Amos Owen Garden of American Indian Horticulture

Amos Owen Garden of American Indian Horticulture. . Philosophy. Amos Owen was a Dakota elder and spiritual leader who wanted to preserve and restore traditional Dakota beliefs and practices. He believed that the suppression of Indian peoples had led to many parts of the culture being almost forgotten, and that this was a loss not only to Native Americans, but also to all people. This garden honors Amos’ commitment to cultural and spiritual renewal, cross-cultural understanding and Native people’s contributions to world food systems. , The relationships between people and plants, particularly food plants, are among the most sacred and important relationships that exist in any culture. Names and stories about plants help create and maintain the central beliefs of a people, and growing the plants continually reinforces and re-enlivens meaning for the people. We hope that our efforts will result in restoration of these plants to active cultivation by Native communities across the region, and will help reawaken the sleeping knowledge of past lives. , East: wiyohiyaåpata (where the sun arrives) Yellow: zi , South: itokayata (where to face) Black: sapa , West: wiyohpeyata (where the sun retires) Red: duta , North: waziyata (where the pines are) White: ska , Plantings. The plants in this garden represent very few of the types that Native American peoples have used over the last 13,000 years of their life in this region. Thousands of different plants were used for food, medicine and technology. , By 4,000 years ago, Native Americans in North America had independently domesticated four unique crops: squash, sunflower, manhelder and goosefoot. Over the next several thousand years, they intensively utilized many others (such as panic grass, little barley, barnyard grass, wild rice and maygrass some of which were domesticated. Maize and tobacco were introduced to North American around 2,500 years ago, followed by beans (ca 1500 years ago) all from Central America. , Over time, groups developed many distinct varieties of their crop plants and grew them in ingenious systems that prevented crossbreeding. Eventually, the “Three Sisters” of maize, beans and squash became a stable crop grouping. , Many of the impressive accomplishments of Indian agriculture are now lost; most of the varieties are extinct, and others lay dormant in museum collections, such as the seeds from which these plants were germinated. We ask that you help us protect and preserve the plants in this garden. Do not pick or disturb the specimens in any way.