I tasted Kombucha for the first time during my stay at my auntie’s house. That day, I was having a severe stomach ache and my caring auntie prepared a homemade ginger Kombucha for me. After I finished taking my delicious ginger Kombucha, I quietly laid down on the couch in her sitting room and she covered me up, got me 1 full bottle of Kombucha, 3 empty bottles, red rose tea bag and a scoby in a jar made of glass. You might be wondering if I’m just a little girl getting special treatment from the Aunt but I’m actually 30.
I kept thinking about what to use the strange scoby to prepare fermented tea, I decided to research about it, using the information from the internet coupled with my aunt’s texted instructions, I was able to prepare my Kombucha. I stepped tea and then added sugar to it and left it to ferment for 2 weeks. I saw Kombucha making as a treaty relationship and that’s because all my life I’ve known and understood treaty ethics and relationships.
In spite of the fact that most Canadians see treaties as just the Numbered treaties or the Post confederation treaties that happened among the First Nation and the crown before Canada ceaselessly and purposely disintegrated them, independent communities had made treaties for centuries before the European colonization. Metis writer has described the inter indigenous treaties as profoundly refined spoken agreements among sovereign people. Metis further explained that this oral agreement covered all types of conflict as well as trade arrangements with explicit ramifications for disobeying them and explicit manners by which these arrangements would be reestablished.
Treaty can be seen as a relationship structure that talks about understanding each other and our relationships. Having been brought up at Treaty 8 region in Northern Alberta, treaty is something I’ve perceived in my body for what seems like forever. Experiencing childhood in an enormous family, I saw treaty ethics displayed displayed by my family members, particularly my aunts. I observed and noticed how they considered each other during clashes and how close they were with the community.
As a result of colonization, slaughter and the higher authority’s endeavor to destroy Nehiyaw information systems, I didn’t get detailed information about the history of making treaties or the importance of making treaties in the Nehiyaw region. I’ve as of late started considering treaty as a structure or system for my associations with individuals, living things etc. It’s nothing unexpected that I began seeing Kombucha making as a treaty relationship. I take care of the scoby whose name was coined from the Advantageous Culture of Bacteria and Yeast. Consequently, it produces helpful bacteria and cell reinforcements which improve my metabolism and well-being. Just as I look out for my Kombucha and Scoby, they look out for me as well. A Nehiyaw writer, Emily Riddle made a tweet about treaty making improving kin relationships and just as I improved my Kombucha making, my kinship grew. Each time I make my Kombucha, I always give a bottle to one of my friends or kin so that it can improve their well-being and metabolism just like how aunt did for me.