- 2 days ago
The Botanica interview from 11-10-2020 between Monique Verdin and the (then new) Bvlbancha Collective.
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00:00:00at the Fortunate Partnership of the Bayou Culture Collaborative, which is a partnership
00:00:05between the Louisiana Folklore Society and the Louisiana Division of the Arts Folk Life Program.
00:00:11So I want to say thank you very much to Mabel Owens for helping us put the project together
00:00:19in terms of funding, as well as the University of New Orleans and, of course, O'Neek's Land
00:00:25Memory Bank and see the exchange. So the way that we normally do the conversation is about an hour of
00:00:37talking, and then we'll open it up to questions and answers at the end, so that people who have
00:00:47been listening in can share comments and speak directly to our panelists.
00:00:53Yeah, and so I know that before we begin, we usually do a land acknowledgement.
00:01:02Monique has given a very beautiful tribute to the river, so I'll pass it on to her and then we'll
00:01:09open it to our panelists. Thanks, Rachel. So last year I spent a lot of time on the Mississippi.
00:01:19I mean, of course, in the Mississippi Delta, it is our life force and our, yeah, our everything.
00:01:29And just, I've been trying to make it a practice to have a river acknowledgement and recognizing that
00:01:37without the river, we would have no land, especially in a place like Bulbuncha.
00:01:42And so just recognizing that water connects us all and water is the essence of the healing waters of
00:01:53life and also all that nourishes us. So, so grateful for that force of water that's coming
00:02:02through the middle of Turtle Island and feeding out into the Gulf of Mexico and connecting us to all the
00:02:09oceans and the river outfalls and deltas all over the world. But also to, to recognize that, you know,
00:02:18the delta is not that old in geological time. It's, you know, about 8,000 years old or so.
00:02:25Um, but that there have been indigenous peoples who have been stewards of the land and the waters.
00:02:35Um, and that we are not gone, that we are still here. And I think that, um, often folks think of
00:02:44the Southeast and they don't connect indigenous peoples. Um, and that's because of removal. Um,
00:02:54even though all around us, there are the words of, of, of places named by indigenous peoples
00:03:03and indigenous names of peoples that are marking territories. And so in the delta, you know,
00:03:12it's not just one, uh, nation. There are so many nations. And so just want to take a moment to,
00:03:19to give gratitude to all of your ancestors and all of my ancestors who have made it possible for us to
00:03:26share, um, today in this conversation. And, um, and also, you know, want to, to remember, uh, the names
00:03:36of the nations that have been erased, um, that were never recorded in the books of history. So we're
00:03:43not able to reference them, but to, to, to recognize that there is a silenced history that we are all
00:03:53still living, um, living through and a silencing of history that continues, but to, uh, yeah,
00:04:02give gratitude for the ancestors, the Homa, the Shakta, the Shiramatcha, the Akola Pisa,
00:04:09the Atakapa Ishak, the Bayugula, the Chaputulas, the Washa, Shawasha, the Biloxi, the Muskogee,
00:04:19the Eastern Suyan, the, um, I'm, I'm always like, I'm forgetting everyone's names, but, um, yeah, the, um,
00:04:33so ladies, the Aviel. Yes. Say someone else, give us a name, call the ancestors.
00:04:49What'd you say? Tunica. Tunica. Yes. Yes. Beautiful. And Brittany's on the chat calling out the
00:04:58Tunica too. Yes, for sure. Um, so all the ancestors, indigenous and otherwise as well,
00:05:05because we know that our folks here had the earliest contacts with the colonizers,
00:05:13and that has left a huge scar, um, that we are still trying to heal from. And so, you know, with that,
00:05:22we're going to dive into this conversation today, um, uh, which is, you know, I think that Rachel and
00:05:30I's work with Return to Yakni Shido, um, really made me want to lean into the complexities of
00:05:39indigenous identity in the Southeast in a way that I've always wrestled with, um, for myself. But I think
00:05:47it's, you know, history is, uh, sometimes just like, you know, wanting to be streamlined so that
00:05:56folks can understand a little bit, but we know that the story is always so much bigger. And so I think
00:06:04that, you know, in, in thinking about our, our panelists today from the whole bunch of collective,
00:06:10we have Ida Aronson from the United Homa Nation, Angela Como, Muskogee Creek Shakta, Sasha Irby,
00:06:19Osage Lakota Muskogee, and Jenna May, who is also, um, Shakta and, oh, sorry, Jenna May. Um, Jenna May is
00:06:30Eastern Siuian Muskogee and Cherokee. Um, apologies for, for mixing up my words there. But to recognize that,
00:06:39um, just as Bulbantcha was a place of many languages and many peoples that, um, did not
00:06:48necessarily segregate themselves into isolated, um, you know, communities, um, that this was a crossroads
00:06:56of people. And that in the aftermath of colonialism, and when we think about the Southeast, you know,
00:07:03one of the things that, and Rachel and I's research for return to Yakni Shido that I discovered that I
00:07:10didn't realize is that there's this history of the shatter zone. And so, you know, in the 1700s, you
00:07:16have Shigasaw warriors coming down into the Southeast and raiding villages and taking indigenous people
00:07:24as slaves, um, and enslaving them and, and bringing them far away from their home territories. And so
00:07:31that's, um, I think, you know, when we think about Bulbantcha, um, when we think about the Yakni Shido,
00:07:38when we, when we think about the Everglades, right, that when we think about Mobile Bay, which,
00:07:44which Rachel and I have talked about, and just that Mobile was this place, um, especially during the
00:07:50shatter zone where many people were, were indigenous people were going to for safety. Um, and then you
00:07:58have these, these movements and migrations that happen, um, for folks to find a sense of sovereignty.
00:08:05And so I, um, I don't want to take up a whole lot more time because I really want us to talk
00:08:11to our participants, but I think that, you know, so many of our ancestors had to make decisions,
00:08:20um, make decisions to, to stay, um, or, or to hide. Um, and, and in the case of the United Homa Nation,
00:08:29you know, we've been hiding for a long time just so that we can be left alone, um, and, and pushed to
00:08:35the kind of the ends of the earth. Um, and the reality now is that, um, you know, I, I describe,
00:08:43especially this, the, the four individuals who are with us tonight, I think of them, um, so much as
00:08:51like these incredible spirits, like rising up out of the mud, um, kind of in like, um, I've been waiting
00:08:59for you. I'm so inspired by all of you and I'm so grateful to be in community with you and to be
00:09:05learning with you and to be planting seeds with all of you. Um, so let's get started. Um, I think,
00:09:13you know, one of the, the, the ways we want to really start is just for each of you to, to introduce
00:09:21yourself, um, and, and, and to really share your, you know, where your indigenous roots and connections
00:09:32to nations in the Southeast, um, you know, where, where your people are coming from. Um, and I think,
00:09:40you know, how that indigenous knowledge, um, has played out from your childhood to today. Um,
00:09:49so I don't know who wants to go first. I'm going to start with Ida cause they're putting their finger
00:09:57on the nose and I'm sure because their last name is Aronson, they have to go first often.
00:10:02So sorry, Ida. And I think you might be the youngest. So, uh, of us not to make any of us,
00:10:12you know, she's only like, or they're only like, um, you know, a couple of months younger, maybe
00:10:17kidding. But Ida, yeah. Can you share, um, a little bit about, yeah. How, yeah. How your indigenous roots
00:10:26have, um, have shaped who you are and, um, and understanding where you come from and
00:10:33what that means now and the work that you're doing.
00:10:36Yeah, totally. Yeah. My nose is out. Didn't work. It totally worked against me.
00:10:42Draw too much attention. Um, but yeah, I am used to it with the last name. Okay. So hi, I'm Ida.
