Watchlist: ‘How NAYA is reclaiming Indigenous foodways’

By Kamiah Koch

Social media/digital journalist

Lucy Suppa, an enrolled member of the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, is shown walking around an abundant garden in a recent Oregon Public Broadcasting video.

Suppa is the Indigenous Food Sovereignty Coordinator at the Native American Youth and Family Center (NAYA) in Portland.

“We talk all the time about plant and food medicine not being an alternative medicine, but being our first medicine,” Suppa said. “There is a lot of rebuilding that goes into that.”

The NAYA garden is intended to offer healing, for both the land and the people.

“We oftentimes talk about (how) healing the land is healing ourselves,” Suppa said. “Having that actual physical connection with the land, with our food.

Suppa explains the first step in that healing requires hands-on connection with the plants.

The video shows hands picking a selection of squash, corn and cucumbers and placing them in a basket.

Walking around the garden, various plants used as plant medicine like prairie white sage, sweetgrass and forest huckleberry are seen.

“It’s important, we are here for our Native people,” Suppa said. “But it’s also a means to educate the public about our culture and our identity, something that was held back from us speaking on it for so long.”

Suppa said there is still a lot of relearning to do and she looks forward to seeing it happen.

You can watch the entire video on OPB’s social media channels or find the YouTube video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymitqNX_Md8&t=2s.