(upbeat music)
- White corn is one of our relatives.
We feel that she is alive, she wants
to do the job that she told our creator she would do,
is to feed our people and nourish them.
The work that we do, if we didn't have this,
we would lose everything.
- For a few thousand years, Potawatomi people
have been incredible farmers and have grown
lots and lots of varieties of crops.
The seed library is a place where
we take crops which are disappearing,
rare and endangered Potawatomi vegetables,
and we grow them out, and we restore them
and put them back in the hands of native farmers.
George Martin carries the Potawatomi tradition
of making ndamnabo, or corn soup.
In our seed library, we have 76 unique
varieties of corn.
Each one has its own cultural identity,
its own unique flavor.
- After a while, when we stir it,
you'll see how tough it gets to stir it.
- Our corn is a lot different than
other corns which are out there.
If we didn't have the seed library,
these traditional food, might be gone forever.
Within our seed library, 80% of the varieties
which we take care of are rare or nearly extinct.
Some of the varieties we care for here,
we're the only place in the world which has them.
This one's gonna be a nice one.
Four years ago, when we first got nugasignuga,
or White Flower Corn, we only had a half a canning jar,
a very small amount of seed.
We've grown it every year since, and now
we have enough that we may have 100 bushels full.
That's enough that next year we can
plant six or seven acres of just this corn.
That's a huge increase.
- It is important, that's what we were sent down here for,
to take care of Mother Earth and all her creations here,
and that corn realizes that.
We're back using it again.
You know, we're gonna use it in a feast.
It makes the corn feel good, after being
used by our people again.
It’s done, it’s ready to eat.
(inspirational music)