Who We Are

Braiding the Sacred is an expanding network of Indigenous Corn Growers from the Four Directions, unifying to preserve and perpetuate our traditional varieties of Sacred Corn. Corn is a staple food, medicine, and ceremonial element gifted by the Creator to Indigenous Nations from Canada to South America. Our gatherings connect leaders and budding seed keepers around the central role Corn and other traditional foods play in the health of our communities. We must draw upon the strength of ancestral Corn teachings. It is time to plant. It is time to unify. 

What We Do

Our work centers on regional gatherings for Indigenous Corn growers, hosted by Corn Nations. Each gathering takes its own form, but they all include two important elements: a communal activity and rematriation of seeds.

Through regional gatherings of Indigenous Corn growers, we build and strengthen relationships, trade routes, and seed diversity. We support the connections of our youth to the knowledge of their elders. Each gathering includes a community activity that benefits the host Nation's food sovereignty efforts.

Future Vision

Braiding the Sacred envisions fields of Corn and other traditional foods restored to the Nations who once grew them in abundance. As the Corn and our other plant and animal relations begin to flourish again, so too will the Nations who carry out these sacred responsibilities. We seek to strengthen old trade routes and the building and reconnecting of all Indigenous Corn communities of the four directions.

Initiated by

Angela Ferguson, Onondaga, Traditional Corn Grower

Jarrett Wheeler, Seneca, J.D.; Federal Indian Law

Desbah Padilla, Navajo, Intertribal Agriculture Council

Keir Johnson-Reyes, Osage, Intertribal Agriculture Council

Lea Zeise, Oneida, Intertribal Agriculture Council