Cherokee heirloom crops from the Trail Of Tears era (1830s)

Happy New Year! I'd like to hear more ideas on how I can improve my Cherokee garden this year. Anybody grown watermelons such as moon and stars? And have the Cherokee grown nicotina tabcum in past? Plus did they grow butterbean and scarlet runner centuries ago? And has anybody heard of a Wildwood pumpkin from Georgia?

Greetings folks! Just got off from the Cherokee seed bank website, trying to acquire more historic Cherokee seeds this year in the honor of my late grandmother and the famous seed saver Carl Barnes. Problem is that I have to be a tribal member and that's why they put some type of code to let them know that I'm a tribal member. Among the crops I'm trying to acquire are Cherokee tan pumpkin, Cherokee colored white flour corn, Trail Of Tear bead, Dipper gourd, buffalo gourd, brown turkey gizzard bean and few others. If there's anybody out there who has some tan pumpkin and other things I mentioned, shoot back to let me know and we go from there.

Hiya folks! I wanna find out where can I find the cheapest blood peach trees online and can bear fruit this year. I use to have a peach tree a long time ago from my aunt before she died. It'd make me think about planting it again this year. Any documention of the tree and its relationship to Native American agriculture?

Hello! I wanna find out if anybody has grown Job Tear bead corn for necklaces and stuff before. Could anybody tell me more about the historic uses of the corn which originally came from Asia?

Happy Saturday folks! Long time no see. Somebody mentioned me about an Arizona strain of the dipper gourd on this board which was from Oklahoma. I'm also looking for more strains of Cherokee crops grown in Oklahoma besides the eagle and the regular white corn, candy roaster and the dipper gourd. I have some red Hopi and blue Navajo corn to spare in return for some of these rare and coveted crops to help honor my great grandma's childhood life in Oklahoma as well as my great aunt who's currently alive in Milwaukee in her 80s. Please let me know in the Purple Mooseage to talk about more about my efforts to pursue these historic Cherokee crops to reclaim memories of my grandma's time at my community farm in Chicago next year. Take care!

Blake Lenoir wrote: Hiya folks! I wanna find out where can I find the cheapest blood peach trees online and can bear fruit this year. I use to have a peach tree a long time ago from my aunt before she died. It'd make me think about planting it again this year. Any documention of the tree and its relationship to Native American agriculture?

Did you ever find the Blood Peach Trees and the Job Tear Beard Corn?

Hey Tina! Happy Holidays! I'm seeking more help in finding more Cherokee crops that are tied to Oklahoma where my grandma and aunt are born so I can better serve their memories. I already know about the eagle and white flour corn, candy roaster and tan pumpkins, gizzard, greasy and Trail Of Tear beans, basket and buffalo gourds and sochi or cut leaf coneflower. I'm looking for more rarer ones that the Cherokee use to have such as the Indian red corn, crawdad beans, De-aur-le corn, Sally ah corn, Cherokee butterbeans, red sweet corn, Spanish red sweet potato, older strain of Virginia Orinco tobacco, Old Virginia brown cornfield beans and Cherokee purple flour corn. I'm also looking for some Osage varieties such as Osage blue flour corn, Black Mexican bush beans, Arkansas strains of cutshort beans and kettle gourds, Osage Grey Horse corn and few others from Oklahoma from the same territory where the Cherokee are currently at right now. Forgot about the Disc Nantes gourd which used to be sold at Sandhill Preservation in Iowa, but not no more. Did my very best to obtain these things to help fullfill my quest for a better Ozark garden in Chicago to honor my grandparents, but fell short of making it became authentic and historical as it can be. If anybody out there has any of these, please let me know. Take care!

Hi Blake,  Happy Holidays!  I'm searching for the listed ones as I cook for the holidays...lol.  I see the Cherokee Nation (I have a little Cherokee, too!) has a seed bank.  You know about tha?

There are a couple recommended sites on the first site I found.

Indian red corn – Zea mays var. indurate?
The Diversity of Zea Mays - Spadefoot Nursery

This is from the site...
Native Seeds: By far the best place to get a large variety of heirloom corn varieties, especially of regional interest. This is by far our favorite source for corn seed.

Seed Savers: Best to join SSE to get the entire, full catalog. One of the sources for the ornamental japonica varieties of corn.

Baker Creek Rare Seeds: Not as exhaustive as Native Seeds/SEARCH, but they have some varieties of interest that occur worldwide.

Victory Seeds: great alternative source for a large variety of corn.

Looking for the rest of the list, too.

I've already checked in with these folks and they don't have what I'm looking for even though I already have some of the types. Was wondering if you grown any Cherokee at all. I'm interested in the seedlings of the Blood peach and more Job Tear since I've lost both from removal and by accident. I use to have a peach from my late aunt from my mom's side, but don't have it in my backyard anymore. I had some Job Tear to create jewelry, but was thrown out by accident. The Indian red corn I'm talking about is a Cherokee red flour corn and was grown in Oklahoma. You also heard of the red and green popcorns also from Oklahoma? You have any ties to the Oklahoma Cherokee? I'm trying to find and restore what's lost in this present day in my gardens for edification and inspiration. I've grown some Dutch Fork pumpkins and a few ears of the Cherokee sweet corn from a gal from Kansas. If there are many more Oklahoma Cherokee crops that are lost or not seen in years please message me at my Purple Mooseage if you need me. Take care!

indian-blood-peach

https://www.treesofantiquity.com/products/indian-blood-peach

Thanks for the site! Understand you don't have much of Cherokee in you as I don't have myself except from my grandparents time in Oklahoma. My love and ambitions will strive on to restore the former back into my horticulture and life till I die. I'm not only trying to edify myself but edify others about what my community was like back then in old times, but also my family's ancestry and place of birth. Anybody is welcome to aid me on my quest to fullfill my longtime goals in Chicago to edify folks in my community about its Native American and early settler past as well as my grandparents Cherokee heritage in Oklahoma and the rest of my parents past in Mississippi and Louisiana where I have Creole and Irish ancestry. Thanks for coming by!

What do you mean by I need help with research?

Greetings! I mean help in finding more articles, books and documentation of which crops the Cherokee had in their original homelands from the 1600s to the early 1800s. I'm also concentrating on Oklahoma in the mid 1800s to the 1900s where my great grandma and great aunt were born. My great aunt's still alive in Milwaukee today from my dad's side. I'm looking for more squashes, a few beans, a few types of corn and melons from these time periods I mentioned. I already knew there's white flour corn and eagle dent corn, black beans, white beans and tan pumpkins. I'd like to have more tan pumpkins if anybody has any. Good seeing ya!