The reservations were put on the worst land in our nation. We 'gave' the native Americans deserts, then called them lazy because they could not raise crops.
First off Navajos are living on traditional territory. No one just plunked them there. They scored their original lands.
The Navajo were hunter/gatherers/farmers. They could and did raise crops but used their wits to gather other foods.
I grow a huge garden but I spent 3 weeks this summer picking saskatoon berries. We froze over a hundred cups and ate fresh the whole time we were picking.
The food is out there. It's just a matter of taking the time to grow or harvest it from the wild. I wish more time was spent in educating our young on how to be self sufficient.
Here's a great list of what they have access to. Man I'd kill for wild raspberries let alone the pinyon nuts.
"WILD PLANTS
Wild plants which were gathered for food in early times included greens from beeweed; seed from the hedge mustard, pigweed and mountain grass; tubers of wild onions and wild potato; fruit like yucca, prickly pear, grapes; wild berries such as currants, chokecherries, sumac, rose, and raspberries.
Parties of women went into the mountains each year to gather acorns, pinyon nuts, and walnuts.
In olden times, when a drought ruined crops, the pinyon nuts were the major food of some of the Indians. The nuts are now an important source of income to the mountain people. The gathering begins in the fall after the family has moved to the foothills for the winter, and in March, when the weather is better, the women gather more of the nuts. They do most of the seed gathering in June and July, while the men stay at home to hoe the gardens.
Wild potatoes, no larger than hickory nuts, formerly grew in abundance in certain parts of the Navajo territory, especially around Fort Defiance. Early travelers commented frequently on the broad fields of wild potatoes in the southern part of the reservation. From April till June these tubers served the Navajo as fresh vegetables. The potato has a very bad taste, so clay is used as a seasoning for it.
Yucca or "Spanish bayonet" was important as a relish and for adding variety to a meal. It was dried and baked, ground, roasted, and dried again before being made into cakes and stored away. Before being eaten, the cakes were mixed with water to make a syrup."
Foods (Primitive)
