The Pastoral Way of Life on the Navajo Reservation

 

Adrian Herder of the Chíshsí clan of the Navajo Nation gives us a peek inside his life growing up at Hardrock on the Navajo reservation in Northern, Arizona.  One of five kids, Adrian grew up without running water in a one room home. His Native American family lives the traditional pastoral way of life: His father and mother and aunt, Lorraine Herder and Edith Simonson, still  herd sheep, shear them for sheep’s wool, clean the wool, brush it, spin it and use plant dyes to create artisan, hand-crafted Navajo wool yarn skeins. The wool is then woven into traditional Navajo rugs.

The Indigenous People’s way of life is being treated by the extractive coal-mining industry. Peabody coal mine has been mining for coal on the Navajo reservation for over 40 years. The result: an ever-decreasing supply of ground water. The water aqueducts are low and seeps and springs which these people rely on to sustainable live their way of life are drying up.

Nicole Herseherder, her husband  Marshall Johnson and their children are experiencing the same thing. They live on their families winter residence land in Black Mesa Arizona. They have horses and plant traditional Native corn and now  they now have to haul water long distances in order to survive. The couple founded To’Nizhoni Ani “Sacred Water” to teach their children and the next seven generations about the importance of and sacredness of water. They want their Native American relatives to be able to live and practice sustainability, without reliance on outside resources for help.