By The Rev. Canon Debbie Royals
On October 4, 2022, the crew and host of the PBS Series America The Bountiful visited the Crazy Chili Farm at the Episcopal Church of the Transfiguration. There, Bill Robinson and volunteers shared their work on growing, exchanging, and saving Native seeds of the Yoeme (Yaqui) Blue Corn that were thought to be nearly extinct and lost to the people.
Bill shared that he had obtained the seeds from a Yaqui woman living in Casa Grande who found them in her shed. He told me about the grow-out and lifted up an element of my tradition that I had not visited since childhood. I began working immediately on finding the recipe for the Blue Corn cakes that I had not tasted since my grandmother’s death.
Capri Cafaro, host of America The Bountiful, invited me to make those Blue Corn Cakes on the day of their visit to the Crazy Chili Farm. Bill Robinson and I are featured in the Corn in Arizona segment as we share the importance of blue corn to the Yoeme (Yaqui) people and highlight the significant work of the Episcopal Diocese of Arizona and the Council for Native American Ministry.
This segment is nicely rounded to include members of the Tohono O’odham nation, the Mission Garden (https://www.missiongarden.org/) and Native Seed Search (https://www.nativeseeds.org/) in Tucson, Blue Corn Creative Designs owned by Rochelle Garcia, Dine and Piute from Queen Creek (https://www.facebook.com/BlueCornCustomDesigns/) along with the Crazy Chili Farm in Mesa.
Not all local PBS stations have carried the series yet but it can be viewed here: https://video.kera.org/video/corn-in-arizona-oLC5mY/
