ZUNI, NM — Summer is a busy time for the Zuni Youth Enrichment Project. Growing season is in full swing, which means ZYEP’s food sovereignty team is dedicated to sharing knowledge in public workshops as well as through special activities embedded in the nonprofit youth project’s popular Wellness Week and Summer Camp youth programs.
These dynamic and culturally relevant initiatives are made possible through support from the Center for Science in the Public Interest, the Native American Agriculture Fund, the New Mexico Department of Health Healthy Kids Healthy Communities, and the Newman’s Own Foundation. These partners also support ZYEP’s annual gardening program, which provides gardening kits, rain barrels, and ongoing support to enrolled families.
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65 community members of all ages attended the first workshop of the season at Ho’n A:wan Park on June 19. Five stations offered educational and fun activities on soil health.
At station #1, families learned about mulching and moisture retention, while children had fun planting sunflower seeds in pots they had decorated at station #2. They then moved on to station #3, which focused on cultural information.
“Kenzi Bowekaty, one of our food sovereignty leaders, set up a cornhole game to reinforce the do’s and don’ts in a fun way,” explained Brittny Seowtewa, ZYEP’s food sovereignty coordinator. She also noted that Bowekaty gave all the children popsicles since it was a hot evening.
“We almost ran out!” she said. “We didn’t expect so many children. Both the children and the families want to know more.”
Zachary James, Food Sovereignty Specialist, provided information on water conservation at Station #4 and built a small aquifer to demonstrate why it is so important to conserve water. Finally, at Station #5, each family received a shade cloth to protect their plants at home.
Khassandria Hattie, another ZYEP food sovereignty lead, created a poster where participants could leave feedback in the form of sticky notes, sharing what they liked most about the programming and what they wanted to learn.
“This will allow us to adapt our food sovereignty programs based on feedback from our community,” said Seowtewa.
Community input is important to ZYEP. A significant number of families wanted to learn more about composting this season, so the team designed the second workshop with a focus on composting and vermiculture.
The workshop, held on July 24, attracted about 40 participants and again featured five learning stations. The aim, said Seowtewa, is to show that you don’t have to spend a lot of money to start composting; you can use existing household items instead.
At Station #1, each family was given a 5-gallon bucket and learned how to start layering. Seowtewa showed them how to lay the foundation for a good compost environment using brown materials like cardboard, pine needles and corn husks.
Bowekaty was in charge of the “green layer” at Station No. 2. She demonstrated how to put vegetable and fruit scraps into the compost bin, and the children learned the rules of composting during another creative game of cornhole.
After a painting break at Station #3 with 16-year-old intern Jaynie Lalio, the children and their families moved on to Station #4 where James provided information on good soil for fertilizing. He used juniper soil and added the next layer to each compost bin.
Finally, at station #5, Hattie provided information about earthworms and gave families five earthworms per bucket. At each station, staff distributed handouts with more details and encouraged families to contact us with any questions.
“Our main focus is sustainability,” said Seowtewa. “We want to show how you can start and continue without making big purchases. Anyone can do it and that’s really encouraging, especially for children. We tell them to get creative and use recycled materials.”
All ZYEP gardening workshops are free and open to the public. The last two workshops of the 2024 growing season will take place on August 21 and September 25, after which ZYEP’s monthly family cooking evenings will take over.
In addition to the summer workshops, the ZYEP Food Sovereignty team seamlessly integrates food sovereignty activities into the youth project’s summer programs. For example, one of the seven mini-camp activities during the annual Wellness Week in June is called “Shiwi Chefs,” which gives children the opportunity to engage with healthy food and meal preparation.
“It was a really lovely, warm week for all of us,” said Bowekaty. “In our surveys before the event, the children told us that they did not feel very confident preparing traditional and healthy foods. Our goal was to change their minds and their answers – to feel confident preparing and tasting these foods.”
“In our surveys after the event, we saw that the children had changed their minds!” said Seowtewa with a smile.
Wellness Week’s Shiwi chefs began June 24 with an introduction to kitchen safety and hygiene. They also practiced chopping and prepared a fruit salad with mint and citrus vinaigrette. They also made zucchini noodles with a spiralizer and ate it with marinara sauce.
On June 25, the young chefs practiced contemporary cooking. They made tacos with black beans, blue corn tortillas, taco filling, chopped vegetable topping, zesty lime sauce and red hot sauce.
Shiwi Chefs welcomed professional baker Heather Seciwa for a baking day on June 26. The children sliced and marinated strawberries and made their own cakes and whipped cream for homemade strawberry shortcake.
“They took a lot of it home to share with their families and show what they learned,” Seowtewa said.
Bowekaty led a day of traditional cooking on June 27. They made traditional Zuni-style tortillas by grinding corn on stone and made sweet blue corn tamales to be enjoyed with corn stew prepared the night before.
“Kenzi did a great job leading this session,” said Seowtewa. “The children really admire her.”
“We don’t have written recipes for these traditional dishes,” Bowekaty said. “They are passed down from generation to generation and you use your heart, mind and senses. I learned how to make sweet blue corn tamales at summer camp from the late Lyla Weahkee, who taught us how to do it. It’s the main dish I incorporate into cultural days here in Zuni, and now her teachings are being carried on through two generations.”
“That’s what I hope for these children too,” she continued. “It’s a deeply felt tradition, and when I see our community leaders coming here to teach our children, I hope the children take a lot away from it. They can do that at home.”
Two youth interns are joining the Food Sovereignty team this summer: Jaynie Lalio, 16, funded by ZECDC, and Haley Malani, funded by ZYEP. Both will work 20 hours per week until August 2.
“It’s their first intensive experience with children,” said Seowtewa. “It’s a big highlight for us to step back and watch them at work. They are so full of energy and so determined with the children.”
In addition to assisting with summer programs and community workshops, the interns also assist the Food Sovereignty team in maintaining and improving community gardens at Zuni (H’on A:wan Park and Indian Health Service). Seowtewa noted that this season they are undertaking a major renovation at the IHS in collaboration with Ancestral Lands-Zuni Crew.
“We had traditional gardens in the IHS North and South Gardens, but a mole or a pocket gopher ate all the plants,” she explained. “So we put in raised beds about a meter high to make it harder for pests. We also layered the beds with branches, cardboard, burlap and soil.”
Carrots, peas and squash are thriving and the Zuni area has received plenty of moisture. ZYEP’s large water storage pots were full at press time and ready to be pumped out and transported to the gardens.
“We teach the children that if we all do our best and take care of our gardens, we will hopefully be blessed with a bountiful harvest, plenty of rain and plenty of life,” Bowekaty said.
To learn more about the Zuni Youth Enrichment Project and its programs, and for information on donating, partnering with ZYEP and volunteering, call (505) 782-8000 or visit zyep.org. And to stay up to date with the latest news and events, follow the nonprofit youth organization on Facebook (/zuniyouthenrichmentproject), Instagram (@zuniyouthenrichmentproject), YouTube (/ZuniYouth) and TikTok (/zyep09).
About the author: “Levi \”Calm Before the Storm\” Rickert (Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation) is the founder, publisher and editor of Native News Online. Rickert is the recipient of the 2021 Native Media Award for Best Column in the Print/Online category from the Native American Journalists Association. He is on the Advisory Board of the Multicultural Media Correspondents Association. He can be reached at [email protected].”
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