00:10:48Um, I'm a member of the United Holman nation. Um, I always like to preface by saying I only speak for
00:10:56myself. I do not speak for my nation. Um, I've always kind of been a radical one. So I usually
00:11:02gotta put that little disclaimer. Like, it's just me. This is just me. Um, my indigeneity, I
00:11:09would not be doing probably anything in, in this community without my mom, like my mom. I'm so proud
00:11:19of my mom and I love my mom very much. Um, but watching her with her journey because she was
00:11:24part of that 60 scoop where she was adopted away from the tribe to a, a family, which I love very
00:11:31much, but you know, I white Catholic family and then having watching her my whole life, try to find
00:11:37that family again. And then we finally found them when I was about 10. Um, my family is out of
00:11:43Montague area of the Holman nation. So down there, down, down, down at the Gulf. Um, and so watching
00:11:51her spend so much time trying to find her family and like, of course, I'm going to be involved in
00:11:56that. Like it made her happy and it was great. Like it was, it's a type of family that was really
00:12:01different from my father's side of the family, which is very Jewish and like much smaller, much
00:12:06quieter. Um, so yeah. And then, and then just being an activist through the years, I mean,
00:12:15it all keeps coming back to, to the, the genocide and assimilation that, that we have, um, all undergone,
00:12:25um, and trying to fight back against that as being this really core root of fighting against white
00:12:29supremacy for me. Um, that connecting with my family and connecting with the land is the best
00:12:37thing that I can be doing at this time. Um, and it just keeps coming back again and again, um, as,
00:12:42as affirming that. Um, so here I am living in the homelands. I was up in the Northeast for a long time
00:12:49for schooling and such. Um, and now I guess I'm back with a vengeance.
00:12:53Look out Yakni Shudo. They, they came home. Um, I love that. Thank you, Aida. Um, I'm sorry,
00:13:06y'all I'm going to do like the school teacher. I'm just going to go alphabetical last names. That's
00:13:10kind of lame, but, um, Angela, do you want to, do you want to share, um, with us about your,
00:13:17your, yeah, your people and how that's influenced your life and your work and where you're at?
00:13:27Um, Hey everybody. I, Estongo, um, I am Muscogee on my mother side, Muscogee and Cherokee on my mother's
00:13:36side. Um, her family for as far back as we can go back on the family tree is in, um,
00:13:42um, around Okmulgee, Georgia, which was one of the biggest, um, it was on the Okmulgee river,
00:13:49river. And that was one of the biggest Muscogee, um, prior to colonization, one of their biggest
00:13:55settlements. Um, and her, but her father was in the army. Um, so they traveled a lot when she was,
00:14:04uh, a young child and she met my dad in New Orleans and my dad is Choctaw and Cajun. Um,
00:14:11he was the city slicker of his little Cajun family. Uh, he grew up in Acadiana, but, um,
00:14:18he was in Bulbacha, um, actually managing a bar when he met my mom. Um, so I have three different,
00:14:24um, tribal nations and my background on both sides. Um, and my mom unfortunately did not grow up with a,
00:14:32not a lot of knowledge about her history. Um, because there was a lot of addiction,
00:14:38unfortunately in her family. Um, and actually that led her in her search to become sober and
00:14:45led her to search out her family history. And she really connected with her spirituality.
00:14:52Um, and she met, she actually had some elders that were her teachers that were Choctaw and
00:14:58Chinamacha and we lived, I grew up about 10 minutes from the Chinamacha reservation. I grew up in Franklin,
00:15:03Louisiana. Um, and so I connected with them and that really led me on the path that I am today. Um,
00:15:13mainly the spiritual side of our, our, um, history. And I'm actually in Alabama now
00:15:20in Muskogee territory because I want to further my spiritual knowledge. Um, so I moved to be closer to an
00:15:26elder of the Muskogee. Um, he is one of the leaders of one of the two traditional grounds,
00:15:33um, east of the Mississippi. So that's why I'm here. Yeah. So glad you're here. Um,
00:15:42I think Sasha, um, uh, my family is, I come from Osage Lakota and attempting to make more connections
00:16:05with my Muskogee relations. Um, and I guess how that influences my work is sort of like,
00:16:12I have always felt so like I'm part of so many liminal spaces. I am, I live in a city, uh, post
00:16:22colonization, but I come from, my people come from time immemorial. I am two spirit. Um, like so many
00:16:32of these things feel like that, that stereotypical walking into worlds, which I think, I think too,
00:16:40is limiting. I think there's infinite levels, um, of the worlds that we're in with one another,
00:16:48because all of our relationality is a world into itself and all of those worlds are connected. Um,
00:16:54um, so yeah, also I think I sort of like agree with Ida. I have a similar, um, radical bent, uh,
00:17:08to how I approach the world and how I do the work. Um, I think that like all of this, like plant medicine
00:17:16and building community, all of these things are really in service to one another and building the
00:17:22worlds that we want to live in. Um, I think so much of our, uh, the way that we approach, uh, radical
00:17:32politics or, um, building better worlds together, we think of the, we think of the fighting part
00:17:39and we think of the tearing down part. Uh, but I think that really that if we focus on the building
00:17:45part, uh, that is the only thing that will sustain us through the fighting part, right? We all need a
00:17:52place to wrap our wounds and like care for each other. And so I guess as feisty as I get, especially
00:17:59the older I get, the more I try to focus on the building part, I think. Yeah, that's beautiful.
00:18:08And so true. Um, the infinite, infinite, infinite possibilities, infinite dimensions,
00:18:18and, um, all of the, all of the ways are, are so important to respect and recognize, um,
00:18:26and the building and the, the planting. Um, Jenna May?
00:18:36Oh, I can't see myself. Okay. I'm just going to go for it. Um, don't go. Um, I'm Jenna May. I'm of
00:18:43Eastern Suan, Muscogee and Cherokee descent. Um, I've lived in Bulbancha for 15 years. Um, I grew up in
00:18:53so-called Chicago. Um, and my Southern Indigenous grandparents left, uh, the South in the late 50s,
00:19:04um, um, for, to go up North. And, um, that's where I was raised. And, um, I think that, um,
00:19:13moving here to Bulbancha following the federal levee disasters in 2005, um, was pretty formative for me
00:19:21returning to, um, the South. And, um, and then over the years, a lot of my family has followed. Um,
00:19:29um, so I have a sister and my mom and my stepdad and, um, uh, all live here. And, uh, we collectively
00:19:38raise a precocious six-year-old. And, um, yeah, I agree with Sasha about, um, you know, being mixed. Um, I,
00:19:49um, I, I, I agree with Sasha about the liminal identities. And I think that a lot of, um,
00:19:57the work, um, in Indigenous community that I have done, um, has been, um, a way to really kind of,
00:20:08uh, you know, be at ease in my own skin and in my own complexity and mixedness. And, um,
00:20:18um, and, um, I'm trying to think of what else I want to say. Um, yeah, maybe that's it.
00:20:26We have more questions for you. So, um, and yes, I, I, I totally resonate with all of that.
00:20:35Everyone has said, and I think that, you know, there's this, um, this healing piece that I am
00:20:42hearing, um, that is like connecting with family and connecting with place and also, um, decolonizing
00:20:54just the, the categories that we put ourselves into or other people put us into. Um, and,
00:21:02you know, that whole question of like, oh, oh, you're Indian. Well, how much, you know,
00:21:08it's like, what are you going to do percentages over here? Like, well, what was, how much was your
00:21:13daddy? You know, it's like, come on. So, um, and I think that, you know, uh, yeah, I, I, I don't need
00:21:22the federal government to recognize who I am. And I think that, um, our panel today represents, um,
00:21:31that indigeneity, um, there's a spectrum and, um, and, and it's, it's vast and, um, and we need to
00:21:41stop categorizing ourselves. Um, like it's, it's good to know where you're coming from, but we are
00:21:49contemporary people too. And we've been subjected to, yeah, surviving genocide and, um, surviving
00:21:58removal. Uh, and that really wasn't that long ago and not to mention surviving, uh, racism and white
00:22:05supremacy. So, um, to all our mamas, uh, just grateful for, for them to want to acknowledge the
00:22:14mamas and the mamas, uh, the mamas and all y'all being mamas in different ways. Um, right. So, um,
00:22:25I, Rachel and I were going to go kind of back and forth with our, our interview. And I think Rachel
00:22:32has a question. Um, yeah. So this has been beautiful to hear how y'all have, um, y'all's family backgrounds.
00:22:42And then, um, we're interested to hear kind of how you decided to move to Balbancha and make a home,
00:22:51um, in the city that at least for some, some, some part of your life and, um, what, you know,
00:23:01kept, if you were, um,
00:23:02um, if you were returning home or if you were, um, um, from some other place, what made you decide
00:23:12to put down some roots in this area?
