Tuscarora White Corn Harvest

By Michelle Ajamian

Back in the early 1700s, the Tuscarora Nation brought their white corn seed north from the Carolinas to join the Iroquois Confederacy. They’ve been growing this ancient white corn in New York ever since.

Just a week ago, Steve Larson, Farm Manager at Living City Farms in Akron, joined the harvest at the Rickard’s Farm on the Tuscarora Reservation near Niagara Falls, New York. Larson integrates Indigenous land stewardship practices at Living City Farm, and corn, a nutritious grain that was bred by First Nations of the Americas thousands of years ago, is a critical part of honoring the food ways of Native Peoples.