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

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)