A recent reflection by Winona LaDuke – June, 2023
A couple of days ago, I was measuring hemp plants in a field with George Wieblen, Distinguished McKnight Professor of at the University of Minnesota, and expert in cannabis genetics. Where did this happen? Pine Point, or “Niizhiigwakokang”. That’s “Nii (point) zhiigwa (white pine) oka (full of) wadjiw (mountain) because of the Smoky Hills three miles south of the village. That’s where our community organization, Akiing purchased a l60 acre field from RDO Offutt, and we are now growing organic fiber hemp, alfalfa and sunflowers, as well as a lot of berries.
What am I doing measuring hemp plants? Well, we are trying to figure out how to grow a large-scale fiber hemp industry in the north, we call it the New Green Revolution. That’s to say, that fiber hemp can change the course of some bad decisions and heal some of the toxic things we’ve done to our Mother Earth. Hemp bioremediates, or takes stuff out of the soil, because it grows quickly and has deep roots. It also takes carbon out of the air. Fiber hemp sequesters carbon at the highest rate of any field crop, and can keep our forests intact. That’s to say, that we can make hemp wood, hemp paper, hemp cardboard, hemp clothing, and more, transforming a fossil fuels laden economy to an organic locally grown economy. Save some trees and do it here.
George is working with us to grow out varieties, and we are comparing performance in the field of Chinese, Canadian, Ukrainian, and other varieties, including some feral hemp. What is that?
Well, that’s hemp which has been growing as ditch weed, basically illegally for eighty years or so, in all sorts of places in Minnesota, and in the Dakotas. We figure those are some tough guys and those tough guys will be good to grow here in Minnesota. Mind you, I’ve been growing hemp now with our team of cool guys at 8th Fire Akiing for the past eight years- that is fiber hemp. I’ve got state and federal licenses, and I haven’t grown anything with THC in it, in other words, you cannot get high from this field. But, with a lot of research work, and committed people, we hope to one day make canvas.
Why would that be? Because the word canvas comes from cannabis, and that’s what we should be making sails and tarps out of, not plastics and petroleum bi products. Even clothing- fast fashion, or the stuff we are all buying online, is really pretty much entirely made of petroleum products, and those are not going to biodegrade, they are going to be garbage in ten years, and, well, just another problem. And then there’s water, hemp uses less, and that’s what we need..
So, I am interested in the fiber economy of my ancestors and yours- the flax to linen economy, and the hemp to canvas economy. That’s how we keep carbon in the soil, and not in the air.
A couple of weeks ago it was Father’s Day, and this story reminds me of how my Fathers have had such a tremendous influence on my path. My biological father, Vincent LaDuke was from the brush around Lengby, lived a trappers and bush life, went to school till the 8th grade, and became a Hollywood actor. That’s to say, in the era of western films, he was one of the Indians who rode valiantly and then fell off the horse when John Wayne shot. Got an extra $25 bucks for falling off a horse, which for a family guy meant a lot. I was on lots of movie sets and then moved to Oregon with my mother, Betty LaDuke, an amazing artist and mother to myself and my brother Jason Westigard.
My father Vincent came to be known as Sun Bear.
As a student at Harvard, he came to visit me, “You are a smart young woman, but I don’t want to hear your philosophy if you cannot grow corn”, he said.
Today, I am a corn grower- traditional flint varieties, all on the comeback, from near obliteration by the likes of Syngenta and Monsanto. That’s where it comes from. And, I am often in the field.
The father who raised me, Peter Westigard, was a well-respected entomologist. That’s a bug man. His specialty was biological pest control. In other words, not a lot of insecticides, maybe, just attract the male insects into a trap, as they smell the female pheromones. That’s right, trick the guys. My dad grew all kinds of varieties of pears, berries, apples and other cool stuff, at his office, the Southern Oregon Agricultural Experiment station, in Medford Oregon. I spent a lot of time listening to my dad talk about seeds, varieties, and how to protect crops without a lot of chemicals. That was our life. I adored that guy, he was the smartest, sweetest man around. And, he lived in the field.
So, here I am, kneeling in a field, measuring plants with a professor from the University of Minnesota. I feel at home in the field, because of my fathers.
So, for me, just about every day is Father’s Day. I want to thank all the fathers out there, for teaching us and watching over us. This daughter remembers you.
Winona LaDuke, a Native American activist, economist, and author, has devoted her life to advocating for Indigenous control of their homelands, natural resources, and cultural practices. She combines economic and environmental approaches in her efforts to create a thriving and sustainable community for her own White Earth reservation and Indigenous populations across the country.
Winona LaDuke was born in Los Angeles, California on August 18, 1959 to parents Vincent and Betty (Bernstein) LaDuke. Her father, also known as Sun Bear, was Anishinaabe (or Ojibwe) from the White Earth Reservation in Minnesota. He was an actor, writer, and activist. Her mother was an artist and activist. LaDuke is an Anishinaabekwe (Ojibwe) enrolled member of the Mississippi Band Anishinaabeg. Her father brought her to powwows and other tribal functions, events that made a deep impression on the young LaDuke.
