Tulalip News Archives - Page 279 of 279

Muckleshoot Food Sovereignty Project awarded $37,500 grant

NAFSI grant will aid Muckleshoot in their efforts to access more traditional foods

By Monica Brown Tulalip News writer

The Muckleshoot Food Sovereignty Project has been awarded a $37,500 grant from the First Nations Development Institute. The grant will help fund the project s explorations of the Muckleshoot Tribe’s food assets and increase access to local, healthy and traditional foods. Through explorations, participants will gain an understanding of Native foods and build food security throughout the community.

Project participants enjoy community engagement through workshops, harvesting and feasts. Hands-on workshops are designed to teach traditional food principles and how to approach preparing them in a more modern way. Project coordinator, Valerie Segrest states

“The Muckleshoot Food Sovereignty Project is community driven and aims to increase access and revitalize a traditional and local healthy food system.”

Tribal cooks and established community groups are coming together to develop a new policy about food which will focus on a more traditional and nourishing food program. The new policy development is facilitated by professional chefs who are invited to meet with tribal cooks and the community groups during cook retreats. The project participants are working to join tribal kitchens and create a menu program. By creating a reliable menu that can be used throughout tribal kitchens they will be able to assess the food quantities needed for when they are ready to produce their own food. The menu program will also inform the five-year food sovereignty/action plan that is currently being organized.

The project comes from a community based participatory research project which was conducted in partnership with Northwest Indian College and the Burke Museum in 2007. The project operates year round and is open to all community members.

The First Nations Development Institute’s Native American Food System Initiative (NAFSI) grant is intended to help tribes and Native communities build sustainable food systems such as community gardens, food banks, food pantries and/or other agricultural projects related to Native food-systems control. The 31 grants were made possible by the generous support of the AARP Foundation, The Christensen Fund, CHS Foundation, U.S. Department of Agriculture Office of Advocacy and Outreach, U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development, Walmart Foundation, and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.

To read more about the Muckleshoot Food Sovereignty Project please visit their website at

Muckleshoot Food Sovereignty Project

Spring gardening at Hibulb

Tribal member Malaki Hernandez tranplants

By Monica Brown

TULALIP, Wash. Attendees at the Tulalip Hibulb garden work party gathered together on Friday, March 22 to do some needed garden preparations. Gardeners and gardening volunteers worked together to prepare the garden for the growing season.

Pruning encourages fruit production, so Master Gardeners Frank Sargent and Rob and Richelle Taylor pruned fruit trees located in the orchard on the north side of the Hibulb Museum.

Community gardeners worked in the greenhouse, transplanting over 100 seedlings of cabbage and sowing new seeds. Seedlings are being started and kept warm in the heated greenhouse and soon the plant beds around the museum will be made ready for transplanting.

The community is invited to attend the garden work parties and the Gardening Together as Families events. Gardeners will help tend the beds throughout the season and enjoy the rewards at the end of season harvest. Gardeners will learn about the many aspects of gardening through hands-on experience, working side-by-side with master gardeners.

To learn more about the Hibulb Gardening events please contact Veronica Leahy at 360-716-5642 or vleahy@tulaliptribes-nsn.gov

Tribal member Malaki Hernandez transplanting a cabbage sprout.

Mytyl Hernandez and son Malaki with transplanted pansies. Photo by Richelle Taylor

Tribal member Marvin Jones and Master Gardener Veronica Leahy transplanting cabbage sprouts.

Tulalip elementary students graduate from self-defense class

By Kim Kalliber and Jeannie Briones; photos by Jeannie Briones

Students, instructors and Tulalip police officers celebrate the 21 radKIDS graduates.

Empowerment, self-esteem and safety skills – these are a few of the core values of the radKIDS program and 21 proud radKIDS graduates are now armed with these important life skills. Tulalip police officers, instructors and

Tribal member Nakoyia Fryberg and Tulalip Police Officer Mark Nelson.

students celebrated the graduation at Quil Ceda & Tulalip Elementary School on March 26.

RadKIDS, which has been in operation at Quil Ceda & Tulalip Elementary for two years, is a non-profit educational organization dedicated to providing effective lifesaving skills to children. Through this program, kids become empowered to recognize and avoid dangerous situations, and to replace the fear and confusion they may feel in these situations with confidence and self-defense skills.

“There is no other program like it for safety. Students benefit from learning about safety, like being safe from a bully, staying away from drugs and alcohol and keeping safe from someone who’s trying to harm them,” said Rochelle Lubbers, Tulalip Police Department Emergency Services Manager and radKIDS Instructor.

During the graduation, students received a certificate and got to demonstrate their newly acquired self-defense skills against the “redman.” Tulalip police officer Mark Nelson wore the padded red suit to protect himself from the kids slick moves like shin kicks, toe kicks and knee kicks.

This training includes kids and their parents creating a password. A password is a word that is used as a safety check should a parent need to send another adult to pick up a child from school, sports, etc. The purpose of the password is to protect your child from going with someone under false pretenses. When approached by a stranger, the child will ask for a password, if the stranger does not know the password, the child is then taught to run away or seek help.

“We can get away from who tries to take us. It feels good to be safe,” said Nakoyia Fryberg, radKIDS graduate and Tulalip tribal member.

To learn more about the radKIDS program visit www.radkids.org