00:23:21And whoever feels, uh,
00:23:23Oh yeah. Sorry. We can go in the same direction as we've been going and start with Ida. Ida,
00:23:30you talked a little bit about it already with the decision to come back after being in school,
00:23:34but if maybe there was something in particular that drew you back. Um,
00:23:40Yeah. So, um, I used to spend summers down here. Um, uh, yeah, I'm sure to get out of my parents'
00:23:48hair. Um, and also to connect with the family. Um, so after I guess standing rock, I was like,
00:23:57I need to start to make my way home and start to make plans. Um, and about 2018 was when I was like,
00:24:05yep, uh, this needs to happen. Um, so I've been, I've been actively planning since then. Um, I was up,
00:24:13up in New England for a long time for schooling and to start my career. Um, I felt in a good place to
00:24:18be able to jumpstart down here. Like I had my trainings that I, uh, most of my trainings I
00:24:22needed for my career job. Um, and I was just, I was feeling the connection so strong. So I actually
00:24:29don't live in Balbantia. I work in Balbantia. Um, but I live in the swamps further below. So I live
00:24:35around Houma, um, which is where the tribe's, um, main headquarters, I guess. Um, and I lived, I've moved
00:24:47here at the end of 2019. Right. Yeah. Um, and, and it was a mix of, of needing to be back with family.
00:24:58There was, I had a family tragedy that happened. Um, so it was partially that it was fighting for
00:25:04the land. It was needing, knowing that how much land we lose, you know, even per hour. I was like,
00:25:12if I'm not going back there, I'm not going to have a chance to, to even to, to have the community
00:25:20I need with the land because the land won't be there necessarily. Um, and also like to help fight
00:25:25and put my body on line, put my, my body where my mouth is. Um, it's a, it was a combination of so
00:25:31many things, but I just, I needed to be back here. So that's me. Thank you. And sorry, I just have one
00:25:38follow-up question. Can you, can you share with us your, uh, your, your training, your,
00:25:44the profession that you were wanting and still are doing? Oh yeah. I'm a aspiring lighting designer.
00:25:54I was working up in Boston. Um, but I do, um, stage managing lighting design, different smaller
00:26:02design from, I was doing kid shows. Um, I have one big show that I still is going on in Boston
00:26:08and, um, but I'm in the theater realm and, uh, corporate work for, for pay. Thank you.
00:26:18And Angela. Um, so I was actually born in Balbancha. I was born at Charity Hospital, big charity. Um,
00:26:28and my dad is from the Acadiana area. Um, and when my sister, I was about four or five when they decided
00:26:37that the city was too dangerous where we were living to raise children. Um, so we moved back to
00:26:43where his family was in Acadiana. Um, but we would come back often and I moved back full time in 2010.
00:26:53Um, because I, I'm actually a research nurse. Um, so I have to like research work only happens in the city.
00:27:03You have to either be in the city cause that's where research happens or be working in a hospital
00:27:08or clinic that's connected to a university, um, that does medical research. So, um, I had to live
00:27:15near the city. So to be able to get a good job and I wanted to come home and, um, you know, New Orleans,
00:27:20I remember being a child. We'd come back for the weekends. We'd come, you know, my dad would take us,
00:27:25my parents were like way too wild and loose with us. And like, I think I was like 10 and my dad was
00:27:32like, yeah, you can walk on canal street. It's fine. Here's a couple bucks, like 10 years old,
00:27:37walking down canal by myself. Like, you know, I would never, um, and every time we'd come back,
00:27:44it was like, this is where I belong. Like, this is home. Like, it just felt like there was an excitement.
00:27:49The minute we get on Claiborne, like I remember driving down Claiborne and it's like, this is home.
00:27:54Um, and I, even as a kid, I was like, I'm going to move back there one day because this is my home.
00:27:58So, but now I've moved away. Um, I'm tired of the imminent threat of flooding constantly. Um,
00:28:08it's really scary. And, um, the older that I'm learning from is 80 and he's like, you need,
00:28:16I want you to move closer to me so I can teach you about, um, ceremonial medicines.
00:28:21And I can't say no, I couldn't say no to that. So now I'm in Alabama.
00:28:27That gave me chills just now. Can't say no.
00:28:33Yeah. Sasha.
00:28:36Uh, I grew up on Pensacola beach mostly. Um, some of the time was in town, but I mostly grew up on the beach.
00:28:47Uh, and I lived here off and on actually as, uh, you know, runaway as a youth and teenager and moved
00:28:58here when I became an adult. So I've spent my, pretty much my whole adult life with some small
00:29:03exceptions here in Bulbancha. Um, and I had a similar, you know, the, when we, when the family
00:29:11would come here when I was a kid and I remember, I don't remember exactly where we were. I was pretty
00:29:15young. I remember looking at something happening vaguely and being like looking at, uh, to my
00:29:22stepmother and telling her I was going to move here when I grew up and she was horrified.
00:29:27Um, I think she would probably say now it's because she didn't want her baby to leave,
00:29:33but, uh, she's full of shit. Um, yeah, I always, you know, I've, I've always felt very at home here.
00:29:44Um, although I do find, um, again, I keep saying like the older I get, like I'm old at all, um,
00:29:53that I, I find how much I miss, uh, being like on the Gulf and how much I miss the island.
00:30:00Um, not that it would be possible to move back anyway, because no one can really afford it
00:30:06anymore. Um, not in the way that we did when I was a kid. Um, but yeah.
00:30:12Thanks, Sasha. Um, I, I, I had no idea about Pensacola Beach. Santa Rosa Island has been a
00:30:22special place for me too. Um,
00:30:27Jinameh, you, you shared a little bit about your journey to Bullbuncha. Um, but I don't know if
00:30:34there's, there's more you want to add about, yeah, what, what brought you here and what keeps you
00:30:42you? Yeah. Um, so I am also of the radical persuasion. It seems to be a theme amidst the
00:30:50whole bunch of collective. Um, and so I moved down here following Hurricane Katrina to do, um,
00:30:56release and political solidarity work. Um, and just ended up staying. And, um, it was shortly,
00:31:04I think the next year in 2006 when my, uh, grandma, Daisy passed away. And after my grandma,
00:31:12Daisy's death, my grandmother, um, my maternal grandmother opened up and started sharing about
00:31:17how, um, she had actually grown up here in, um, well, she called it New Orleans, Bullbuncha.
00:31:24And, um, I don't know, ever since then, I think that, um, how I ended up down here, um,
00:31:31a thousand miles away from home in a place that has always like deeply felt like home started making
00:31:37more sense to me. Um, cause I was, um, kind of retracing my maternal grandmother's footsteps back
00:31:45here. Um, and in, um, longer view of history, um, you know, as, um, a major trading hub in the Gulf South,
00:31:56I'm sure some of my, um, Muscogee and maybe even Cherokee and Eastern Siuant ancestors also passed through here.
00:32:09Thanks for sharing y'all. So we're curious, um, what were your experiences with healing plants and,
00:32:18um, you've shared, um, Angela, you were sharing a little bit about, um, traditional ceremonies,
00:32:26uh, uh, practices and, and also the, um, I know that you all are working with your hands in multiple ways.
00:32:36So, um, the artisan, um, you know, creating a functional, um, traditional arts. Um, so yeah,
00:32:46prior to starting Bullbuncha Collective, um, what, where, what, how were you working in the world and in those ways?
00:32:56Yes. And we will go the other way around maybe just to not make, uh, Ida have to start off every
00:33:06time. So Jenna Mae, do you, do you feel comfortable starting? Um, so I've always been interested in
00:33:14plants and plant medicine. Um, and I've had the occasion to work for two naturopathic doctors
00:33:22who also had retail spaces and I worked in their real retail spaces and, um, learned a lot through
00:33:27them. However, um, you know, even when I was working with plants, they were in packaged bottles
00:33:33and that felt a little removed to me. Um, and so, um, uh, I've also briefly studied, um,
00:33:43sustainable horticulture and botany and ecology up in Illinois. Um, and, um, I've also worked with plants,
00:33:53um, for, um, uh, healing work in, in service to ancestral technologies. And, um, uh, I started making
00:34:06plant medicines, um, a few years ago maybe. And, um, um, that's really, um, ramped up quite a bit
00:34:16since, uh, I now have gardening space and can grow my own medicines.
00:34:20Mm-hmm. Thank you. So much knowledge. Um, Sasha?
00:34:32Um, I guess some of, like, I feel like I always had some amount of, like, full plant medicine.
