 My name is David Karki, I'm with SDSU Extension and work as Agronomy Field Specialist. But for the last two years or so, I and my colleague, Amanda Bachman out of Peer Regional Center, are also co-co-ordinating SEER efforts in the state. Our first speaker will be Michelle Tian. So Michelle is a Ogallala Lakota woman from Percupine, South Dakota. And she's a landowner and great grandmother who owns Wicani West Resistance Farm. She's regenerating her land through agroforestry and permaculture practices, implemented after becoming a SEER grant recipient. She's focusing on food sovereignty by growing her own food and preserving her culture by reintroducing endangered native plants and medicine that were used by Lakota people for centuries. Michelle is helping the elders with similar land, elders with similar land grow food through demonstrations, social media, and sharing crops. So please invite Michelle, Tian for her presentation for next 10 minutes or so. We watched the resistance farm in Agroforestry and Permaculture Demonstration Farm. Welcome to Windy Hill, my residence. My grandmother was four years old when the DOS Act of 1887 was passed. The act opened up Lakota territories to the land rush of the 1890s. Our land diminished 90 million acres overnight and land was allotted to individuals. They were given land that was unsuitable for farming. Historically, the Lakota were not agriculturists. If you did not enroll on the DOS roles, you were not afforded any land or allowed being a member of the tribe or a US citizen. There were many problems with the DOS Act because of boarding schools, lack of farming experience, inheritance became too small, size of holdings also. Allotments were sold to non-natives and natives were underpaid. It was destructive to our cultural identity and sovereignty as many other anti-native acts of legislation. The climate is a challenge at Windy Hill. The climate made us look for another way of growing food. We lost our crops in that horrific storm. 3,400 feet above sea level, I was determined to live on my own land regardless of how rough the terrain is, kill you radio in the background. My West Garden in 2012. My East Garden, we made tears. We grew foods we liked to eat. Steve picking weeds in the East Garden in 2012. I reached out to local resources for help before SAIR. We participated in SDSU Extensions, Native American Beginning Farmer Rancher Program 2016-17, SDSU Extension, Tribal Local Foods, Agrability Who Assist Disabled Farmers, we became participants. Oglala Lakota Tribes Vocational Rehabilitation, Who Assist Disabled People, we became clients and they enhanced us to become farmers. USDA NRCS Equip, we applied for a high tunnel and received it. Project objectives for the SAIR grant in 2019 were to identify techniques and strategies to reduce erosion control on sloped forested landscapes, identify cultivatable traditional Lakota plant foods that can be incorporated into a regenerative agroforestry permaculture farm, evaluate the effectiveness of permaculture agroforestry techniques and strategies on forested slopes, evaluate the effectiveness of using a drip irrigation system, sheet mulching and contoured beds and pathways, on forested slopes to improve the quality of the soil, lastly to share findings through videos, pictures, et cetera. The month of March in 2019, I got my grant that the bomb cyclone hit and we had five feet of snow. That's climate change. We collaborated with three member, a local nonprofit and SDSU Extension educators and volunteers that came at the beginning. The next year, the pandemic hit. Volunteers were leveling off the ground from my higher tunnel, clearing the way for low tunnels and pathway stairs. We began transplanting trees for windbreak, using permaculture strategies, techniques and conservation practices, transplanting plum trees and choked cherry trees from my dad's house. Economically, it was easier to transplant trees and to buy them. I did both. Here we are with pine trees, plums and choked cherries from my dad's yard. The organic matter is low and needs nitrogen. We have incorporated sheet mulching, compost and drip irrigation, making terraces for the choked cherries, buffalo berries and plums to reduce erosion and catch water runoff. We laid a drip system when we planted. At the end of summer, they have grown. The drip irrigation for berries when we first planted. Berries in the wind constantly blowing. Berries this year are getting tall. Berries in the fourth year. This year, the fruit trees produce some plums and choked cherries. Everything runs downhill. Dirt road from my house to the highway, making beds with use of pine trees and PVC pipe for low tunnels. Making steps before adding mulch and assembling our low tunnels. Using garden cloth to prevent weeds. The steps after they are done making pathways. Sheet mulching and composting to improve the quality of the soil and improve water holding capacity. Laying newspapers, collaboration with SDSU Extension educators. Here's Steve, my husband, watering the garden after planting onions. Protecting my crops from the climate. Everything grows faster when it's covered. Train for my Gothic high tunnel is finished. Plants and trees that need to be planted. The jalapenos and a mixture of plants that year. Aspen and ash. Drip irrigation line that we installed all over. Trees with the drip irrigation make some grow faster. Tree of life day became an annual day for my family. From the pandemic kit, we didn't have any more volunteers only family. Trees we planted were cottonwood, plum, silver, maple, quaking aspen, ash, apple, mulberry. We are planting cottonwood trees. My high tunnel has provided a lot of food for us at Windy Hill. I am able to finally share what I learned with everyone. Here are my vegetables and 21 bits of sweet grass in 2022. We have incorporated traditional native plants and I plan on expanding it next year. Here's some red twig dogwood. My elder berries, first year they produced fruit. My osher root, first year it went in the ground. Here's my tobacco. My blue cornfield. I save my blue corn seeds and each year I grow more. I dry them and take the kernels off the cob. This year I planted 375 and yielded about 275. I had cattle walking through my cornfield. Testing the soil and plots with soil testers. We had to add peat moss or bone meal besides the sheep mulching. In 2021, the pH balance is good. The soil test in 2017, the soil needed help. The sun going down in the west. Remembering our traditions includes growing our traditional native plants. Regenerating the land can be applied everywhere. My goal is for my family to be self-sufficient and to be able to help our elders do the same. Thank you for allowing me to share with you. Can you talk about importance of building relationships for these projects? Obviously I want to be able to finish my project or even start it without the help of community and the people that I had met on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation of the Oglala Coat Nation. I was able to partner with SDSU immediately so they were a big help. There was other people and organizations that worked with us. Fortunately for me, I'm 65 years old, I had help and I would have been able to do it obviously all by myself so I was very fortunate to be able to work with young people and I'm really happy to see so many young people that are so interested in the ecosystem and saving it, regenerating it because without the ecosystem we can't grow food, we can't have meat, we can't be alive, we can't survive without water. So these are some of the things that I'm really happy to see all the young people come here for today and be involved with the ecosystem today and saving it. So thank you for letting me be here and working with all of you. What advice would you have for somebody who's interested in applying for a grant? I worked with Joan Benjamin, she was really great to work with and it's real important to keep in touch with them and ask them questions if you're not real sure about the grant. One of the good things about the grant is, which is huge is you're allowed help, you're allowed stipends to help, get help with from other people and that was huge for me at being an elder. So the most important thing for me was sharing everything with Sarah.