Back in South Dakota

In late May, I had the pleasure of being back in South Dakota with the Sisseton Wahpeton Sioux Tribe. My experiences on the reservation have been wonderful. This time, since it was spring, I was able to visit more of the reservation, seeing a variety of housing complexes, the tribal orchard and garden properties, as well as the hillier part of the reservation. I visited Pickerel Lake, the deepest natural lake in South Dakota, which was beautiful. With the help of the Planning Office, we brought together a variety of potential partners in the food system work, including Head Start, the Youth Center, the agency for the elderly, Natural Resources, the casinos and others to talk about what is possible and what might come next. Patty and I will be looking at a variety of models for moving this food system work forward, including food hubs, incubator farms, partnerships with the tribal college, youth gardening, edible landscaping and more. I'm hopeful we'll have the opportunity to present our findings in person in the fall.