Notes from Dynamite Hill, Keweenaw Bay, Part 2 of 3

By Joe Brehm

In four days at Dynamite Hill Farms, I saw or heard almost 70 bird species on their land. Presumably, most of these species breed there. Every morning, chestnut-sided warblers serenaded each other right outside my tent, set up under apple trees in the semi-wild orchard. Broad-winged hawks soared over the orchard and hummingbirds zoomed across the garden by day. As dusk finally settled over the land after long northern summer days, snipes winnowed and whippoorwills sang. Katy and Jerry are letting chokecherries and serviceberries (aka sugarplums or juneberries) grow in the old orchard to diversify the “soft mast” of the farm, which is part of what makes for excellent bird habitat. This type of management is a small but great example of how they follow nature’s lead in the stewardship of their land. Additionally, a couple of years ago, wolves essentially raised their pups right around Dynamite Hill Farms. Instead of considering the wolves dangerous or a nuisance, the family just kept their dogs inside for the summer and let the wolves be wolves. They make a point of going in nature’s direction, not against it.

When Jerry and Katy learned I was really into birds, they very sweetly took me to a young jack pine forest to search for the endangered Kirtland’s Warbler. We didn’t see or hear any of these birds, which are incredibly rare because of their specific habitat niche – burned jack pine forests of a certain age, but I did get to hear about the traditional burning cycle of the nearby sandy blueberry barrens.

Katy and Jerry are two of several co-authors of the Tribal Climate Adaptation Menu, an extensive document that explains how Indigenous perspectives can be integrated into a given community’s plans for adapting to and mitigating the impacts of climate change. The Tribal Climate Adaptation Menu states: “The personhood of all beings should be considered when approaching communities and projects tied to the land. Western notions restrict the value of respect for human interactions. In many indigenous communities, respect goes beyond human-to-human relationships and includes all beings involved in an endeavor.” It also clearly lays out how to ask knowledge holders for assistance or collaboration. There is an entire section dedicated to community engagement and “Approaching Knowledge Holders” respectfully. During my time at the farm, Jerry got a text – out of the blue – from someone who runs a maple syrup museum of sorts and offered a vague inquiry about wanting to see an indigenous-run maple syrup operation and some “artifacts.” They were probably a nice person, but, as Jerry said in tempered exasperation, “What am I supposed to do with this?” I made the mistake of trying to answer that rhetorical question, interjecting myself into his back-and-forth with Katy about it, until I came to my senses and retreated to the living room to help their daughter build a fort while the experts talked it through.

Back by the river, we discussed the above request further and how it is simply not possible for a non-Indigenous person to fully empathize with not only insensitive requests for artifacts but also with larger issues like treaty rights and land tenure. Katy summed this up succinctly by saying: “you have limits to your understanding but also want to help make things better.”

These limits to understanding became even more clear as Katy took the time to explain some differences between English and the Anishinaabe language (Anishinaabemowin). Anishinaabemowin holds ideas that have kept people living in a good way for thousands of years, is very verb-oriented and supple; every syllable means something, so different syllables can be combined in different ways to describe varying situations. Any object is explained or mentioned in relation to other objects, people, living things and the land, so nothing stands on its own in Anishinaabemowin.

Conversely, English is noun-heavy and segmented, which certainly contributes to our separation from nature and other people and makes it easy to commodify a given object. Katy worked at an Anishinaabemowin immersion school and was therefore a critical catalyst for keeping her language alive. She also described the best way to handle middle school students: empower them to take care of younger children.

“They were all fighting over who would take care of the baby,” she explained. My ears perked up at this, having for years been mystified by the enigma that is middle school students.

Jerry did share some of the history of what his people and family have been through over the last few generations to preserve their culture and spirituality. They endured, for example, for decades of state officials unlawfully prosecuting members of the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community for exercising their treaty rights to hunt, fish, and gather. His grandfather was instrumental in fighting for these rights, taking a case against him all the way to the Supreme Court.

Jerry kindly summed up this complex history by saying: “Any non-native person who lives in Michigan is exercising their treaty rights. All we want is to be able to exercise ours.”

To read the first part of this story click here.