00:34:40Like, there was all of the, like, the, my, I feel, I used to call my grandma's yard,
00:34:47like, just, like, almost like Narnia, Garden of Eden. She could grow things in that yard that would
00:34:52happen by accident and they would just happen. It was like grandma magic. You know, like, she has
00:34:57four orange trees in Pensacola that grew from discarded, like, oranges. It's wild. She can grow
00:35:05anything. And so there were, if anybody was sick or cranky, there was like, it was like that kitchen,
00:35:13like, which food magic always. Um, and I had a deep connection to that as a kid. And I've always
00:35:21had a lot of health issues, but nothing, let's see, like, nothing that necessarily made it so I
00:35:27couldn't function, but I've always had lots of, like, doctors can never seem to find what's wrong with me.
00:35:34And so years ago, I kind of started trying to, trying to find if there was a way to support my body
00:35:40myself because it seemed like either medicine or access to, uh, Western style medicine due to,
00:35:51um, being popular, being poor, just, it just wasn't available to me. So I had to figure out how to deal
00:35:57with it myself. Um, but that also was very empowering, right? Like that ability to take
00:36:04health into your hands and to like commit the, like, to have those acts of sovereignty,
00:36:10like embodied to be in relationship with plants and food and have those things like heal you in
00:36:19so many ways has always been very strong for me. Like I've had instances in my life where I didn't
00:36:25have control over my body for reasons, um, you know, patriarchy and white supremacy.
00:36:33And that has always been a deep source of healing. And then I guess I started making
00:36:39plant medicine in the sense of maybe making it for other people in the past few years
00:36:44when I would, you know, I would be at work and somebody would complain about their hands hurting
00:36:48or their feet hurting for the 14 hour shifts. And I would just spout all of these plants at them and
00:36:54sort of like, like the mom friend, almost like bringing all of this stuff to work being like,
00:37:00try these. Um, I decided that maybe it was something worth actually pursuing with intentionality.
00:37:07Um, as it seemed to be something that was like a calling for me.
00:37:11Grandma's grandma's grandma's in that kitchen magic. Um, Angela.
00:37:25Um, so earlier I spoke to the fact that we really didn't have a lot of, um, growing up,
00:37:33there was very little history on my mom's side except plant medicine. Um, she did
00:37:41remember stories of plant remedies and it was far and few between, but that was like the only thing
00:37:48that she had, like as far as, um, the indigenous roots that we had, um, from her, you know,
00:37:53passed on from her father or her aunt or what have you. Um, and so she, when I was young,
00:37:59she had become an herbalist. Um, so I grew up with an herbalist mother. Um, and my original
00:38:09college major was environmental and sustainable resources. Um, I wanted to be like, I saw the
00:38:16movie. Um, I don't know if any of you guys have seen it. I'm old. So I saw the movie medicine
00:38:21man with Sean Connery, where he was like a botanist, um, that was going to save the world
00:38:26because from this like saliva that these ants in South America, you know, from eating this certain
00:38:32plant, he was going to like save, you know, I don't know. It was great, but that's what I wanted to do
00:38:37with my life. Um, but life happened and, um, weirdly enough, I became a nurse, which seems like
00:38:46not an easy fix for something, but it was an easy way for me as a single parent to make money,
00:38:52to raise a child. And, um, in doing so in research, you really learn in medical research,
00:39:00you learn how many medications are actually synthetic versions of plant medicine, like
00:39:07so many. And, but being that they're synthetic, there's all these side effects, like those side
00:39:12effects aren't there in natural medicine. Um, and I always wanted to pursue herbalism. Um,
00:39:20I actually like initially went to try to find like an indigenous led herbal medicine course,
00:39:26and it doesn't exist. Like the only thing that you can find is like, no offense, it was like taught by
00:39:31blonde white women, which really made me angry. And I was like, I'm going to find someone, I'm going to
00:39:37find this. And if it doesn't exist, I'm going to create it because it's just ridiculous. Um, and I
00:39:42actually took a course with Maypop and that's where I met Ida. Um, and that was like the beginning
00:39:48phases of the Bobacha Collective. So
00:39:54Awesome. Ida, you want to, you want to pick up there?
00:40:00Yeah. All right. So way back in the day, I was a young, young pagan rebelling against
00:40:08everything, but it clicked a lot. A lot of it clicked with me. And I was just like,
00:40:14this is natural. This makes sense. This actually speaks to me. And my parents were secular enough
00:40:19that I got away with a lot. So I pursued that. Um, and I had various family that helped me and,
00:40:26and various people. And so through that, I mean, the plant medicine is there. So I started with it,
00:40:31with this magical, you know, the magical aspect of it. But then I was like, right, these,
00:40:36these are plants. These do the thing also, like lavender does help physically calm your body.
00:40:42And it's not just a, it smells nice. And now I'm calm, like, but there's a reaction going. So,
00:40:48um, so it started there for sure. Um, and then picking up what Angela said to the, these,
00:40:56the more that I was getting into and learning about my, just, just the land down here and, and
00:41:02indigeneity, as we were trying to figure it out, as we were coming into the tribe and into my family,
00:41:08um, I would get these little knowledges too, from my mom of like, well, bay leaves keep bugs out of
00:41:13your, out of your cabinet, like put sprinkle bay leaves around. Um, and I just told that to all
00:41:19sorts of people. They were like, wow, really? Um, so little stuff like that. Um, and then a few years
00:41:26back, um, going into like strictly the herbalism part, when I started really getting into it, um,
00:41:32I became a street medic and I did my street medic training. Um, and just thinking through if something
00:41:39happened out in the street, you know, you have your pack or whatever, but what happens if you
00:41:43don't have your pack? Um, what are things that I can, you know, what happens worst case scenario?
00:41:48What can I do? What, what's around me? How can people help themselves? This, these thoughts of like
00:41:53sustainability and stuff. And it just keeps coming back to the plants. The plants are
00:41:57here for us. Um, they want to be used and they're our friends and, and just noticing that and really
00:42:03communing with the plants more and more. Um, so not quite like a nurse background, but yeah.
00:42:11Street nurse. Um, and just want to give a shout out to Maypop, uh, cause it, it holds a dear place and
00:42:20in, in, in many hearts, uh, and, uh, Rachel Reeves, who's one of the founding, um, herbalist will be with
00:42:29us next Tuesday at the same time. Um, same place, same zoom room. Um, Rachel? Um, yeah, this is so, so
00:42:40wonderful. Um, we, uh, we're interested to hear about, um, what your experiences have been like coming
00:42:48together as a collective and what plants you maybe have brought to the table with the collective.
00:42:55That's been an important part of your own healing practices. Uh, and we can, um, we can Ida again
00:43:07and go back the other direction. Sorry, Ida.
00:43:19Do you mind repeating the question you cut out a little bit for me? Oh, yes. All right. Um, I'm,
00:43:26I guess we're, we would love to hear about, um, you know, your experiences coming together with the
00:43:31Bancha collective and, um, perhaps what the second question is, um, what plant, um, you've shared with
00:43:40the, that's been important or special to you. All right. Um, well, we, I mean, Angela and I met along
00:43:50with another friend, um, at that class at Maypop and I think things were starting then. And then,
00:43:57um, we and Jenna may, so Angela, me and Jenna may had a meeting one time, man. I don't quite remember.
00:44:06It was all like a blur at the beginning. It was, this was pre COVID too. So it, it really came
00:44:11together at a timely moment. I guess the universe was moving us that way anyway for, for these times.
00:44:17Um, and we just kind of threw ourselves into it really like we're all interested and it was a way to
00:44:24hang out. Um, I come up when I can, cause I'm down in the swamp. Um, and the other part of the
00:44:32question. Is there a plant that stands out? Yeah. Is there one? Yeah. Is there one plant for you?
00:44:39All right. I'm not going to take the obvious one for Bolbencha collective. I feel like I'll leave
00:44:43that for Angela or Jenna may my plant that I love the most. Uh, I think for me is definitely
00:44:49Bluvervain. It's all over Montague school down, down there. Um, it's had a lot of really good
00:44:56effects for me with people and with me. And it's, I think we got something going, me and Bluvervain.
00:45:04Sounds romantic.
00:45:05What happened with Bluvervain?
00:45:10What'd you say, Rachel? Oh, um, just, can you tell us about what Bluvervain does?
00:45:15Oh yeah. It's really great for stressed people. Um, I've been, oh, what did she say? It was like,
00:45:22it's for, for, for really type A people that need to just chill out for a minute,
00:45:27chill out. Um, but it's, it's really great for stress, um, and anxiety. And, uh, I have some people
00:45:34who like, I'm almost out of my whole batch because they've been coming back through the year. There's
00:45:39this one grandmother who's my neighbor who is, uh, a big fan and she's like, it's, it's helped me so
00:45:46much. Like I take less medication and I'm like, okay, just make sure you're talking to your doctor
00:45:51too, but it's, it's really working for her. And she's a fan and that's, it's great. It's working.
