{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"Gardens of Earthly Delight","title":"The Hopi Farmer Who Grew an 800-Year-Old Seed w/ Michael Kotutwa Johnson","html":"","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":4110,"description":"The Hopi Farmer Who Grew an 800-Year-Old SeedMichael Kotutwa Johnson\nMichael Kotutwa Johnson is a 250th generation Hopi dry farmer and University of Arizona professor. His people have farmed the same land in northeastern Arizona for thousands of years - a place that receives only six inches of rain annually, with no irrigation and no pesticides. \nMichael once planted an 800-year-old corn seed discovered by an archaeologist in a cave near historical Hopi villages. It sprouted because seeds have memory. This corn remembered how to grow and knew that it was safe to grow in caring Hopi hands.\nWe talk about what makes Hopi culture a collaboration of clans, planting with faith during extreme drought, the planting stick as both life and death, singing to your corn and giving plants high fives, treating seeds as children, reading biological indicators in the land, and the practice of holding seeds in your mouth before planting. Michael also shares how he roasts corn in seven-foot stone pits to preserve it for decades - real food security rooted in community, not individual accumulation.\n\"They're children to me. When they fall down, you pick them back up.\" Michael embodies what it means to be in true relationship with plants, seeds, soil, and the living world. Knowledge passed down through 250 generations that offers us a different model for resilience, adaptation, and agricultural practice.\nThis has been condensed from a longer conversation. For extended show notes with deeper analysis and reflections, subscribe to my Substack at gardensofearthlydelight.substack.com.\nTIMESTAMPS00:00 - What makes Hopi Hopi: A collaboration of clans\n 04:10 - Hopi clan migrations and oral traditions\n 08:20 - Faith as the most important ingredient\n 11:57 - Lessons from grandfather: The planting stick as life and death\n 15:14 - Planting techniques: 6-18 inches deep without irrigation\n 17:30 - The intimacy of seed planting\n 20:53 - Reading biological indicators: How weeds predict the season...","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/9EmmdNPFGH5KAwG2qiPUaQ3rRxt4jbBisODUISWHgaU/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS9jNDNl/MWFjOGI1NTdkZjll/ZTBjOGI5MDEzYWI0/ZjczOC5qcGc.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}