June 30, 2023
DINE Magazine
by Adam Waxman
Mādahòkì means share the land, and the 164-acres Mādahòkì Farm is a new agritourism venture by Indigenous Experiences. Here, they care for the land as though the land is going to care for their children. “What we feed the Earth, the Earth feeds our kids,” I’m told. These First Nations have lived off the land as long as the land has been able to sustain them, only taking what they need and allowing the land time to replenish itself.
We begin a contemplative walk along the Reconciliation Trail by first painting personalized reconciliation rocks to deposit along the way, essentially uploading our own sense of personal responsibility into the collective—as well as our own—consciousness. We meet in the tipi to Feel the Heartbeat by shaking rattles of hollowed bison horn with seeds inside, while learning a call-and-response Stomp Dance. We feel reenergized by dancing and chanting in a circle. The drums and rattles have spirit, too, and while stomping together, we pick up each other’s energy that grounds us and connects us. We learn that everything that requires water, sunlight and grows, has a spirit.