00:45:58And the butterflies. What do you, um, what do you do to make it? Like what's the recipe
00:46:07that you would offer? Uh, I had made a tincture. Um, but I, we usually do like tincture and then
00:46:14apple cider vinegar as an option. If somebody doesn't like alcohol, um, the tincture lasts a
00:46:21long time. So I like to have a stock of that. Um, and that lady liked it. I don't know. I told her
00:46:25she could put it in a drink or something. She was like, Oh, okay.
00:46:36Angela, do you want to, do you want to go next?
00:46:41Yes, I will go. Um, I don't remember the first part of the question, so I think I'm just going to
00:46:46model Ida. Um, it was basically, you know, how did a bunch of collective come about? Yeah.
00:46:52Yeah. Um, so I'm, you know, most it's, most people think I'm super outgoing and like I could
00:47:01talk to anybody, but deep down inside I'm shy and I have a little bit of like social anxiety.
00:47:06So the very first, um, class at may pop, we, it's a very small space and it was like 13 of us. It was a
00:47:15pretty big class and, um, I'm a nerd. So I was there early and there were two people that sat
00:47:23like, I kind of sat in the corner and there were two people sitting next to me and like, we're just,
00:47:27you know, chatting. I immediately noticed Ida when they walked in because Ida has tattoos and
00:47:31I'm a tattooed up person. So I was like, Oh, I like her. I like Ida's tattoos. Um, but we got started
00:47:38chatting and the other person that sat with us was also indigenous and Ida was indigenous. So I was
00:47:44like, what is the chances that the three indigenous people in this class, A, that there's three of us
00:47:50in this class, number one. And then, then we all sat together. Like, what is the chances of that? So
00:47:56we have to like, this was like the universe. So, um, we got to talking and I was like, we have to hang
00:48:03out. We got to get together. And it was just apparent that all of us really have a lot of
00:48:10similar interests, like plant medicine, arts and crafts, activism, um, outdoors, ceremony,
00:48:18you know, retaking ancestral knowledge, whether it be language or, you know, the different aspects
00:48:24of it. So it was just like, okay, but it was like fast, insanely fast, imperious friends. Um,
00:48:30and I feel like I've known all of them my whole life, honestly. Um, so, and as far as the plants,
00:48:39um, also another, I'm just giving Maypop all kind of, uh, I'm giving them all kind of free
00:48:44advertisements tonight. Uh, we went, we went to, um, we're in a field trip for the class for the
00:48:53herbalism class and Rachel Reeves is our instructor and we were walking around and I got stung.
00:49:00On the back of my shoulder by a wasp. Um, and so Rachel was like, oh, this is the perfect time to
00:49:06learn about Biden's Pelosa. And there was some like right there. So she picked the leaves off
00:49:11this Biden's Pelosa, which is, it's like a weed. Everybody thinks of it as a weed. It grows all
00:49:16over a bunch of all over everywhere. Um, you know, most people just mow it down because it grows like
00:49:21crazy. And so she was like, do you mind if I put a spit poultice on this bite? And I was like,
00:49:28no, of course not. I have like a mild allergy to wash things. I don't have like an anaphylactic
00:49:34reaction, but I will swell up and that swelling will last for like a week. Um, she put it on the
00:49:40bite and it was completely like numb within a few minutes. The sting was completely gone
00:49:46and there was no swelling. The swelling was gone and it stayed gone. There was no redness,
00:49:50no swelling within 10 minutes. And I was just like amazed. So I was really intrigued by this plant.
00:49:57And I was like, man, I have to like, look for this plant. I have to figure this plant out and
00:50:01learn about it and spend some time with it. I kid you not, I go home. It had never been growing
00:50:07in my yard before. It was growing next to the steps of my house.
00:50:10And then I moved to Alabama and I was telling my best friend when we came out here, I was like,
00:50:18I don't see any Bidens. We, I'm going to have to plant some. I need to get some seeds. There's
00:50:22no Bidens blows out here. So we have, there was a lot of remodeling of stuff and we had to take a
00:50:26couple of trips back. And on my second trip here, there was Bidens growing by the front steps. So Bidens
00:50:33is like, whether I want it to be or not, that's like my, my plant. So that's beautiful.
00:50:43Yeah. Spit poultice, the magic of a spit poultice with Bidens.
00:50:50Um, Jenna May or Sasha, which, whichever one of you would like to go.
00:50:55Can I like, first, can I say, it's amazing that the three native folks showed up on time.
00:51:01Good job. Um, and also that like Biden, that, that it seems that, but we definitely are Biden's
00:51:10cheerleaders for sure. Like I've always been super curious about the plant. I went on, it was,
00:51:17it's strange how it all seemed to coalesce. Like I went on a deep dive a couple of years ago,
00:51:22trying to find more information about this plant and not finding a lot of good,
00:51:26like, like finding the world's worst websites that had a million pop-ups that were impossible to read.
00:51:31Um, having a hard time ID-ing the right strain of Bidens it was. And then it all just seemed to click
00:51:37magically. Um, and it, and also, uh, there are lots of strains of them. And there's another one
00:51:44that's also pretty common in, um, swampier areas that's yellow. I can't remember the scientific name
00:51:51of it, but it is, instead of liking disturbed dry feet, it likes kind of rough, wet feet like ditches.
00:51:59Um, but same, same properties. So in case y'all are, y'all are looking for Bidens,
00:52:04you can probably find it in those areas too. Um, I feel like also Bidens for me, um,
00:52:10so many instances of wound healing. Um, and I, I am deeply affiliated with how,
00:52:17like seemingly like how humble the plant is and how stubborn. Bidens is like, I, if, if you,
00:52:23you know, it, it grows from seeds that get everywhere on all of your clothes.
00:52:27Uh, it will grow from its own stalks and root down. So if you break it, another one will grow.
00:52:33Uh, it's, I feel like it's very much like native people in general. Like we are impossible to kill.
00:52:38Good luck. So just learn to live with us.
00:52:45And Sasha, how did you, how did you come into the collective?
00:52:51I have no idea.
00:52:56Uh, ceremony, I think.
00:52:57That magnetic force that's pulling everyone together.
00:53:06Was it, was the indigenous people's day thing that you had too? I feel like that was another big
00:53:14collection point for us.
00:53:18I don't know.
00:53:20Yeah, I think you're right. That was the first time I think we all got together. I think
00:53:26maybe because that was in October. So.
00:53:30One year ago.
00:53:32Separately.
00:53:33Right.
00:53:34Oh, it's the bunch of one year.
00:53:40I'm sorry, Sasha.
00:53:42You were saying something.
00:53:43Oh yeah.
00:53:44That I think it was just one of those things of knowing some people separately.
00:53:47Um, and then it just stopped, like, yeah.
00:53:52Yeah.
00:53:56Jenna Mae, you want to tell us about your, your favorite plant friend?
00:54:04And, and the Bo Buncha, your Bo Buncha history or memories.
00:54:09So I think, um, coming together through, through ceremony, I think is, is, um, how I met
00:54:20most everyone else. Um, and probably with my work through the zine, um, the Bo Buncha is still
00:54:25a place zine. Um, I think I met Angela and maybe even Ida. Um, and then, um, yeah, really coming
00:54:33together, um, through ceremony and, you know, making, gathering as a community and making plant
00:54:39medicine together, um, feels like an organic, um, expression or flourishing, um, from the starting
00:54:48place of ceremony. And so that's really, um, I know it's important to my whole bunch of collective
00:54:55story. And, um, and then, um, yeah, just, uh, meeting all these like wonderful indigenous who
00:55:04were, um, you know, badass and, um, and geeks like me and, um, and figuring out that we can, um,
00:55:16do for ourselves while working directly with the plants. My kid is going to make a cameo right now.
