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On this Independence Day, there are some obvious signs.

> The sound of fireworks.
> The smell of a cookout somewhere.
> Even if you're at the gas station, everyone you see is wearing red white and blue.

But here I am, in my Bookshop and standing next to this huge wall of black bookcases... FILLED year-round with Indigenous-authored books that cover every genre and subject, and just barely begin to touch on the 564 federally recognized American tribes... all of whom I think we should ALSO be thinking of on this day. Because were it not for the caretakers of these lands who literally moved, shaped, mounted, and planted in this soil... Well, we would have all struggled that much more upon immigrating here.

I can point you to all sorts of American history books and biographies in the store. But I'd love for you to consider this section of books the next time you're in if you haven't already.

And specifically I am sharing here a post from an Indigenous foodways page that I love. The link I am sharing just demonstrates ONE native food to this continent and how Northern Plains tribal communities all had a different name for this food, but equally appreciated what it offered. And while I say that in past tense thinking about the birth of a nation, these are also tribal people of today who are still continuing that Legacy of foraging, harvesting, cooking, and sharing with their community and others.

I just placed a gorgeous Navajo/Diné cookbook on the shelves in this part of the store. And the prior week I put one on the Shelf connected to California Native Food pathways! The books in this part of the store encompass more than just cookbooks though. I am delivering you indigenous authored novels and nonfiction, poetry, children's books, fantasy, horror, and I've even got a sliver of shelving with books people assume to be native authored and maybe contributed to the world, but I showed them so you can understand that a few of these are in fact non-native authors. (Dee Brown is a great example of this, who many people have long assumed was a native woman who authored Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee. Not so. Brown was a white man and it's a great book, but I'm trying to do my part by giving you education and authenticity in one spot so we can all grow together.)

I could wait to remind you of this closer to thanksgiving, but year-round I also want to remind you that I have made a commitment to wholesale purchase wild rice grown and harvested in the Minnesota region just as it was hundreds of years ago. I typically carry two different grades. This is a food that many Northern Plains tribal members still eat daily and the cookbooks I make available to you even include some amazing breakfast recipes. The nutritional value of this native food is superior to so many other grains that you are used to purchasing in a store, most of which have been shipped across the globe. Go figure!

This section of shelves is constantly changing Because it is shocked regularly by customers new and old. There is always something new being put out and there is always something that I just got in that someone is snatching up. I know there are many indigenous owned book stores around the country that you can support as well, but I appreciate your patronage of this area when you're in my Bookshop because your purchases directly influenced whether or not I can even keep this section going. And thankfully we can!

If you've had enough of your news feed links talking about politics or the Taylor and Travis wedding, make sure to follow this page. I think you'll be just as happy as I am with the kind of educational, surprising content that they put out:

https://www.facebook.com/share/1FcJfKQvJo/