An Arizona Republic special report
Lester dips a small green measuring cup into Pandora Christmas 2015 a 25 pound bag of blue corn seed, and fills it with 12 seeds. He drops them down the long tube that plants the seeds in the sandy ground. Lester scoops and pours, scoops and pours until the tractor reaches the end of the row. Scoop after scoop, row after row, the pair slowly travel across the 21 acre field on a blustery day in May until 40 pounds of blue corn have been planted.
Watson and Lester repeat the process the next day, this time with white corn. Everything is the same, except only eight seeds fill the cup, because white kernels are larger than blue kernels. After two long days, the planting is done.
Like his ancestors who have planted this land for hundreds of years, Watson considers farming his legacy. A successful jeweler known for his striking creations of gold and silver overlay, Watson, 58, is able to farm his field, 90 miles northeast of Flagstaff, because sales from his jewelry pay the bills.
Watson is among an estimated 80 families that still plant large cornfields on the Hopi Reservation in northeastern Arizona. Twenty five years ago, more than twice that number farmed, according to Leland Dennis, program coordinator for the Hopi Natwani Coalition, whose goal is to preserve the agricultural traditions of the Hopi.
The Hopi Reservation, about 250 miles north of Phoenix on the Colorado Plateau, encompasses more than 1.5 million acres.
In the early 1900s, nearly all Hopis were farmers, descendants of a tribe that believed they were caretakers of the earth. They practiced dry land farming, relying on winter snows and summer monsoons to supply moisture for their crops. They grew corn, beans, squash, melons and chiles, despite the unfavorable conditions and without the convenience of irrigation.
Today, between 6,000 and 7,000 Hopis live in 12 villages located on and around First, Second and Third Mesas. Many of the 13,000 enrolled tribal members do not live on the reservation full time.
Tribal ceremonies and cultural activities still reflect the agricultural calendar of planting in the spring, growing in the summer, harvesting in the fall and laying dormant in the winter.
Watson follows the same calendar, planting an acre of early sweet corn in mid April the traditional way, by hand, using a greasewood stick to dig holes in the ground for the seeds, then covering the seeds with dirt. Sweet corn matures fast, so corn that gets enough moisture should be ready in July for the Home Dance, the last dance of the kachinas before they return to their spirit homes in the San Francisco Peaks just north of Flagstaff.
Blue and white corn is planted in May, Pandora Christmas 2015 weeds are pulled in late June unless there's not enough rain, as was the case this year. September is spent scaring off birds with makeshift scarecrows scattered throughout the field. The corn is harvested, by hand, in October.
Watson and his wife, Sarah, 56, split their time between Flagstaff and Hotevilla on Third Mesa, which is pandora christmas 2015 charm - sterling silver sale Sarah's family home. In Hopi culture, the women own the land and the men own the livestock.
The Honanies set up their home in Flagstaff so Watson could make and sell jewelry and their two daughters could attend school. Kara, 31, and Tiah, 27, are now grown and ready to start families of their own.
"It's nice being self employed, because I can take my work anywhere and I don't have a boss telling me when to take time off," Watson said. "This was the idea of my uncle, Fred Kabootie, when he started the Hopi Arts Crafts Guild, so we would not be going off the reservation looking for jobs, and could still maintain our ceremonies."
Watson makes sure his family practices Hopi traditions, and he teaches the ways of their ancestors to young members of other Hopi clans. Hopi means "the peaceful people," and the Hopi way means living a peaceful existence and helping others to improve their lives.
After sunset, Sarah sits by herself, surrounded by boxes, sifting ground sweet cornmeal for qomi, a dense cake. Gifts of qomi and piki, a paper thin bread made from ground blue corn and ash, will lead the next day's engagement procession. In Hopi tradition, the bride's family delivers gifts of food to the groom's clan with the help of friends and family. For Tiah's procession, 2 truckloads of food will be delivered. Sarah will be the first one up the next day, hours before the sun rises, to organize the procession.
Watson and Sarah were married according to tribal tradition, and soon both daughters will be married according to Hopi beliefs. That's why they planted more blue corn the previous year; they need it for wedding gifts.
"Corn is very important to my family," Sarah said. "I can remember all the way to my childhood., I would be upset with my mom as she was always at her shed doing corn, corn, corn. But as we grew older, we realized that corn is so important. You do everything with corn in our Hopi traditional ways. You cannot survive without corn."
Watson and Sarah believe there is a connection between the life cycle of corn and the life cycle of raising a family.
When you plant corn, you are planting your seeds and having a child, they said. The little corn plants can't protect themselves, they are fragile and you have to watch them every day.
When the ears start to develop, it's critical that you go to the field to scare off the crows, otherwise they will destroy the Pandora Xmas Charms ears, the couple said. The developing ears are just like your teenage children. If you don't watch them, they will become mean, like crows, and others will take advantage of them by feeding them drugs and alcohol.
"It's time consuming and you have to be humble," Sarah said. "My family tells me to rest, but I don't know what that is. I'm happy living the way of life of a Hopi."
Her convictions are confirmed when she arrives at the family's cornfield.
"Every time I get to that field, I cry. That's all my corn, and I thank my father for it," Sarah said. "Even though he is not here, I ask him to watch over our corn when we can't be here."
Sarah's father belonged to a coyote clan, one of several Hopi clans that identifies an extended family. The clan name tells other Hopis where that family originated.
Sarah said that sometimes when she goes to the field early in the morning, she can hear coyotes crying or barking.
"Watson will say, 'There's your dad again,' and I tell him, ".'Yes, my dad watched the corn all night.'."
White corn (North) is used for making hominy. Hominy stew is served at most important ceremonial gatherings. It also is used for making homa, which is the ground corn that Hopis use for prayer.
Blue corn (South) is used for making piki bread, one of the most important foods in Hopi culture. It is ground into a cornmeal. A paper thin bread, piki has long been the backbone of the Hopi diet, and the technique has been passed down from mother to daughter for generations. Ground blue corn and ash (for color) are added to boiling water to make the cornmeal, which is spread by hand on a hot stone and cooked.