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- Taylor Bailey: Have you ever
enjoyed a squash?
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Summer corn?
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Sunflower seeds?
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If so...
[laughs]
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If so, you've eaten foods
related to plants
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that were part of Native diets
in this area for centuries.
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Wisconsin today is filled
with farmland.
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- Kacie Lucchini Butcher:
And it's not just dairy farms,
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though I do love a good cheese.
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- Everything from corn
to cherries to soybeans
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and more is grown here,
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but this region's
agricultural history
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is way older
than most people realize.
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Starting thousands of years ago,
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Indigenous farmers
in this region
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were growing and using
a wide variety of plants.
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[upbeat music]
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- Sissel Schroeder: People in
the past cultivated plant foods,
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and they also domesticated
certain plants
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that they grew in garden,
but overall,
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it reflects the management
of food resources
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by Indigenous people.
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- Edith Leoso: You know,
we were placed here,
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we say, by the Creator,
and we were told by the Creator
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that everything that we needed
to live a good life
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is already here.
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We just had to observe
everything and give it a name.
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Before Europeans came
to this continent,
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we've been doing things
like ricing.
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We still do that today.
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We still do it exactly
the same way.
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- What's the story
behind Native agriculture
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around the Great Lakes
and eastern North America?
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- This history goes back
about 5,000 years
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when Indigenous people
in the area began cultivating
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and domesticating
seed-bearing plants.
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So, what is the difference
between cultivation
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and domestication?
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- So, cultivation is
intentionally planting seeds
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in the ground
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in order to grow crops
in particular areas.
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Domesticates are when the plant
has gone through genetic changes
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that signal it is a domesticate.
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So, domesticated plants
typically have a larger seed
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than wild plants.
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And then, domesticated seeds
typically
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have a thinner seed coat,
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an outer seed coat,
compared to wild.
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- Liz Leith: So, this is
a wild sunflower seed.
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- Taylor: Oh, they're so tiny.
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- Liz: And this is, like,
you know, are the regular,
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now sunflower seeds today.
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So, as we grow different foods,
we want to eat more, right?
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We want to grow less
so that we can eat more.
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So, we want the plants
to get bigger,
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so we'll grow the crops
to get bigger and bigger.
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That's why we usually see
domesticates as bigger plants.
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- People probably
were actively selecting
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and choosing the plants
that had the bigger seeds
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or produced more seeds,
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and then setting those aside
to plant the following year.
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That sort of interaction with
the plants over many, many years
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results in domestication.
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- In eastern North America,
plant domestication began
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during what's known
as the Archaic period
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in Native history.
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About 6,000 years ago, climate
and environmental changes
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created a landscape
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that was ideal
for cultivating plants.
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This included fertile, stable
river valleys with good soil.
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From about 5,000
to 3,700 years ago,
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there were at least four plant
species that were domesticated
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by Indigenous peoples
in eastern North America.
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- The first seed-bearing plants
to be domesticated
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in this region were squash,
or gourds.
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This was followed by sunflower,
marsh elder, and Chenopodium.
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- These plants are a part
of what's known
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as the Eastern
Agricultural Complex.
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Three of these plants, squash,
marsh elder,
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and Chenopodium grow really well
in soil beds
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that are disturbed by annual
flooding in certain areas.
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They also produce
a lot of seeds.
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For people cultivating them,
this meant the potential
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for a big return without needing
a lot of work.
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- But these resources also
needed careful tending
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and smart harvesting practices.
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Today, these are still important
aspects of Native agriculture.
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- And I remember berry picking
with my grandmother,
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and she said, "Go fill up
your bucket over here.
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But don't take 'em all."
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You always leave some behind,
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because we never take more
than what we need.
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We should always leave something
behind, which helps it reseed,
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which helps it
for the next year.
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- What are some foods
that are native
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to this region of Wisconsin,
or to Wisconsin as a whole?
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- Well, wild rice.
- Taylor: Ooh, okay.
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- Kacie: Yeah.
- Yes.
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And we know that wild rice, from
an archaeological perspective,
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was being cultivated
at least 2,000 years ago,
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but probably even longer
than that.
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- This is wild rice,
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but we actually see it
burned in the record.
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So, this is some burned
wild rice versus the real.
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- Plant cultivation
and domestication
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wasn't just happening
in this region.
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It was taking place
all across the Americas.
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And as different groups traded
with each other and traveled,
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it meant the spread of certain
plants to new regions.
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- This is what happened
with corn and beans,
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which were domesticated
by Indigenous peoples
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in Mesoamerica.
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Corn, or maize, arrived in this
area in about 200 BC,
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during what's known
as the Woodland period.
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Within a few hundred years,
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it became a very important crop
for some Native cultures.
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This included Oneota groups,
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who also incorporated beans into
their agricultural practice.
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Another food resource that was
especially widespread were nuts.
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There is evidence
from across North America
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that people were using nuts
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like walnuts, hickory, acorn,
and hazelnuts.
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These could be eaten as is, or
used to make oils for cooking.
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- And there is some evidence
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that Indigenous peoples were
managing the forests in a way
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that ensured that these
nut-bearing trees would grow
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and grow close to the sites
where they were living.
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- But trees produce more
than just nuts and fruit.
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Some of them can also make sap
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that can be turned
into delicious maple syrup.
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This has been done by Indigenous
groups for centuries.
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- The practice of knowing when
to tap a tree for its sap
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shows how attentive
Native peoples were
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to their environment.
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This is still true
for many people
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preserving these traditions
today.
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- There is one particular thing
that happens,
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and it's when the snow
is still on the ground,
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when you put your foot
through the snow,
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and it's kind of powdery
underneath,
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but it's crusty on the top.
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And that's when the waters begin
to flow again.
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And so, we watch that, and the
water that flows in the trees
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is the first to start flowing.
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It tells you that it's time
to start tapping the trees
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to make maple syrup,
maple sugar.
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- It's important to note that
farming and plant practices
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were not universal
across this area.
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Different cultural groups used a
wide variety of food resources
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and approaches.
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- Some relied more heavily
on crops and agriculture,
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while others chose to prioritize
hunting and gathering.
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For those groups who focused
on increasing cultivation
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of the land and plants,
this could lead
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to some significant
cultural shifts as well.
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- And the more and more that
people invested
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in managing these
food resources,
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plant food resources
on the landscape,
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they really started settling
down, returning to the same site
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or community year after year.
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They had invested
in clearing the fields,
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so we really see a shift
in the ways
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in which people
use the landscape
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as they became more and more
engaged with agriculture.
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- Indigenous people
in the Great Lakes area
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and eastern North America
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had a wide variety of plants
in their diet.
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This included everything
from wild plants
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to carefully cultivated crops
like corn, beans,
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squash, and sunflower.
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- Today, many of the plants
that were domesticated
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in the Americas
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are a staple of cuisines
all over the world.
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Do you know the history
of your favorite foods
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or the history
of your culture's cuisine?
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See if you can find out the
stories behind these treats.
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Everything we eat, from snacks
to celebratory meals,
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has a story to tell.
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- We'll find some cobs that are
preserved,
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that are dried out.
- Oh, I thought these were...
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- So, that's what they would
look like.
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- I thought these were
pine cones. [all laugh]
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- Those are corn cobs.
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- Okay, wow.
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They're super tiny.
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- I thought you were gonna say
poop. [all laugh]