Events

Join us for a 90 minute interactive walking tour of Marquette Park.
We will meet in front of the Aquatorium.

Northwest Indiana (Lake and Porter Counties) is one of the most densely biodiverse regions in the Eastern United States. The Indiana Dunes, including Marquette Park in Gary is a surviving part of a once enormous, amazingly diverse food forest full of medicinal plants. It was stewarded for time immemorial by sophisticated Native (American) tribes.

What does it mean to say that a culture has “sustainability” built in? We will explore how the contemporary concept of sustainability is built into many indigenous cultures. It is not an afterthought..How does this perspective allow us to understand Northwest Indiana better? And what about the indigenous cultures of Europe, such as the Irish. who lived sustainably in balance with their environment for thousands of years? What happened to them?

We will explore these questions and more during a walking tour as we appreciate the 8 unique ecosystems that make up Marquette Park. It is an area full of plants traditionally used for food, medicine, dyes, building materials, etc. Importantly, it is an area that has been designed and stewarded by indigenous cultures for thousands of years.

Ezekiel Flannery has a PhD in the sociology of food and nutrition focusing on indigenous cultures and ethnobotany–the study of how particular people from a region use locally available plants. He has conducted research in Mexico, Turkey, Nepal, in Ireland and the United States, right here in Northwest Indiana. He currently researches written and oral narratives that link food, plants, music, medicine and spirituality in indigenous Ireland. On the practical side, he enjoys stewarding a small garden of mostly native fruits, vegetables and medicinal plants and trees in Miller Beach, Indiana which he shares with friends and family.