Photo by Mary Annette Pember

Food desert. Those two little words have a great impact on the Spirit Lake community, based in Fort Totten, North Dakota. Grocery stores are scarce and travel to purchase food can be difficult. Food sovereignty, the right to access healthy and culturally appropriate food, is a widespread problem and one that the Land Grant Department at Cankdeska Cikana Community College (CCCC) has been battling for years. 

“Garden tilling is one of our most popular services,” says Paige Hook, CCCC’s community agriculture coordinator. For the last few years, Hook worked as a student apprentice in the land grant program and was eventually promoted to take over most of the extension work. This year she estimates she will drive the college’s big 4610 John Deere tractor at 50 different properties, custom tilling garden spaces for any resident who wants one. Elders are prioritized, but the till list fills quickly each year. Tilling program participants are also given seed packets and seedlings to start their gardens. These efforts are paired with food preservation workshops in the late summer and fall—canning, dehydrating, and salsa-making are all regular lessons in the Land Grant Department’s homey kitchenette.

Community agriculture coordinator Paige Hook tills a garden space for a community member. CCCC’s tilling service is widely requested throughout the Spirit Lake reservation.

Rob Graywater, a Spirit Lake Dakota community member and director of the Spirit Lake Nation Fish and Wildlife Department, saw a real need for more—a large community garden space with an education focus. “Family gardens were such a big part of life not long ago. My mother (she has passed) used to tell me that they had two gardens every year—one close to their house that they would eat from and a larger garden that they would sell from and gather seed from for the next year’s garden,” explains Graywater. “I remember the first garden my wife and I planted and a man came by to take some pictures of it. He said he remembered when there used to be huge gardens out on the reservation and I think that it is something that has been lost to an extent, with so many people living in the housing complexes and not having enough space in their yards to plant in. I was hoping that some of the older people would like to capture some nostalgia and possibly pass on some knowledge to the younger generation that has never enjoyed the benefits from planting and caring for and harvesting their own produce.” 

Although it is a popular, CCCC’s tilling service does not serve the whole community. The flooding of Spirit Lake in the 2000s displaced a lot of people from their land and homes. Now, there are many people without space for a garden or who live off the reservation. Others might just need a little extra help with supplies or expertise. But thanks to a USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service Collaborative Conservation Grant, the Cankdeska Cikana Community Garden will provide everything needed for a successful garden site.   

The idea for a community garden had been around for quite a while, but it just needed a little boost from something like the USDA grant. When the grant opportunity was initially introduced, Graywater proposed the idea for the CCCC Community Garden, and the college’s Land Grant Department worked to realize his idea. At the time, it seemed like a long shot. The department had just a week to put together a complete application, but all involved were determined and had the full support of the college. In the end, their work paid off when the USDA notified the department that it had received the grant. The funds opened up new opportunities and allowed the department to expand services in new ways.

CCCC’s Land Grant Department will soon be hard at work to turn this barren open space into a flourishing community garden.

CCCC can now host a dedicated community garden space adjacent to the brand new CCCC Head Start facility that serves over 150 children. Although the college controls the facility, it is a community space, as so many families visit and use it. In fact, land grant staff will be collaborating with Head Start employees on a children’s garden, right next to the community garden. Funded by a separate Scott’s Miracle Gro Garden Grant, Head Start students will plant the children’s garden, which will contain fresh vegetables and medicinal plants. And the new children’s garden will receive the special love and care of CCCC’s land grant staff. “It’s really a wonderful opportunity for our students and complementary to the curriculum,” says Samantha Gourd, acting director of CCCC Head Start. “We love getting the kids outside and doing hands-on activities, plus the produce will be used in our kitchen or sent home with families for healthy meals. Plants will be labeled with both their English and Dakota names and some of our traditional plants will be grown in the garden as well, such as sweetgrass and sage.” The children’s garden will be launched the same day as the community garden with a day-long event culminating in a Head Start family night. There will be a cookout, a big “plant-in,” bounce houses, and a photo booth with vegetable characters. Fun is important, but it is also essential to start the garden in a good way. There will be an opening ceremony and community elders will receive a special invitation to attend the event.

