Nebraskaland

34 Nebraskaland • October 2025 striped pumpkin lying in the soil. It was an unripe Omaha pumpkin, one of the squashes that Hunt carefully tends for the Pawnee. In another garden patch, a stand of Arikara sunflowers stretched toward the sky. The Pawnees refer to the sunflower as their "fourth sister." Not only did they eat the seeds, the Pawnees also planted sunflowers around their gardens as natural fencing to help keep out rabbits and even bison. At full height, the Arikara sunflower can grow 10 feet tall. In a different area of the garden, Hunt stripped a bean pod to reveal striking bi-colored seeds of white and brown and/or black. Aptly called painted-like- a-horse beans, they're delicious and sweet-tasting, according to Hunt. And although he didn't grow any Mandan squash in 2024, Hunt spied a stray squash growing among his blue speckled corn, where Kahheetah Barnoskie (Pawnee), a University of Nebraska-Lincoln graduate agronomy student, was busy measuring plants and taking notes. Of all the sisters, corn is the most sacred to the Pawnee. It has a spiritual value that's important to their daily lives, and they believe the crop holds healing powers. Corn is a large piece of the Pawnee story, and having been lost for generations, being able to bring back these ancestral varieties has been encouraging. Thus, Barnoskie spends her summers in Nebraska traveling from garden to garden to collect data for the Pawnee Seed Preservation Society. This information helps the society identify which corn varieties are doing well and where, and to determine what to plant the following year. Barnoskie's work is establishing a baseline that would help future gardeners replicate this success. "When you grow something for one year or two years, you really don't know [what it's supposed to look like]," O'Brien explained, especially if it's a crop that hasn't been grown or seen in decades. But as the genetics get stronger through selective planting, the crop starts to change. "So now we have it back in its homeland, and this corn is getting stronger and thriving, and it's showing us what this variety is supposed to be like. And it's here in Kearney where [there's] clay in the soil, which is essential, too. [There are] all kinds of ideal situations going on here for this beautiful crop … . And this one's going to teach us more this year than we know about this variety," O'Brien said. Share the Harvest Although widely known for his lightheartedness and jovial laugh, Hunt tends his Pawnee garden with seriousness and pride. Of all the crops he's grown, caring for the corn makes him most anxious. "There's so much pressure on the corn, because you feel like you're given something that has been on the verge of extinction for 150 years … the corn is very sacred," Hunt said. But the effort is well worth the toil. Gardeners get to experience the fruits of their labors in October, when the harvest has been successful. In October 2023, Hunt and O'Brien helped facilitate a dinner to honor the Pawnee Scouts; an estimated 1,000 Pawnees served as military allies to the United States Army between 1864 and 1877. The dinner coincided with the annual Share the Harvest event, and more than 100 Pawnee members attended at Fort Kearny State Recreation Area, as well as the Nebraska Army National Guard and former Sen. John Lowe. Volunteers prepared bison raised at Fort Robinson and cooked the ancestral beans gardeners grew. They also made 20 loaves of pumpkin bread. In working with the Nebraska gardeners, the Pawnee are able to forge alliances that maintain homeland ties. They consider many of the gardeners like "family," and Echo-Hawk believes their Pawnee ancestors would be pleased with their work, particularly in replenishing the corn. "We now safeguard around 24 ancestral corn varieties," Echo-Hawk said. "As we work toward expanding our gardens, we look forward to tasting each variety and strengthening our spiritual connection to the past — honoring our ancestors by nourishing our people once again." N Kahheetah Barnoskie (Pawnee) is a University of Nebraska-Lincoln graduate agronomy student. She helps the Pawnee Seed Preservation Society collect data on the ancestral corn grown by Nebraska gardeners.

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