Ground Plum/ Ptétȟawote

A few people have asked me about this plant recently. It’s called a ground plum in English. Ptétȟawote, or Astragalus crassicarpus. I believe that the fruit is technically edible, though it was pretty bitter and woody when I tried a ripe one about 4 summers ago at the site of Sacred Stone Camp. The fruit

Juneberries in June

All the fruits got a late start this year, due to the freezing spring. Here’s a Juneberry bush (wipážukȟa hú) that I photographed today, June 19. Still awhile off from being ripe. When I see how far off the richly descriptive English and Lakota plant names are from the seasons they connect to, the reality

Pȟežíȟota Tȟáŋka: Mosquito Sage

It’s mosquito season here, and the spring floodwaters have given them the ideal habitat for a really prolific year… Not such great news for us warm-blooded mammals. And appropriately enough, the Čhapȟúŋka Oyáte really went after me while I was harvesting this plant. Pȟežíȟota Tȟáŋka, or Artemisia tridentata, is locally called sagebrush, in contrast to

Čhaŋpȟá Wanáȟča: Chokecherry Flowers

Chokecherries flowering near Medina, ND. Looks like there will be an abundant harvest this year!

Hupȟéstola — Edible Yucca Flowers!

Did you know that the flowers of Hupȟéstola (Yucca glauca) are edible? They taste kind of like broccoli, but a bit more mild, and with a slight nectar sweetness. I’ve heard of people cooking with them, but I usually just eat them when I’m out on the prairie. I have never managed to refrain from

Wagmíza Tȟéča

New baby corn plants emerging in my garden. They take off slowly, but by July, they’ll be growing at a dramatic rate!

Pšíŋ Šičámna — Wild Onion harvest

April and May are wild onion season on Standing Rock! These native onions may be strong, but they are powerful! Hence their Lakota name — Psiŋ = onion; šičámna = stink/strong (bad) smell. They are one of the early spring plants that come up, abs are recognizable by their stems that are a bit thicker

Pšíŋ — domestic onions grown from seed

Some shots from the day I transplanted my onions grown from seed out into the garden. These are onion varieties developed by agricultural scientist Frank Kutka, specifically to meet the needs of the North Dakota climate and storage needs. He calls them Noeth Dakota Red and Yellow Storage Onion, respectively. Due to the onions’ long

Cover Crop: Buckwheat

This was last spring’s cover crop, buckwheat. I didn’t have a whole lot to start, and the seeds didn’t germinate evenly, so I got pretty sparse coverage. But hopefully it still did a bit to increase the nitrogen available in the soil, which was my goal in planting a cover crop. I planted it in