This special issue closes as it began – in a circle. The title of this farewell echoes the Elder interview published within these pages, and this echo is intentional: what you have read here is not a completed body of work but rather the start of a longer conversation, one that we hope will continue to unfold through future gatherings, upcoming issues, and seasons on the land.
The response from contributors has been humbling. We received an extraordinary number of submissions on land-based teaching and learning at UCN – including poems, personal narratives, recipes, photo essays, research papers, interviews, and roundtable reflections – far more than any single issue could accommodate. What appears here represents the first circle, and there is much more to be said.
The conversation that concludes this issue, titled “The Land Will Speak to You,” was only part of a larger gathering. After that circle ended, the room expanded. Elders Hilda Dysart and William Dysart from South Indian Lake joined in person, alongside students and faculty attending both on-site and via Zoom. Together, they engaged in a two-hour sharing circle focused on land-based teaching and learning.
Then technology intervened. The sound system failed, and the Zoom connection provided only subtitles and silence instead of voices. The vibrant, present circle in the room could not reach those on the screen. The rich exchange of that afternoon remains, for now, beyond the reach of the pages.
We do not see this as a loss. We embrace it as the land sometimes embraces us – with a reminder that not everything can be captured, that some knowledge resides in the room, in the body, in the moment of being present together. The Elder’s teaching of natohta – to listen with your right mind – encourages us to be where we are. The gathering that could not be recorded may be the most honest testimony to why land-based learning cannot be fully represented on a screen or a page; it must be experienced.
More conversations lie ahead. We look forward to another issue in 2027, one that will deepen and extend the dialogue begun here. We hope it will feature voices not yet heard, places not yet explored on the page, and teachings still waiting to be shared.
We conclude with gratitude – to the Elders and Knowledge Keepers who shared their teachings and allowed them to be carried forward in print; to the land-based instructors who brought their students and practices into these pages; to the student contributors who entrusted us with their stories, research, photographs, and words.
We would like to express our gratitude to the publication team and the editorial board of ‘Muses from the North’ for their dedication to bringing this issue to fruition. We also sincerely acknowledge the support of the 2025-2026 UCN Seed Grant, which enabled this research, the creation of this special issue, and its printing. Our thanks extend to Joseph, one of the principal investigators of the research project “Returning to the Land: Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Educational Transformation,” which has led to this special issue. Due to his sabbatical leave, he is unavailable to participate in the editorial work for this publication.
To all contributors and to the readers who have followed this collection to its final page: we bid you farewell until we gather again.
