What's that area on campus with plants and all the stick things?  It's just to the north of the IUN School of Medicine, and near the library; it's the IUN Anthropology Club's Native American Garden.  The purpose of the garden is to teach people about the traditions of the Native Americans; we think of the Indians as people who "once" lived here, but there are probably more Indinas living in the northwest Indiana area than did at the time of Columbus - mostly in the rural areas to our southeast.  Most of our plants are ones that some of them still grow, and of course many of them like corn, beans, and squash are now staples of civilizations world wide after first having been domesticated by Native Americans.  Indians of Central and South America also domesticated chili pepers, tomatoes, potatoes, and dozens of other improtant plants; they are also represented in our garden.

After the ground had been tilled in early May 2000 by Diane Cutler, it was planted by Dave Holland, Ken Barnes, and Bob Mucci with traditional heirloom seeds donated by Pat Scott; we have white flour corn, pole beans, and squash growing together, plus watermelon. amaranth, sun chokes, lamb's quarter, pumpkins, birdhouse bottle gourds, and more coming up fast.  The wigwam structure was put up (in the rain) by Pat Scott and her son with help from Dave and Bob; The Scotts provided the willow for the poles, and for the later teepees.  In late June Jeannette Miller's two Kids' College courses about Indians had sessions at the garden, where each group planted multicolor "Indian" corn (courtesy of Patsy Clark) and put up a teepee and a gourd birdhouse.  They later made and put up a hand-painted sign to commemorate their involvement.  The Gary Post-Tribune did a color feature on the garden and the kids in early July 2000.  In the fall of 2000 students in Clarke Johnson's Life in the Stone Age course used the stems of volunteer buttonweed and other plants from the garden to make cordage by extracting the fibers and twisting them together, as demonstrated by guest lecturer Brent Ladd. link for more info 

In May of 2001 the garden was moved to the north end of the same open area; Diane plowed a much larger area and tilled it much deeper for us.  We added herbs and medicinal plants from Patsy Clarke's farm and replanted an assortment of traditional Indian vegetables.  A stone marker with metal plaque now marks the site.  In early June of 2001 the same paper did an even larger story on the garden, authored by Idelle Kerzner.  For more information about the garden, call or email Bob Mucci at 219-980-6607.

I kept having this dream, first that I was a big wigwam, and then that I was a big teepee; finally I went to the doctor, and she said I was too tense...            Get it?  TWO T...         Never mind.