Chicago's Native American youth reclaim, cleanse vacant land through First Nations Garden

CHICAGO (WLS) -- A garden in Albany Park is teaching the community about the importance of native plants and Chicago's first settlers.

Founded by the Chi-Nations Youth Council, members are passing down their knowledge of age-old farming practices that are helping combat climate change while cleansing a once toxic plot of land.

The First Nations Garden was founded in 2019. It was an effort from Chi-Nation Youth Council youth to try to find a centralized location for their medicines and foods, according to Janie Pochel who is both the founder of the garden and the council.

Pochel said they make sure to grow their four sacred medicines of sage, sweet grass, tobacco and cedar in the garden.

"It's important that the land gets treated how it deserves, like if the land takes care of us, then it's our responsibility to take care of the land," said Pochel.

But the soil and land was not healthy when they first broke ground.

"We're sitting on a former printing press so we're sitting on a lot of toxins," said Pochel.

"We did initially get a lot of calls in to the alderman's office about the grass not being cut and weeds growing out of control, but what they didn't realize was a lot of these were prairie plants that were in the process of being established," said Anthony Tamez, co-founder of the garden and member of the Chi-Nations Council.

They began by planting specific prairie plants in the garden that absorb hazardous contaminants like chemicals and heavy metals through a biochemical process called phytoremediation.

"It's something that we've learned but we didn't have the words for it," said Pochel. "We don't want to learn from a book on how to utilize these plants and do it wrong so we make sure that the knowledge that we get with the plants is taught to us by elders or other community members."

They have also planted a Three Sisters Garden of rainbow gem corn, a variety of beans and different kinds of squash.

"It's like a native system, like a collaborative way for the plants to grow," explained Pochel. "They take care of each other and they take care of the soil as well."

According to Pochel, the the squash will protect the soil and protect the other plants from pests, the corn allows the beans to grow up it and the the beans put a lot of nutrients into the soil.

"This is definitely like an indigenous technology that's been passed down," said Pochel.

Tamez said the garden is tackling both mental and physical health issues.

"It's also a space where the community knows that they can come and ask questions and gain knowledge on the native people that are still living here in the City of Chicago, practicing their culture," said Tamez. "We're not just beads or feathers, we're not mascots to them - we are their neighbors."

The First Nations Garden is located at Wilson and Pulaski. In June, the city approved $1.1 million in grants so that Chi Nations Youth Council can continue to build and share this beautiful space for years to come.