White sage or desert sage (prairie sage) are the ones typically used as smudge. Culinary sage I have been told should not be used for smudge... Does anyone else have input on this?
In our region, cedar, sweet grass, (red willow as a tobacco) and sage that comes from the west are used in smudge... sometimes lavender too. Sweet fern can be used on the floor of the Inipi in place of traditional sage.
Someone who grew bear root said that they had problems because the moles love it. Must keep their throat clear! :) It works for me! I do want to grow some as I am running low on my supply.

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