SEPTEMBER 20TH, 4:00 – 5:00PM | MEET AT THE BEAL BOTANICAL GARDEN POND
Kaya Deerinwater will lead a walk around the Beal Botanical Garden, providing insight into plants as food, medicine, and craft. Using the teachings of honorable harvest and perspective of plants as our relatives and teachers, Kaya will bring a unique combination of indigenous knowledge and Western plant science to this engaging garden walk.
Kaya Deerinwater is from the Citizen Band of Potawatomi and lives in Wasétenak (Grand Rapids, Michigan) with his wife and three children. He is currently pursuing a master’s degree in Biocultural Restoration at SUNY-ESF in Syracuse, New York. His research focuses on the plant knowledge within the Citizen Potawatomi communities in central Oklahoma. He received his undergraduate degree from University of California Davis in Ecological Restoration and Management. He currently works as the Intertribal Food Systems Coordinator for the Menominee Tribe of Wisconsin. Previously, he worked as the Community Garden Manager for his band where he focused on growing both traditional and non-traditional crops and led workshops around building relationships with plants and the land through Indigenous foods and crafts. He envisions rebuilding healthy Great Lakes native communities by supporting robust native food systems, building capacity through increased production, distribution, and consumption of nutritious, culturally significant, and sustainably harvested foods.
CO-SPONSORED BY AMERICAN INDIAN AND INDIGENOUS STUDIES, DEPARTMENT OF RELIGIOUS STUDIES, FOGLIO ENDOWED CHAIR OF SPIRITUALITY, MSU MUSEUM, AND BEAL BOTANICAL GARDEN.
