"The fact that these age-old varieties survived — the fact that Pawnee corn exists at all in 2021 — is a story of tribal perseverance, cutting-edge horticulture and good, old-fashioned cooperation"

"HASTINGS, Nebraska – Electa Hare-RedCorn pulled back the husk from the ear and studied the multi-colored kernels, seeing much more than corn.

For the Pawnee woman, this corn represents history and heritage, food and family, culture and community. It connects to the blessings recited each spring in Pawnee, Okla., prayers for the seeds about to be returned to Nebraska to be planted in their native soil.

On a recent Wednesday, varieties of corn that two decades ago had disappeared from the Great Plains were laid out across a community college gym floor in Hastings. The harvested ears of blue, red, yellow, white and multi-colored varieties were neatly arranged in grids meant to replicate the central Nebraska gardens in which they had grown."

Lori Potter reports for the Flatwater Free Press November 19, 2021. [2]