00:55:22River, do you want to say hi? I need water. You need water? Okay. Um, and I'm going to get,
00:55:28I'm going to get him some water and, um, oh, what was I going to, um, Biden's may pop. Oh no,
00:55:35no. Oh, cleavers cleavers. Um, we were juicing cleavers so much right before COVID. And I really feel
00:55:45like, um, you know, I don't know if I, if I had COVID, but early on, you know, I worked in a
00:55:52busy tourist restaurant. And, um, I know that the week before lockdown, I had really,
00:55:58like, I was really swollen and knew that something was going through, something was going through my
00:56:02body. Could have been the flu. I have no idea, but, um, you know, I was, I was doing, uh, wellness
00:56:09shots of cleavers juice and Angela's yellow dock syrup. And I feel like I just really like kind of
00:56:16push whatever was going on with me out. And, um, so cleavers and cleavers is another weedy,
00:56:22um, kind of weedy plant that is a, um, prolific grower. And also the whole plant will stick to you.
00:56:30Um, it's like Velcro and, um, and it's a really great, uh, spring tonic herb, um, uh, that kind of
00:56:40helps flush everything out and like get the lymph moving, um, after winter months or after sickness.
00:56:46And so, um, yeah, cleavers, I'd say is one that's really kind of brought us together, um, to, to geek out.
00:56:57Thank you. Monique, um, do you have any last question before we move to the slideshow?
00:57:04Yeah. I mean, I, I, I think, you know, I want us to share this lovely slideshow that's been put
00:57:13together. Um, but I do just want us to take a minute and, and we don't have to go around, um,
00:57:20in like the school room style. Um, I mean, just kind of, um, whoever feels compelled to, to respond,
00:57:28but, you know, how is indigenous sovereignty tied to reclaiming land, um, and water in the Southeast?
00:57:39And, um, you know, I know that there's been conversations about, um, negotiating land
00:57:47acknowledgements that, um, I think all of us have been getting a lot of requests of like,
00:57:52oh, can you do a land acknowledgement? And like, you know, um, land acknowledgements
00:57:58have become very like hip in certain worlds too. And it's like, is this just a, like a fad thing
00:58:04or is this like a real thing? Um, so just wanted us to kind of, yeah, just however folks feel compelled
00:58:11to respond. Just, I mean, I think the real question is, you know, sovereignty and land and, um,
00:58:22we have not been removed and we are reclaiming and what does that, what does that really mean
00:58:26for sovereignty? I mean, I think you all have spoken to it in a certain level,
00:58:30but just wanted to give a few more minutes first response.
00:58:38Can I, can I go yell? Was that okay? Um, I was, I think I was about to say something and then, um,
00:58:44uh, the kiddo asked for water and I kind of get off track a little bit, but
00:58:48the thing about the collective is like when we came together, um, as an organic expression of, uh,
00:58:54ceremony to start working with the plants together. Um, um, you know, uh, uh, our mission is to have 75%
00:59:02of what we make, um, go to other, to in, uh, our community, um, and, um, black and indigenous people,
00:59:10um, here in South Louisiana and, um, as solidarity medicine with, uh, BIPOC folks all over Turtle Island.
00:59:19Um, and then 25% of it is for sale because, um, uh, we were thinking of ways that, um,
00:59:28we can do for us. Um, and, um, and so that those funds help us, um, get to language revitalization
00:59:40con, uh, conferences help us get to, uh, to travel for ceremony and all of these ways like, um,
00:59:48to, um, exercise sovereignty, um, on our, um, traditional homelands, uh, as well as throughout
00:59:59Turtle Island, but also like, um, to, I want to expand the idea of sovereignty outside of, um,
01:00:07um, physical land and start talking about our languages, our medicines, our ceremonies, all of
01:00:14that, like, um, supporting indigenous people doing for us, um, uh, for us bias is, um, is a way that,
01:00:26um, allies can, can help us is, um, to, um, support what we're doing, um, even if you're not included,
01:00:35um, and, and I think I'm tying into kind of the land acknowledgement thing too, um, land acknowledgement
01:00:42is ceremony and, um, and it's also about entering into a relationship and, um, asking, um, what you
01:00:54can bring to the table for indigenous peoples is, um, a great way to start thinking about entering into
01:01:01that relationship. And I'm going to step back now because I think I've talked a lot.
01:01:07Thank you. All of that was really helped expand and connect. Thank you.
01:01:14Does anybody else want to share some words? Um, I'll jump in about the, um, about sovereignty. Um,
01:01:33so, you know, a lot of times people think about sovereignty and they think about being able to rule,
01:01:38like indigenous people having their control over ruling themselves or sovereignty, like
01:01:45the governing themselves, but it's so much more like people don't understand how much is tied to
01:01:51the land as far as the environment, um, how much our culture, everything that we traditionally believe in
01:02:00is tied to nature. And so being able to take care of our own lands in the way that we see fit,
01:02:08not monoculture, not traditional, like, you know, modern agricultural practices, um, all of that came
01:02:16with colonizers and sovereignty for us means like being able to practice our indigenous agricultural
01:02:24practices, being able to speak our language, being able to take care of the land and the water and the
01:02:29way our ancestors did because we, we did so in harmony with nature to sustain it for seven
01:02:36generations into the future. And all of it's so intricately tied together. It's not just about ruling
01:02:43ourselves. It's about the whole big picture of, of how we lived our lives period. Um, and so I think that,
01:02:51that, you know, that's not really talked about a lot, especially in the environmental crisis that we're
01:02:57facing now. Um, I think people are just starting to realize that indigenous people did a good job of
01:03:03taking care of the land and being good land stewards. Um, and I think sovereignty is very important
01:03:10to be able to get back to that, to try to save what we have left. I'm going to get on a tangent,
01:03:17so I'm going to stop. Sasha or Ida, do you have anything else you'd like to add?
01:03:27I look like Ida has, I'll go after Ida. It looks like you had something to say.
01:03:31Yeah, but do I remember it? Um, if you got something, you can go first.
01:03:37I am. So when I hear sovereignty, it's, it's come up to me a lot recently. I have a friend, um,
01:03:45Felicia, who's Yakima. And they consistently would say, when people would ask like what your standing
01:03:51is and what your, what your beliefs are and like radical and nonviolent direct action and all of
01:03:56those things. And they would always say, you know, I use the term anarchist because it's a term that
01:04:03makes sense and people understand it, but I just want Yakimas to be Yakimas. Like I want you to leave
01:04:07me the fuck alone and I want Yakimas to be Yakimas. And I always think of that when I think of sovereignty
01:04:12and how, how the word doesn't fit. Like that word has so many connotations, like the root of it is
01:04:21sovereign. Um, and how that word can seem kind of poison when we think, when I think of like, like
01:04:28what sovereignty means like language and relationship to land, um, the ability for land to live for itself.
01:04:37Like it's not for us. Um, and there, uh, I, there's a line that I wrote a long time ago now. Um, that was
01:04:47essentially like when I try to think about sovereignty to boil it together with, um, feelings that maybe
01:04:53people who don't come from indigenous backgrounds might understand it. Um, and it was in relation
01:05:00to assault and it was, uh, every wink day and that's two spirit, uh, and every woman on the
01:05:09wounded continent understands the broken treaties of bodies and the fight for sovereignty. And so that
01:05:14idea, if you can imagine what it is like to lose sovereignty over your body for any moment,
01:05:19illness, assault, um, imagine that for generations, uh, and imagine the land feeling that same assault.
01:05:27So sovereignty, whatever word, whatever words we have in our languages, um, that fight is,
01:05:36it is like inherent to the life ways of being, right? Like that it's, it is, it is more than just
01:05:45the right to fuck you. I don't do what you tell me. Right. It is the right to actually like live the
01:05:51lives, um, that makes sense to us.
01:05:57Yeah.
01:06:00Yes. Thank you.
01:06:04Man, how to follow that up.
01:06:08I guess I'm going to talk just for a minute about land acknowledgements in general. Um,
01:06:14cause I know that there's allies out there that probably have questions and cause we get a lot of
01:06:17questions about doing them and, or what we think about them or whatever. Um, me personally, I think
01:06:26that what is your land acknowledgement for and what is the action behind it? It's about action. You
01:06:34know, it's like, cool. I acknowledge that this is yours. I took it. I'm going to keep it,
01:06:39but I acknowledge it's yours. Like that's not helpful. That doesn't help me at all. That just
01:06:45makes me want to punch you. You know, not be violent. Sorry. Um, but yeah, you know, that rage
01:06:52and that intergenerational frustration of just like, I mean, I think about it, my own family,
01:06:59my own family's camp that I remember visiting one time as a child is underwater now. Nothing's
01:07:06going to bring that back. So acknowledging that that area of the Gulf is ours doesn't do anything.
