 Which only washed a resistance farm in Agroforestry and Permaculture Demonstration Farm. My name is Michelle Tham. I am a 63-year-old Lakota woman, wife, mother, grandmother, and great grandmother, who's a member of the Ovala Lakota tribe. I am located on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in the District of Portipine. I've been homesteading my land since 2009. I have on 165 acres of land that made my siblings inherited from my mother. Three of us have homes there. Four or six generations that I can trace back. My family have always lived here in Lakota Territory. What we call Treaty Land, Unceded Unceded Treaty Lands of 1851 and 1868. Now what's referred to is the state of South Dakota. My people have always been hunters and gatherers. I am only the second generation that grew through by farming. My grandmother, who is from Portipine, also had gardens and livestock like horses. Here's a picture of my parents and my grandparents at Portipine, South Dakota. Badlands and the Black Hills. A Lakota creation story tells us the Lakota have always been here. We came from the lower lands of the Black Hills, a place called Wind Cave, and that the ecosystem and the buffalo have always lived in balance with us. Until the 1800s, when the buffalo were slaughtered and the Lakota were versed onto reservations. South Dakota's leading industry is agriculture. They also lead in genetically engineered varieties of corn and soybean GMOs. They have 15 ethanol plants in the state and they produce over 1 billion gallons a year and produce 10% of the nation's ethanol. Ag is big here. You get my drift. In the past, the climate and bad agricultural practices caused the Midwest to become a dust bowl and have the worst economic disaster in history. Hopefully in the future it won't happen again. Incorporating agroforestry and permaculture principles will help heal the land and save water. South Dakota during the dust bowl. One of South Dakota's black blizzards of 1934. This is approximately 140 miles from where I live. Agroforestry and permaculture are new methods of growing crops under reservation. Where I live at Perky Point, South Dakota, it is sculpted and forested. It is also rocky and the climate is windy with hail, snow and rain. We are building a regenerative agroforestry and permaculture demonstration farm. It is very small scale and we are still learning and implementing agroforestry and permaculture principles. Each generation, the terrain at which only wash day resistance farm is not exactly farmland. I feel that if I am able to grow food and trees on my land then I can teach other elders to grow food just about anywhere. I come from the poorest county in the United States so it's imperative for us to be food sovereign. The Oglala Sioux Tribe Vocational Rehabilitation Program has assisted us because my husband and I are both disabled. We have worked with other entities in the past like South Dakota State University extension workers, Agrability, USDA and Running Strong. However, it is a hassle to get our roads fixed or to get housing from our tribe. And we do most of the work around our place. If we can regenerate this land and be sustainable then we feel we are successful. Sunrise and fog rolling in over Porcupine, South Dakota. Clouds above Windy Hill. Sunrise at Windy Hill. The climate has always been a challenge for us living on Windy Hill. Clouds as the sun is setting are beautiful. Clouds are forming above us. Sunrise again. It took me a while to get used to living on a hill and living so close to the clouds but I'm used to it now. From a beach only wash day resistance farm, it sits at 3,400 feet above sea level. One kidney is four miles south and Keating radio station is three miles away. I'm standing on the hill behind my house. Clouds over the house are very close to us. We never know what they are going to produce hail or just wind and rain. I took this picture at the road. The weather makes us evacuate when it gets bad. It gets very windy. One time my roof got blown off from a previous storm and it moved my house to where it sits now. So I get scared and leave. This is how our crops looked after that storm. All our food was ruined. Other farmers lost their crops from that storm cloud. By now we were getting frustrated with losing our crops because it is hard work going food on a hill. This picture was taken in 2009 when I first moved up to Windy Hill which is what I call my hill. This is our Enipi or sweat lodge. East guarded after we planted it. We made it a terrace garden so the water would not run off. This is the east garden that was planted in 2012. Wendy Strong gave us some organic conditioner for our plant new grouphood. Grandpa Steve picking weeds. We planted 10 trees around the perimeter in 2009. This picture was taken in 2013. That triangle is one of the trees we planted. My granddaughters picking weeds in the west garden. My granddaughter and son preparing to plant potatoes, squash and beets. West garden is all downhill. The gardeners grew good some years and others not. We started using cardboard in our rows to prevent weeds. My grandchildren bring their horses over sometimes. Commander will they keep them at my brother-in-law's place. Their manure is good compost so we