Indian Township School "Original Gardeners"

    In Passamaquoddy we say thank you as Woliwon.  I open by saying thank you for the opportunity to help further the cause of native food sovereignty and education.   My heart is with the Passamaquoddy tribe and her children. 

    The last year of our program has been successful.  I will tell you a little bit about myself as we begin here today.  My name is Brian Giles and I teach special education.  I work specifically in the social skills program that works with children who have high social/emotional/ and behavioral needs.   I came on as part of this program late in the last year as my predecessor Donna Meader was unable due to a knee surgery to continue with the program.  I am new, enthusiastic and drastically under experienced for such a project and I was very fortunate to have the assistance of the food corps representative, administration, and the tribal government to have my back. Donnas knowledge and leadership were invaluable in the last year.    

    The beginning of my time in the farm to cafeteria program started small with the after school program.  We worked with a small group of students to get the green house back up and running after a long winter of dormancy.  The students weeded and organized the greenhouse and our supplies as we took stock of what we had to determine our needs.  Donna Meader planned a three sisters garden and helped to organize the building of four new raised beds.  

    During this time I began to know the student population at Indian Township and to determine where the greatest needs in the community were.  I was able to make connection with the local food pantry and school wellness committee.   Indian Township like most reservations is what one would consider a food desert.  There are a few gardens at homes but there is not a real movement to grow food.  

    I was able to attend the conference at Cincinnati which was both inspiring and overwhelming.  I saw what other programs were doing around the country and I quickly noted that our program had so much potential.  

    I reached out to the culture teachers and the cafeteria staff.

    Our success started with a behavioral intervention.  I will tell you a story, which is the Passamaquoddy way.  There is a student.  I will call him Kinap.  Kinap means strong and brave in Passamaquoddy and although that is not his name I feel it suits him.  

    This student faces multiple hardships at home.  His father is afflicted with an illness out of his control, his mother, not present in the picture for reasons unknown to me.  He walked around school every day with his hood up and his back slouched.  He would not high five, handshake, or utter good morning to anyone.  I knew right away that I had to get him on board.  As we all know, food is life, and gardens are good therapy.  This student agreed to be part of the garden club at school and showed up religiously for a few weeks.  He helped to weed and to prepare the garden.  I  elected him the leader of our club since the attendance was low and he was the most active member of our group.  Before I knew it he was leading the younger children groups and when the Food Corps national team showed up I elected to have him lead our group tour.  They were blown away.  His hood came down and he was excited about garden club.  The enthusiasm spread through his friends.  I elected to have the students do the daily watering and he and his peers begged me each morning for the keys to the greenhouse to water our beloved seedlings.

    At this time we collaborated with the community food pantry and we grew all the seedlings for the food pantry.

    We collaborated to see where the need was and we shared what we could with them.

    We held a community show off night and the students led their families through the greenhouse and gardens to see what they had grown.  We were met with “Hey tus or qoss (son or daughter) I didn’t know you were doing this.  I am so proud of you.”  

    It was outstanding, our students had pride in themselves and their work.  The gardens began to grow and we provided the cafeteria with lettuce, tomatoes, and squash for the students and for Food Corps taste testing and cooking demonstrations.