Are they squash or are they pumpkins?
That’s a good question and the answer is: yes. Pumpkins are squash, but not all squash are pumpkins. They resemble in shape what most people would consider a pumpkin, but we’ll call them squash for now.
Its that time for the squash to be harvested. We’ve harvested a few additional squash to the ones seen here. The squash will be ripe to eat when the outside flesh has turned from yellow to orange. The seeds will be scooped out, washed, and dried in our isolation room before being cataloged. The squash flesh will be eaten and any remaining organic matter like the stem will be placed in our compost bin to decompose over the winter and provide nutrients for next year’s crops.
American Indian Family Center Day
In late August, we worked with American Indian Family Center Youth Program Manager, Alicia Smith, and Youth Community Specialist, Quanah Walker, to host a day specifically for American Indian youth. The day of hands-on activities focused upon the interrelatedness of the environment, health, and cultural traditions as aspects of Indigenous nation sovereignty. We also worked with the Kitty Andersen Youth Science Center (YSC) at the Science Museum. In the picture, the youth group is learning about the affects of pollution within watersheds from the YSC Big Back Yard Crew and how this applies to tribal lands.
With the added weight of flowers on this clump of Maximillian Sunflowers, their stems have begun leaning toward the ground. To my surprise, growing right in the middle of this clump is an Iroquois Squash. It was even more surprising, since its particular parent plant had a hard time getting established and growing this summer. Even though this is the only squash this particular plant was able to produce, it will provide several seeds for many future plants.
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September is the time for Sunflowers to bloom. The sunflower is one of the oldest domesticated plants in North America and has been cultivated by Indigenous peoples for thousands of years. In the Changing Gardens Through Time we have two different types of sunflowers. In the foreground we see the domesticated sunflower which is commonly known as the Hopi Purple Dye Sunflower, while the other in the background is commonly known as the Maximillian Sunflower. Here’s a little more information on these beautiful, nutritious, and useful plants!
Common Name: Maximillian Sunflower
Latin Name: Helianthus maximiliani
Dakota/Lakota Name: wahca zi tanka (big yellow flower)
Cultural Uses: The seeds are eaten raw or roasted and added to foods. Parts of the plant are used as sources of food, oil, dye and thread.
Common Name: Hopi Purple Dye Sunflower
Latin Name: Helianthus annus ‘Hopi Purple Dye’
Cultural Uses: The seeds are eaten raw or roasted and added to foods. These seeds are grown especially for use as a dye.
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Common Name: Rattlesnake Master
Latin Name: Eryngium yuccifolium
Dakota/Lakota Name: rhiyantan
Where It Grows: Ranges throughout the eastern United States, in wet soils, along waters edges in fresh to brackish marshes, low woods, meadows, bogs, swamps and ditches.
Part of Plant Used: root
Cultural Uses: teas treat stomach disorders, infusions of roots aid nausea, expectorant to clear the lungs, and a diuretic. Roots act as antidote to treat snakebites and other poisons.
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Common Name: Bergamot
Latin Name: Monarda fistulosa
Dakota/Lakota Name: hehaka tapejuta, wahkpe wastemma
Ojibwe Name: bibigwanakak, wabinowak
Where It Grows: Ranges throughout the United States, found in upland woods, thickets, and prairies
Part of Plant Used: Leaves, flowers.
Cultural Uses: Cure for headaches, cold medicine, reduces fever, aids weak or upset stomach, helps abdominal pain, helps heart trouble.
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 SMM’s ethnobotany research doubles as a venue for exhibitions and teaching visitors about American Indian uses of plants. This is the Turtle Effigy garden. It’s in the shape of a turtle with four quadrants featuring plants used for women, men, children, and general health issues. The head and tail are planted with sage, and the four legs are sweetgrass.
See the next few posts for featured plants!
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 This beautiful red stemmed plant is Hopi Red Amaranth. It will produce tiny seeds that people eat as a grain. Many cultures use the flowers as a dye as well—we’re going to try that in the coming weeks.
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Scott and volunteer Ashley Murphy harvested these beans last week. The beans are an assortment of Ojibwe Scarlet Runner Beans, Iroquois Cranberry Beans, Mandan Sheild Beans, Lakota Eagle Beans, and Potawatomi Lima Beans. This is first step in beginning our cataloging process. After harvesting the beans last week we placed them in our museum isolation room to dry and so that anything that may have hitched a ride inside the museum will have been gone before we begin accessioning them into the museum collection. Next we will separate the beans from their shells and begin assigning catalog numbers to each type of bean. These are only a small portion of the beans from the gardens that are ready!
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