don't mind. Some years we had a good harvest but we continued to lose our crops because of the climate. We started to think about growing good another way. Here are some vegetables we grew. We had it different plants every year just to try them. I like radishes so I planted black radishes. Squash and beets and cucumbers. Snap peas and squash. Here you can see the soil and how rocky and dry it is. A couple of cottonwoods we planted 10 years ago. They make good shade. We planted a couple of them from seed. The other ones were transplanted from Anderson, South Dakota. Our meeting was South Dakota State University extension workers and agribility. Collaborating with them on how they could assist us with our until the 19th CER project. We are focusing on environmental sustainability and social sustainability. We are learning more about soil conservation in erosion-grown areas. How to grow better on a slope. Also drip irrigation, composting and mulching. Improving soil sustainability. Improving organic matter. Reducing soil erosion and improving better water holding capacity in our garden farms. We are planting more windbreaks and more terraces to reduce erosion. And we will be implementing more agroforestry and permaculture techniques. Such as swales and raised beds. To reduce erosion to move soil moisture to where we want it to go. Instead of it just washing away our soils during heavy rains and snowmelt. It was March 2019. We had a bomb cycle and it flooded after the snow melted. Except up here the water just runs downhill. We didn't plant until July because we were a little behind. We did a lot of snow sometimes until May. Our road, everything runs downhill and after rain it gets washed out. We have about a mile and a half to walk through the road if we have to. And we walked many times. Here's a soil sample done in the west and east garden. The nitrogen level for my west and east garden is medium. The phosphorus level is at a low level. The potassium level is at a high level. The soluble salts are low. The organic matter is low and it is beneficial to add peat moss. Or something similar to help the organic matter. The rocky landscape I live on needs better drainage. It's very dry because of the climate. It needs better water holding capacity. This inspired us to try the sheep mulching system. The irrigation, swales, raised beds in our plants. In the background you can see the berries terraced on the side of the hill growing a second year. Also it's the shrubs second year. Our growing soil is clay soil with a high pH. So it has poor soil structure, low infiltration capacity. With a hard calciferous layer. It don't have much nutrients. Grand daughter taking down old cover on homemade low tunnel. I'm transplanting choked cherries from my dad's house that he planted 55 years ago. Just my son and grandson planting trees as part of a windbreak. The trees will catch water as it runs downhill. Transplanting trees on the north side of the yard for a windbreak. Planting trees on the west side of the yard, 15 of them as a windbreak. I am transplanting trees. There's some volunteers to help me. They never did any gardening ever. It is important to try and have volunteers. We were lucky to have them the days we got them to help us. I ended up having surgery on my rotator cuff and I needed on the other one now. Here I am walking with a group of volunteers. I'm giving them a tour of our yard and showing them where we will be planting trees and shrubs, etc. I'm explaining my project and explaining agroforestry and permaculture principles as I understand it. Before we do our hands-on training. These are young people from an urban area. Some volunteers listening to me about the work we are going to be doing today. Turning the ground to make terraced low tunnels, swales and stairs. There's the steps to my house that are very steep. Here's my friend the robin having a bite to eat. My granddaughter picking weeds one year. Another reason we promote zone is to keep the weeds from growing. First of all, volunteers building the rail to the steps. Putting garden crops down to prevent weeds from growing. First of all, volunteers when we have them. Those are stairs with mulch on them. We pick up watching us. Four basic stages of sheet mulching are clearing the area. Laying down your newspaper, your cardboard, gunny sacks, etc. Pulse and your mulch. Here's a couple of extension workers from SDSU helping us with the mulch system. Sheet mulching will provide nutrients to the soil by breaking down to compost. It prevents soil erosion and it prevents weeds and holds water better. Putting down the final layer. Trying to put up low tunnels. Me and Steve had to build them over and reinforce them. The wind tore them up. Me and Steve made out of PVC pipes and plastic. With Steve watering after planting. The low tunnels lasted all summer and the food was protected by the covers. Here we are after a long day. There's a semi that brought my high tunnel. I thought it was going to tip over. From the ground and making it level. Patrick putting up to size to the high tunnel. Also a canacea growing wild. SDSU and volunteers. This is Patrick. Volunteers from the organization called Remember. They come from all over the United States. We