Produce from CCCC’s community garden is sent home with families or used in the college’s kitchenette to prepare dishes and for other hands-on activities.

The land, former buffalo pasture, is wide open and should require few soil amendments to get it into shape. In fact, the staff plans to use natural bison manure compost to amend the soil. “It kind of gives back to the soil what it’s used to getting, since it has been pastureland for so long,” explains Gabriele Krantz-Nelson, community garden manager. Krantz-Nelson is no stranger to plants and gardening, having been a long-time florist in the lake region area. “I am determined to make the CCCC Community Garden’s first year a success,” she adds. “To garden is to form a sense of self-expression while developing creativity and promoting a sense of achievement as we plan, plant, and produce. Let’s get growing in 2019!”

Krantz-Nelson’s enthusiasm is truly infectious and the number of prospective gardeners attending preparatory workshops grows every week. That is one of the nice things about the CCCC Community Garden—the only thing missing is the gardener. Staff will teach everything from planning the garden to harvesting and preserving the crop. The Land Grant Department will provide space, organic fertilizers and pesticides, seeds, seedlings, tools, and even cute little mailboxes at each plot for messages from the garden manager. The goal is to really make gardening as easy as possible. Food security and sovereignty are serious concerns, especially when it comes to fresh food on the reservation.

Another advantage is that the college’s professional community garden manager, along with two student apprentices, will take care of all the watering and some of the general maintenance. Student involvement is a regular feature in every land grant program, whether students are learning horticulture in the greenhouses, landscaping the campus, or driving the tractor for the tilling program. The community garden is a natural addition and nicely complements the soil science portion of the natural resource management (NRM) Associate of Science degree. All NRM students must complete an internship, either through the college or elsewhere. Careers in local foods are on the rise, so this is a perfect hands-on experience for the students.

Students in a natural resource management course prepare for the coming gardening season.

The involvement of NRM faculty via the land grant program also necessitates a strong environmental component. No neonicotinoid chemicals will be used, which harm honeybees and other pollinator species. Additionally, a pollinator plant border will be installed around the garden with the hope of attracting and providing food for pollinators. Nationwide, pollinators are in trouble and North Dakota is a leading producer of honey. The college seeks to help support honeybees and other pollinator species because they are so important to agriculture. Currently, CCCC’s Land Grant Department is working with a community member to set up hives near the garden. This will not only pollinate the garden and the native landscaping plants, but will also provide honey and related products for land grant workshops. 

It is an exciting collaboration, but not the only one planned for the community garden. CCCC land grant staff are working with the USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service for technical assistance, as well as for supplies of sage and sweetgrass for the garden. Having a medicinal plant section is meaningful for the people of Spirit Lake Nation. Dried sage and sweetgrass are often burned at the college and by community members for prayer and to start the day well. Land grant staff plan to teach about the growth and care of these plants to the youth who visit the garden with their relatives and to the children who attend Head Start. At CCCC, culture is vitally important.

Besides produce, CCCC grows sweetgrass and other medicinal plants for ceremonial and spiritual purposes. Photo by Mary Annette Pember.

The garden site is still in its preparatory stages and there is a long way to go until fall harvest. But the land grant staff have big dreams to grow the garden for the community. Part of being a land grant college is having such an extension component. Nowhere is this mission felt more deeply than in the heart of CCCC’s president, Dr. Cynthia Lindquist. “Working together, being good stewards of Mother Earth, helping children and families to eat healthier and to be physically engaged are all part of Dakota values to live in a good way and to be a good relative,” states Lindquist. “We have great faculty and staff who are sincere in helping our students become responsible and self-reliant community members. This is the work of tribal colleges and universities and it makes me very proud to be the president.” 

Heidi Ziegenmeyer, MS, is the land grant director and a natural resources instructor at Cankdeska Cikana Community College.