01:07:14What is the action that's going to process that? So in that vein, try to get a native person to talk
01:07:21about their reality, somebody that's connected, somebody that is in that community where again,
01:07:27which NMA was saying, you know, the money recirculates in our community. Uh, there was another
01:07:31conversation where we're like, we're all poor, but we're recirculating the same $5. Just like,
01:07:36but it's true. Like we, we got each other's backs. Um, and so pay them, pay native people.
01:07:45Um, and in, if you can't, if, if you just need to do this land acknowledgement for whatever reason,
01:07:54back it up with something, make it mean something, start to be the change, um, and help us show up.
01:08:00So that's what I got for that. Thanks so much, everyone for sharing such truth, um, and wisdom
01:08:10tonight. Um, I'm going to start the slideshow and, um, I don't know who, or maybe you guys can just
01:08:19tell me to stop or to keep going. Um, is that cool? We'll just kind of do it collaboratively.
01:08:27And then, uh, folks have questions. They're already starting to come through. So just want
01:08:32to let all of our attendees know that, um, we will open up. We won't have too much time. We had such
01:08:37like a robust conversation. Um, so we won't have too much time for questions, but, um, but we will
01:08:44have some, so I'm going to share screen and let you guys check this out. Oh, no, sorry. I'm not very
01:08:54good at this, obviously. I'm working on it. Okay. Here we go. No, it's not working. Here we go.
01:09:04All right. Um, so just want to give a shout out to our, um, our artist who's been working with us,
01:09:11Jonathan Mayer. He's been, um, creating these incredible portraits of, of all of our folks
01:09:16that we were talking to. Um, so somebody want to start us off?
01:09:27Uh, I'll claim this one because it's like the thorn in my side, uh, but it's also my creation. Um,
01:09:36this is our website. Um, we have a blog. It's, it's been rough keeping up with it because I moved,
01:09:44um, cause I'm the one that created the website and I keep up with it, but it's, it's tough. Uh,
01:09:49so I'm sorry. It's like delayed. It's a little delayed right now, but here's where you can see
01:09:55what medicines we offer. Um, we can ship them locally. Like if you can't afford the medicines,
01:10:00or if there's someone that's in need, just email us. Our email's on here. Our Instagram's on here.
01:10:07Um, if you need support, if you're an indigenous person in the area and you need support, send us
01:10:11an email. We'll, we'll, you know, share, um, any causes that environmental causes, activist causes.
01:10:19So this is our like home. So I also want to jump in. Oh, sorry. That our commitment to mutual aid is,
01:10:28I mean, just right across the top, we have various links for supporting other organizations. We have
01:10:35other indigenous organizations, other, um, BIPOC and queer organizations, um, events and, and just
01:10:44community. Like it's, it's about community for us. Um, and I just, yeah, that's it. Thanks, Aida. Um,
01:10:56this is, uh, you'll see throughout the slides, um, various, uh, we started doing pop-ups right before
01:11:03COVID. And then, um, then we, uh, stopped doing them for out of a matter of safety for everyone.
01:11:09Um, we've just started doing them, experimenting with doing them again. Um, and so, yeah, this,
01:11:16this table, if you see it around town, this is the, um, this is like the, uh,
01:11:22Bulbancha indigenous trade table. So come, um, support our medicine making and, um, and, um,
01:11:32yeah, come talk to us about plants and medicine and mutual aid.
01:11:36At the trap kitchen. Jenna Mae is at the trap kitchen on Sundays, which is awesome. Awesome.
01:11:41Little market. Yeah.
01:11:42Yeah. And I think here's some more market. I mean, I think that what's interesting about
01:11:52the Bulbancha collective and thinking about Bulbancha is that it's this place of trade
01:11:56and exchange and y'all are embodying that. Um, and, and just, yeah, I think that, you know,
01:12:03being in different spaces, um, you know, sharing your knowledge, sharing your medicine, sharing each
01:12:13other. Um, I, I don't know if I should just keep going or if you guys want me to stop. Y'all let me
01:12:19know. Um, Oh, go ahead. Oh, I think that maybe to get to some questions we can roll through them.
01:12:28And then if anyone wants to talk about, oh, we should probably talk about this. Yeah. Okay.
01:12:34Um, so some of the mutual aid work, and I don't have to be the only one who speaks to it. I'm in
01:12:39that picture. Um, we've done a, um, a COVID relief drive for the Bocoma community of the Mississippi
01:12:48Band of Choctaw Indians this summer. And, um, and, um, gathering, we gathered up a lot of different
01:12:56supplies and so, so, so many people, um, helped out with that. And maybe Angela can speak to that.
01:13:04Yeah. Can you go back one picture actually? Cause that gives just like a little bit of the scale
01:13:08of how much Angela did in her house, which is like, I had to choose from the pictures. I really want to
01:13:16shout you out because. Oh, it was, it was interesting. Um, it was huge. This top right
01:13:23picture, um, with like the rice and the beans and all that, that was my, my house was like
01:13:30donation headquarters for like a week. Um, we got, we were able to make food kits, um,
01:13:37that had like a couple of pounds of rice, beans, um, canned goods, soap, meat, um, hand sanitizer,
01:13:45herbal medicines, masks, uh, soap, toothpaste, vitamins, everything. Um, for 93 families. Um,
01:13:56some families had up to 10 family members and we even, um, had like two masks per person. So like,
01:14:04it was even that specific. Um, but we got, we weren't able to do it without the help of
01:14:09like the community. So many people pitched in. Um, I don't know if anybody is on the call from
01:14:15imagine waterworks. That's another mutual aid, uh, collective in new Orleans. They donated, um,
01:14:21a lot of the medical stuff. It was just like a conglomeration of people that just wanted to
01:14:26help. And we weren't able to do it without everyone that pitched in. It was beautiful. So.
01:14:39And here's some medicine making, uh, a bunch of collective at train beach and the upper ninth.
01:14:49Yep. We were, this was, we were making a video for, um, uh, we did a class for the living school.
01:14:57Um, shout out to Ron. Uh, and we had a community day where we made the videos and we made the medicine
01:15:04together and, you know, we were all masked up and outside and doing our thing. Um, and it was really
01:15:10great. And they, they really liked the kids were super into it. Um, and then I'm really proud to do
01:15:16works like that. Like, Oh, it was great. And it warms the heart to do.
01:15:23Yeah. And here's other members of the Bobancha collective, um,
01:15:29um, and other mentors.
01:15:37Jinna Mae with the, her kitchen, which going,
01:15:45um, yeah. By you shoe pick.
01:15:47Um, yeah, I did the, um, land acknowledgement for the Rougarou parade this, this past year,
01:15:54which was really cool to speak, speak UMA on this old HOMA site. It felt powerful. It felt
01:16:02amazing for me to just like, who knows when the last time our language was spoken on that site.
01:16:09Um, so yeah, we should, we should have more gatherings at that site.
01:16:15I agree. I really like that place.
01:16:18Um, and more medicine. What, what is this y'all?
01:16:21Yeah. This is one of my other favorites, uh, yellow dock root and the heart, like that was
01:16:30one of the, the roots was shaped like a heart. So of course I had to take a picture. I was like,
01:16:34Oh, it's a yellow dock heart, but it's yellow dock root. Um, which is a really, really amazing
01:16:42liver support. It helps clean out your body. Um, and it's blood building and it's really good
01:16:47liver support. And another one that grows all over Balbancha.
01:16:53So I'm just going to go flip through these so we can open up. Oh, beautiful baskets.
01:16:59Wow. Who's the artist here? Or there are a couple.
01:17:04These are from Angela. Yeah, those are me.
01:17:07Beautiful. Beautiful. I believe that that beaded thing is still up for sale on Balbancha
01:17:12collective.com and are these you Ida? Yeah, this is mine. I do. I offer basketry, um,
01:17:23through my Patreon. Um, that helps me. I'm trying to help support myself doing activism and such. Um,
01:17:29um, so be a patron. Um, and, uh, this is a, I just, I'm going to speak to this very shortly. Um,
01:17:41because I'm really excited to be in community and we're, um, we're working on reestablishing trade
01:17:49routes and support systems and doing it through indigenous gardens. Um, and so these are all of our
01:17:57different sites. Um, and, uh, I'm part of the indigenous garden, garden making, um, and really
01:18:05honored to, to be, yeah, going down this, um, journey with all of you. So recognizing that Balbancha is a
01:18:13place, um, and also connected all roads lead to Balbancha and all rock waterways as well. And so, um, yeah,
01:18:22uh, figuring out ways to support each other that way. So, um, I guess we'll go ahead and open it up for
01:18:30questions. Um, and I'll quit steering my screen. We have about 10 minutes and, um, uh, sorry. I'm always,
01:18:43there we go. Um, this makes me so nervous. I feel like I'm running a control panel that I have no control over.
