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O'odham Meal Box Project: Interviews

Arizona State University’s campuses are situated on the homelands of many tribal nations, in particular the O’odham and Piipaash, and acknowledge the many Indigenous communities who reside in this territory.

Ramona Farms

Ramona Button is an Akimel O’odham farmer who grows traditional O'odham plants and grains. She and her husband Terry manage the farm in Sacaton, Arizona located on the Gila River reservation.

Some of her products include: bavi (pronounced bahfv) (tepary beans), Kavak Pilkan, O’ Las Pilkan, and S-moik Pilkan (wheat berries), Ga'ivsa and Huun Ga'i (Pima corns), and Haaki Chu’i or S-bahi chu’i (pinole) .


 

Interview Ramona Farms: Ramona and her husband Terry, and Stephen Roe Lewis (governor of Gila River Indian Community), and Native Seeds Search

Discusses allotment act, diversion of water drought and famine

  • Ramona Button Explains Her Heritage

Ramona Button discusses her farm’s history, what her family grew and planted spiritual and cultural significance


 

Produced by Gila River Indian Community recipe of how to use tepary beans. Also, Velvet shares her fool-proof way of cooking tepary beans to make sure they’re completely cooked and soft!

Cooking with Velvet Button - Verde Hummus from Gila River Indian Community on Vimeo.

Tóshchíín (Blue Corn Mush)

Tóshchíín is a Diné traditional dish that includes blue corn and g’ad bit’eezh (juniper ash). Corn and juniper are important relatives to the Diné. Ivana Holiday who works at the Salt Lake City Library prepares Tóshchíín and introduces herself.

The ASU Library acknowledges the twenty-three Native Nations that have inhabited this land for centuries. Arizona State University's four campuses are located in the Salt River Valley on ancestral territories of Indigenous peoples, including the Akimel O’odham (Pima) and Pee Posh (Maricopa) Indian Communities, whose care and keeping of these lands allows us to be here today. ASU Library acknowledges the sovereignty of these nations and seeks to foster an environment of success and possibility for Native American students and patrons. We are advocates for the incorporation of Indigenous knowledge systems and research methodologies within contemporary library practice. ASU Library welcomes members of the Akimel O’odham and Pee Posh, and all Native nations to the Library.