onondaga underground seed storage

Food storage is an ancient tradition among the Native Nations of the Americas. Sophisticated methods of preparing and storing food and seeds have been developed by nations from Alaska to the Southern Cone in South America as part of everyday living strategies to sustain healthy communities over the years. These traditions have also proven to be important lifelines in historical moments of crisis. The caches built to store white corn, for example, were critical to the survival of the Haudenosaunee after the attacks by the Sullivan expedition.

​

This Handbook builds on these examples and aspirations, to provide Braiding the Sacred communities (and others) with information and tools that will hopefully aid in the construction of underground storage spaces. Like their traditional references, the hideouts suggested here are cheap/accessible and easy to build and depend mainly on local materials and community labor.