started installing a drip irrigation system. Which allows us to use less water and direct it to where we want it to go. In the spring, we will install it through the entire farm. A drip irrigation system is a low drip that goes directly to the roots. It will save water and nutrients. It will also save us time and energy. It took a lot of water to water the trees and plants by hose. And with a drip system, we will have a timer so it minimizes the work we do. Steve making a terrace for berries. Terraces will prevent soil erosion and water loss. Digging holes to plant the berries. This is my son reading the instructions for the drip irrigation. Plant berries with drip irrigation system. Buffalo berries, cherries and plums. My husband planted them like nature grafts them together. Berries after four months doing great. Watering my plants under the plastic cover that protects my plants from the wind and hail. The plumbers are growing good, but we had to rig up a place for them to grow. Although they still grew, it was our last year to grow in such a small place. Onions grow very fast and grow well in our sheep mulch plot. Buffaloes doing great, but we did not grow them in this low tunnel. The next year, these also need to grow straight up. Beets and potatoes. High tunnel getting the frame put up for the door. The frame and door usually don't come with a high tunnel. They are putting one up. Putting up the plastic covering on high tunnel. Volunteers came that day and people from PBS who filmed me are also standing in the picture too. My high tunnel is finished. High tunnel. My high tunnel is a Gothic high tunnel. It costs a little more and it is a little more complicated putting it up, but it is very sturdy. The benefits of a high tunnel are it extends to growing season. Inground crops are extended for longer periods of time. It protects crops from the cold, rain, hail, sleet, wind, and the sides roll up for ventilation. I can plant early in the season and harvest later in the fall. Plants grow faster also. We were to workers from SDSU building raised beds for us. They used barrels and just cut them in half. Wishing them up. Workers made 24 raised beds. Here are the finished raised beds. Those are my starter plants getting ready for the high tunnel. I own for growing spices inside my house and starter plants. Once they grow, I can transfer them to my high tunnel and plant them in my raised beds. Seeing a prayer, giving thanks, getting ready to plant more trees. Spring came and everyone helped out. Working after a long winter and giving my plants some water, it was raining out. It already growing good and it grows fast. We are a Sundance family, so we had a tree of life date in honor of the cottonwood tree. We plant at 100 cottonwoods. Now we are making that an annual day and we will plant every year. Friends and relatives came from Rapid City to help plant trees. This is my son and grandson planting trees. My grandchildren planting trees and having fun. North Alberta spruce and ash trees. Showy mountain ash. He can hold four trees. My great granddaughter looking for plants. She looked and she got mad. Where I am in my high tunnel, this is only June 2020. I got a lot of food out of my high tunnel. We harvested until October. My blue corn is a little tall. The corn is like 14 feet. Now it grows wild on the farm. These are all in the high tunnel. Marsley. Madel. Elopeto. Peppers. Eggplant. Radishes. My backyard now with trees. We planted in my little greenhouse in high tunnel in the front yard. One of our goals is to save heirloom seeds and grow more of them each year. These are some of them I grew in my high tunnel. I intend to plant them next year. Sweetgrass. Sweetgrass, mint, lavender are some of the indigenous plants I grow. While indigenous medicines and foods that grow on my land are onions, wild turnips or kimchi, moan, echinacea, piaca, dandelion, burdock, sunflowers, piaca, mint, sage. And we will be incorporating both osha root and chamomile, et cetera. With some tempestula, we're trying to after harvest it. It is used in soups, so it is very healthy. There is trees around the high tunnel. I therefore, I wind break it. Who goes faster in the high tunnel is protected from the climate. Trees and shrubs we planted. Some of the trees we planted are showy mountain ash, juniper pine, ponderosa pine, silver maple, red cedar, quaking trembling aspen, Swedish colander aspen, cottonwood ash, dwarf alberta screws, red twig dogwood, fireside apple trees, mulberry trees, naking cherry trees, blueberry trees, elderberry trees, upflow berry, cherry, thumb, lilacs, and wild rose bushes. In the spring, we will be planting more trees, and we will be adding a bigger irrigation system to all the plants and trees. This one grandson was vegetables from the garden. The picture was part of my family. We learned a lot through this project and their new skills. We hope by growing our own food, we can improve the quality of our lives and our family's lives, and regenerate the land for future generations. Because of the pandemic, everything changed for us this past summer. We will finish our project in 2021, and we tried our best because it's all for our family's sustainability. So I hope you enjoyed this PowerPoint. Okay.