Roxanne Swentzell
Roxanne Swentzell is a member of the Santa Clara Pueblo, where she lives and works. She runs a small nonprofit organization called Flowering Tree Permaculture Institute. Established in 1989, the purpose is research and education on indigenous and alternative ways of living based on ancestral knowledge and the natural world. Roxanne has been saving seeds of her ancestral crops since the 1980s. She established three seed banks, sharing these seeds with tribal communities.
Seeds from Our Ancestors for Our Future Generations
Presented by Roxanne Swentzell: Since the 1980s, Roxanne Swentzell has been preserving and cultivating ancestral Indigenous crops, helping protect vital food traditions for future generations. In this conversation, she shares her decades-long work establishing seed banks and returning culturally significant seeds to Tribal communities, exploring the deep connections between seeds, resilience, culture, and sovereignty.