This summer exhibit at the Arboretum will teach people about food and planting traditions carried on for generations. Scheduled around the crop cycle, from planting through harvest, the “Hidatsa Earth Lodge Agriculture” exhibit showcases traditional Indigenous food and planting methods of the Hidatsa people.
Illustrations by Naawakweose/Mashkiki Studios
About “Hidatsa Earth Lodge Agriculture”
Located in the Home Demonstration Garden
This garden is modeled after traditions of the Hidatsa people, who are also known as the People of the Willows. For centuries along the Missouri River, Hidatsa women farmers stewarded large garden systems in fertile floodplains. Through careful seed saving and observation, they developed regionally adapted varieties of corn, beans, squash and sunflowers. These crops sustained villages and far-reaching trade networks across the Plains region.
This garden exhibit reflects traditional Hidatsa mound planting. The garden features small circular mounds representing “earth lodges,” circular homes built of earth and timber. The circle reflects balance and relationship to the natural world. Gardens planted nearby extended that circle into the land.
In addition to mound planting, this exhibit also features the Four Sisters method of planting, which creates a resilient and productive system rooted in Indigenous science:
- Corn anchors the center of each mound like a hill.
- Beans (awáasha) climb the stalks and restore nutrients.
- Squash (gagúwi) spreads across the soil surface, protecting it.
- Sunflowers increase biodiversity around the edges and help to strengthen the ecosystem.
Visiting the Exhibit
The exhibit, located in the Home Demonstration Garden, runs from June through the harvest season and is included with daily general admission, which is free for members and children 15 and under and $20 for non-members.
About Marique “Miriguá Miásh” Moss
Moss is an Afro-Indigenous poet, educator, legal scholar, cultural strategist, and enrolled member of the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation, with Dakota roots in Saskatchewan. She holds degrees in Native American Studies and Indigenous Peoples Law and is committed to reclaiming narratives, building equity and uplifting community through culturally-grounded approaches. Marique’s traditional name is Woman in the Water (Miriguá Miásh). She has written on issues including missing and murdered Indigenous women, the Indian Child Welfare Act, American Indian education and black liberation. Her most recent book is “My Afro-Indigenous Superpower.”
About Naawakweose
Among many roles, as an educator implementing Indigenous Education for All in Minnesota, Naawakweose teaches schools and the public about Ojibwe plant traditions. Through this program, he and Moss co-curated a Three Sisters Garden at Fort Snelling in partnership with the Minnesota Historical Society through the Native American Initiatives Program, a space that holds deep significance within ongoing truth and reconciliation efforts.