01:18:51Um, we have a question. It's how would indigenous healers approach handling the Corona virus versus
01:19:01how the settler colonial state has? Hmm. That's a tough one. Any takers?
01:19:09A charm guidance for every household. Yeah. Well, I mean, um, I, uh,
01:19:23uh, protect your elders, protect the next generations, um, mask up, um, uh, follow really
01:19:34practical scientific, um, guidelines. Um, yeah. Yeah. I, I think that's the only thing I'd probably want to
01:19:44do. I think the thing that stands out to me would be that
01:19:54the, the ability to protect one another, to focus on healing and safety while keeping everybody fed,
01:20:02clothed and housed, uh, the, the priorities would be different, right? We wouldn't be living
01:20:08in a capitalist hellscape in which people have to choose their health, uh, or their house, you know?
01:20:14And so we would be like, if our focus, if our priority were on our children, on our elders,
01:20:23then we would find a way to keep everything running and to keep people fed and safe at the same time,
01:20:30because the priorities would shift. So that would be the difference. And I say, I guess like, and I,
01:20:35I guess for how like advice living in the current reality and being unable to like immediately change
01:20:41that would be similar to what Jenna May said, right? Like mask up, protect your elders, um,
01:20:48try to cultivate, for me, I would say, try to cultivate joy where you can, uh, relax your nervous system,
01:20:53um, eat good food, ancestral food if possible.
01:21:04Yeah, and what I would like to add, if it weren't for the colonial state, we wouldn't be in this
01:21:10predicament in the first place. Sorry.
01:21:17I saw someone on the, uh, the Q&A ask about what are good herbs, um, to start in your garden, um,
01:21:23if you're new to herbal medicines and yeah, get my advice would be to get down with, um, those, um,
01:21:31culinary herbs, um, yeah, do some kitchen witching and some kitchen medicine. Um,
01:21:38some of the, uh, very simple herbs to grow, rosemary, mint, sage, thyme, oregano are, um,
01:21:46have a lot of, uh, antimicrobial properties and are great for, um, um, steams and preventative care.
01:21:56Um, and those are, I think, and yeah, some, some, some of the easiest depending on your soils and,
01:22:05um, and, and things like that, but it's a really wonderful way to get into medicine making is through,
01:22:12um, um, really accessible kitchen herbs.
01:22:17Garlic. Garlic is another one that's a good kitchen herb that like you can take one clove
01:22:22of garlic from a fresh piece of garlic, stick it in the dirt, and it's going to grow a whole
01:22:27another head of garlic. And then you have medicine, you have medicine and food,
01:22:31and it's a really strong anti antimicrobial. It's good for long issues. It's good for so many things,
01:22:37it's diabetes, blood pressure, blood sugars. Yeah.
01:22:44I'll say,
01:22:49what, what are you going to use? Like try different herbs and stuff, but like you, uh,
01:22:56grow what you're going to use just cause I don't know. I sometimes have a hard time. I'm still like
01:23:01figuring out what I want to put in and like what's doing really well. I put things in pots and move
01:23:06them around and see where it does well. So I'm learning what's even going to grow in my area,
01:23:10but like, um, to keep myself motivated, to keep going out to the garden, like there's,
01:23:18there's gotta be something that I'm using a lot to get me out there sometimes just because I'm so busy
01:23:22and life is crazy. Um, so like, I don't know, I guess I'm trying to like say work within your
01:23:29comfort level. Don't get something super, super hard if you're not gonna have the attention to be
01:23:34able to pay to it, to it. Um, you can get something easy. Like I guess loofah did super well.
01:23:40Um, and made pop has been doing pretty well in my garden. Potatoes, super easy, goes all over.
01:23:45Um, I also just like things that attract, um, I've, I've got hummingbirds. My neighbor was super
01:23:52excited that I got hummingbirds in my yard. Um, and, and things to, um, promote the wildlife. So like
01:24:00things for bees and hummingbirds and stuff. So even if you're not necessarily going to use it,
01:24:04um, you can still benefit the rest of the plants out around you. Some options.
01:24:13There's a lot of, uh, comments and questions. Um, hey, Gary, I'm so glad you could join us.
01:24:20Yes. We'll take your reishi. Um, yes, yes, please. Um,
01:24:26I want to speak to, um, soil amendments and lead, uh, lead remediation. I see, uh,
01:24:33John DePriest is in the house. Thank you, John.
01:24:41Sunflowers. Sunflowers. You can grow a batch of something and they'll draw the stuff up out
01:24:46and then you can remove them. Um, I learned recently that like sunflowers are the symbol of
01:24:52disarmament because they take, um, the toxins and, uh, radioactive stuff out of the soil. There
01:24:59are fields of sunflowers at Chernobyl. So you can take those sunflowers, get them out of the area
01:25:06and, um, start afresh. Um, also bean water I've heard is very good for nitrogenizing,
01:25:13putting nitrogen in your soil.
01:25:18I would also think about, um, mycorrhizal relationships, like, and just thinking about
01:25:24them in general for your soil. Um, they're so important for soil in general, but also a lot of
01:25:30those mycorrhizal relationships can do the same thing. They can take, not only can they take some
01:25:36contaminants out of soils, but some of them don't have to necessarily be removed. Like they,
01:25:41because, because mushrooms are magic y'all, like they can literally take toxins and turn them into
01:25:46something else. Um, it's, it's wizardry. I'm telling you like mushrooms are wild. Um, so yeah,
01:25:55I would say maybe, and also that lead is often, at least in your plants, it is often more a problem
01:26:01of harvesting than it is from your ground necessarily. Like depend, like I would look into what plants you
01:26:06want to grow. But for some of the things I would say you are more likely to get lead contamination
01:26:10from eating the soil. Like they're being dirt on your plant. So wash your plants real good.
01:26:16Nature isn't dirty, but you don't want to get lead poisoning.
01:26:18Great advice. Um, there's so many more questions and we're, we are at time, but hopefully we can
01:26:30continue having botanica conversations in the future. Um, because I feel like we're, yeah,
01:26:37this conversation is, is not over and, um, and just want to, yeah, happy anniversary,
01:26:44able bunch of collective. Um, and yeah, um, thank you for, for all the work at the medicine work and
01:26:53the, the remembering and reclaiming and reconnection work that you all are doing. Um, so yeah, much
01:27:03gratitude. Um, thank you so much for being here and looking forward to the next time we get to,
01:27:10to, to share space with each other or virtual space and real space too, eventually, hopefully.
01:27:19Rachel? Oh yeah. I just want to say that this has been fantastic and I've learned so much. Um,
01:27:26really appreciate hearing about y'all's friendship and the way that, um, we've supported each other in
01:27:34this much broader community and helped with our ongoing process of decolonization. Um, we, um, you
01:27:44know, over time, just for our audience, we hope to continue to work with the Pulpancho collective and
01:27:51our other, um, speakers for our series to create an exhibit and, um, some kind of publication so that the,
01:27:58uh, information can go out further. Um, and, uh, like what Monique said, uh, Rachel Reeves will be with
01:28:06us next week. And then we're going to take a little break, um, and, and come back at the beginning of
01:28:12December, um, for the backyard, um, gardeners network from the lower nine floor and, um, getting a chance to
01:28:21also hear about Bayou Bienvenu, which was another trade round and out of the city for a long time.
01:28:28And then Bruce Sunpad Barnes, um, will be here talking about, um, the magic of mushrooms. So,
01:28:36Sasha, I hope you'll be able to come to that one, um, around, um, the different mushrooms and fungi
01:28:45that are connected to the swamps of Louisiana. So, um, stay tuned. And we also hope
01:28:50eventually, um, have a public forum so that we can hear from everybody else about their knowledge
01:28:58of plants. Cause we know a lot of people who are listening and have their own gardens,
01:29:02their own medicinal practices that we would love to hear from as well.
01:29:08Yeah. Thanks everyone. Have a good night.
01:29:11Good night, y'all. Good night.
01:29:21Hello.
01:29:22It's okay, everyone. Thank you.
01:29:33Hi, Dad.
01:29:34You're cooking.