Reflecting on the “Lakota” squash this Indigenous Peoples’ Day

This is a Lakota squash. It is an attractive winter squash with a fine-grained texture and sweet, nutty flavor. As you may know, Plant It Forward doesn’t have access to enough acreage to grow winter squashes in a profitable manner. Therefore we’ve sourced these beautiful squashes from Edinburg, TX to bring variety to our Farm Share and exposure to the distinctive local products Texas farmers have to offer.

Today Plant It Forward is observing Indigenous Peoples’ Day. It can be inferred that with the name “Lakota”, a dialect of the Sioux, this squash could be an heirloom variety with a connection to indigenous agricultural tradition. That is how many seed companies market it. However, this is disingenuous. The Lakota squash was developed in 1992 by the University of Nebraska, and the Sioux Nation was not involved in its development. The name is more or less arbitrary, and is an example of institutional disregard for indigenous genetic heritage.

This is not to disparage the plant breeders who developed the squash, or to reject a seed variety that performs well for farmers who work so hard to bring food to our tables. The point is awareness, to bring forth one minuscule, of a vast many, ways that practicing agriculture here and now unavoidably intersects with the lasting legacy of European colonization, from the seeds we plant to the very land we farm.

At Plant It Forward, we do not know the ancestral history of the land we tend and steward today. So much has been lost. In our best effort we move forward with the intention to make conscious choices that promote health, healing and respect for the land and for our community.