Seeds found during an archaeological dig on First Nations land revive a long-lost varietal.
Gardens may be popping up in schools everywhere, but one school garden in Winnipeg, Canada is making news after growing a squash thought to be extinct for hundreds of years.
It all started with an archaeological dig on First Nations land that unearthed a small clay vessel estimated to be about 800 years old. Inside the vessel, the archaeologists found preserved seeds of an ancient squash.
Students at Canadian Mennonite University successfully grew one large squash from the seeds, but they aren't stopping there. The plan is to save the seeds from that first revived squash and then grow even more squash from those. The goal is to never let this squash go extinct again, according to APTN National News.
Brian Etkin, Coordinator of the Garden of Learning in Winnipeg, sees this revived squash as much more than a vegetable.
"This squash is representative of a tribe of a large community and everybody in that community having a place and food being a right on citizenship," said Etkin.
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