The Odawa and Farming
Written by Eric Hemingway
The Odawa have long had gardens and farms in their traditional homelands of the Upper Great Lakes, including Waganakising. These specific growing areas were not only for family subsistence but for trade as well. Enough food was grown or produced that it created a surplus that the Odawa would utilize for their economic and sometimes, political benefits. These systems of food trade had been occurring for centuries before the arrival of Europeans to the Great Lakes in the 1600s.
The main crop for the Odawa was corn. The climate and environment allowed for consistent growing of corn each year. Numerous strains of corn were cultivated for various soils, growing seasons, etc. Heartier types of corn were planted late in the season, being harvested in the fall months. Corn provided the main carbohydrate for the tribe. Small, family gardens were common in every village, as well as larger scale fields for trade.
While not the typical garden setting, maple sugar was none the less an equally important food produced by the Odawa. The Odawa would live with the maple trees during the early spring months to tap, collect and produce maple sap into sugar. Families had groves of maple trees recognized as being their area to produce sugar. Maple sugar production was one of the first spring activities for the Odawa. Like corn, enough was produced to trade with other tribes and later Euro-American populations.
The summer months of the Odawa are named after the berries the people would harvest during this time. Strawberries, blue berries and black berries are some of the more prominent berries harvested. Like the maple trees, the Odawa families would relocate to the berry patches to harvest and process.
Family gardens would be found in every village. Beans, peas, squash and other vegetables were grown every year to round out the high protein diet of fish and wild game. The Odawa practiced sustainable growing techniques, such as rotating growing areas and not vastly altering the land to fit their farming needs.
It is a common misnomer that tribal populations were not farmers and growers. The Odawa grew enough food to feed themselves, as well as trade for other goods and foods they needed. The food trade network was vital to all the tribal people living in the Great Lakes and the Odawa were in the middle of this trade. Dried corn and maple sugar could be stored for long periods of time and transported. Trade established political and economic relationships with other tribes. But food wasn’t strictly a natural resource. Numerous ceremonies were held for harvest, ceremonial feasts and giving thanks for the food. The relationship with what was grown was one of co-existence not dominance.
Eric Hemingway directs Little Traverse Bay Band’s Repatriation, Archives and Records Department. He has helped create informational signage, exhibits, and worked to preserve knowledge and educate about Odawa history.
