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2023-2024 Common Read - Braiding Sweetgrass: The Council of Pecans

"What happens to one happens to us all. We can starve together or feast together. All flourishing is mutual." p.15

Cluster of Young Pecan

SnickeringBear, CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

Longitudinal Section of a Pecan

Image courtesy of Oklahoma State University

Pecan tree

James St. John, CC BY 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

Map showing the location of the Canadian River drainage basin within the Arkansas River basin.

Image courtesy of Wikimedia

Keywords

Fungal Strands: the threads that reach out and push through soil and around rock to form intricate networks with other underground root systems. (YA)

Indian agents: government officials who enforced laws passed by the Bureau of Indian Affairs.  These agents were authorized to protect non-Native people from Native people, negotiated the signing of treaties, and enforced the removal of children from their family to go to Indian boarding schools. (YA)

Mast fruiting: the production of many seeds by a plant every two or more years in regional synchrony with other plants of the same species. (EB)

Mycorrhizae: fungal roots that are connected to other plants through a complex symbiotic relationship with other root systems. (YA)

Paltry: small or meager. (OL)

Redeye gravy: a thin gravy traditionally made of ham drippings, coffee, and water.

Trail of Death: the US militia in 1838 forced the Potawatomi Nation from their ancestral lands in Illinois and forced them to march on foot to a reservation in eastern Kansas.  During the 660-mile (1,062 km) walk that took over sixty days, forty-two people died, mostly children and vulnerable community members. (YA)

Synchrony: simultaneous action, development, or occurrence. (OL)

Unallocated: not apportioned or distributed for a specific purpose. (MW)

Vagaries: erratic, unpredictable, or extravagant manifestations, actions or notions. (MW)

Additional Resources

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