Navajo Peaches
Apr. 17th, 2025 04:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ysabetwordsmithHow a Navajo Scientist Is Helping to Restore Traditional Peach Horticulture
People have grown peach trees in the vast desert landscape of the southwestern United States for hundreds of years. Peach orchards in Canyon de Chelly National Monument were first sown by predecessors of the Hopi people and in the 1700s by the Navajos. They were part of a local economy of shepherding, small-scale farming, hunting, and gathering. Of the orchard fruits adopted by the Navajo people, the peach became the most culturally significant. It was a versatile food, trade good, and feature of traditional ceremonies. The peaches are now predominantly modern varieties, but young Navajo horticulturist Reagan Wytsalucy, who is collaborating with the National Park Service at Canyon de Chelly, understands there’s great interest in returning to the centuries-old, traditional peaches. Her groundbreaking research shows why.
Wytsalucy is working with Indigenous communities to increase the availability of traditional crops for original uses. She hopes this will counter food insecurity, increase resiliency, and perpetuate traditional cultural knowledge.
This is a great cultural accomplishment. It's also valuable in the face of climate change, which is causing droughts in many more places. You can help by growing a climate-resilient garden with drought-resistant crops.
People have grown peach trees in the vast desert landscape of the southwestern United States for hundreds of years. Peach orchards in Canyon de Chelly National Monument were first sown by predecessors of the Hopi people and in the 1700s by the Navajos. They were part of a local economy of shepherding, small-scale farming, hunting, and gathering. Of the orchard fruits adopted by the Navajo people, the peach became the most culturally significant. It was a versatile food, trade good, and feature of traditional ceremonies. The peaches are now predominantly modern varieties, but young Navajo horticulturist Reagan Wytsalucy, who is collaborating with the National Park Service at Canyon de Chelly, understands there’s great interest in returning to the centuries-old, traditional peaches. Her groundbreaking research shows why.
Wytsalucy is working with Indigenous communities to increase the availability of traditional crops for original uses. She hopes this will counter food insecurity, increase resiliency, and perpetuate traditional cultural knowledge.
This is a great cultural accomplishment. It's also valuable in the face of climate change, which is causing droughts in many more places. You can help by growing a climate-resilient garden with drought-resistant crops.
