Q & A with Jessika Greendeer, Seed Keeper

Jessika Greendeer holds an Indigenous corn variety; photo by Matika Wilbur.

“The corn is one of my greatest teachers,” says Jessika Greendeer, a Ho-Chunk Nation tribal member from Baraboo, Wisconsin, and a Deer Clan member who serves as a seed keeper and farm manager for Dream of Wild Health. The Minneapolis-based organization works to recover knowledge of and access to healthy Indigenous foods, medicines, and lifeways.

In 2020, Jessika joined Seed Savers Exchange and fellow Midwestern farmers Shelley Buffalo with the Meskwaki Settlement in Tama, Iowa, and Becky Webster on the Oneida Reservation in Wisconsin, to grow Indigenous varieties of corn, beans, and other crops to return to their cultures of origin (through the Native American Food Sovereignty Alliance [NAFSA)] rematriation program). “You can’t have food sovereignty without seed sovereignty,” she says. “That is why this work is so important.” The program has been generously supported by North Central-Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (NC-SARE).

What is your favorite corn variety to grow? 
Being asked this question is like asking a mother about her favorite child! All corn varieties I have grown have their own traits, growing habits, and, most importantly, their own special gift that they want to share with the world. Last season, I looked in on a plot of ‘Country Gentleman,’ and this year, I am growing with her. I do enjoy the stories of each seed, but this seed in particular—her story is only skin-deep, and I get the feeling there are layers of intricate history woven in between each kernel.  

Can you share one fun fact about corn—something most people likely would not know?
If you do not plant something in between each variety of corn, the varieties will try to cross-pollinate with each other with no regard to their suggested maturity dates.

 What are your top five tips for growing healthy, happy corn?
1. Start with healthy and happy soil. I use a combination of cover crops to rest the beds in the fall and soil solarization in the spring to prepare the beds for planting. In the raised beds are Hügelkulter systems (layers of woody materials and other compostable materials) to provide organic matter in the soil for the plants. I also incorporate both finished compost and horse manure, when needed.

2. Companion plant whenever possible. (Companion planting involves the close planting of different plants that enhance each other’s growth or protect each other from pests.) I highly recommend planting corn with beans and squash—the “three sisters,”  as they are commonly referred to, have been planted together since time immemorial. 

3. Weed as often as needed. Corn can be a very low-maintenance plant relative, though she requires a thorough weeding or two until her canopy develops. I have used hay mulch to cover the soil and cover cropped walkways in between rows but have also had bare soil when no other crop is grown with the corn. Different styles of planting can be used, but let your intuition guide you as you plant and always think of what your methods will do to the Earth you grow upon. 

4. Water when necessary. When growing for seed, I do not irrigate the corn. If there is a dry spell that lasts more than two weeks, I will consider watering depending on the corn’s stage of development. By not irrigating, you are helping to grow stronger and more resilient seeds for the future.

5. Visit your plants every day. Whether you are in the garden for a few hours or just enough time to walk around, observe what is going on in and around your garden or plot.