Chokecherry trees planted in 2015 thrive in Eagle Butte

Gilbert, her assistant Janie Ducheneaux, and volunteers from the Sioux YMCA in Dupree plus other volunteers from the community worked together to plant the 400 tiny choke cherry trees that are now full-grown and thriving. (Courtesy photo)

Chokecherries are sacred to the Lakota. At one time they were so important to the Lakota (who called them Canpa’hu meaning bitterwood stem) that one of their summer months was called Canpasapa-wi, the month when cherries are ripe. They are used in multiple ceremonies and their pit is medicinal. Their berries are very nutritious and represent an integral part of the traditional Lakota diet.
Before the colonizers came, Lakota collected large quantities of chokecherry fruit in the fall and dried or froze it so that it could be consumed during the winter months, an important source of vitamins A and C. Often the fruits were pounded into a flour-like material for use in soups or sauces or as an additive to other foods, such as pemmican.
Chokecherry was also a very important medicinal herb to Native Americans. The bark was the primary source of pain-relieving treatments, particularly the cambium, a layer of cells between the bark and the wood generally referred to as inner bark. The bark was soaked in a water bath and used as a tonic to treat a variety of ailments. Also, the wood of the chokecherry was uniquely useful for certain purposes because of its strength and hardness.
Marcella Gilbert (Cheyenne River Lakota) saw chokecherry trees blooming in May at the CRST Elder Nutrition Center in Eagle Butte. She reports, “I got excited! I thought, ‘They’re alive! They survived! Awesome!’” With grant funding and community support, Gilbert was instrumental in 400 chokecherry trees being planted at the Center in 2015.
Gilbert said the whole purpose of her 2014 -2015 “Bringing Back the Chokecherry” project was to make this wild, sacred food easily accessible. Today, the trees planted for the project are thriving. Ripe fruit from the trees should be available in August. Gilbert says that anyone is welcome to harvest the fruit for food or for ceremony when it is ready.
According to Gilbert, chokecherries once grew wild in great abundance in Lakota country but in recent years have become more difficult to acquire since so much tribal land has been leased to ranchers. The ranchers often deny access to Native people who request permission to forage for chokecherries and other wild foods on land leased from the tribe.
Gilbert was an employee of the South Dakota University Extension Service in 2014 – 2015. A specialty food grant program titled “Bringing Back the Choke Cherry” enabled Gilbert to provide enrichment classes at Cheyenne Eagle Butte High School during the first phase of the program about the significance of the chokecherry. She later organized a community collaboration to plant 400 chokecherry trees in Eagle Butte in the second phase.
With a master’s degree in nutrition and a dedication to Lakota food sovereignty, in 2014 Gilbert taught the nutritional and medicinal benefit of chokecherries to students at Cheyenne Eagle Butte High School. She showed the students how to grind and dehydrate the fruit and make jam. Gilbert also arranged for cultural advisors Dana Dupris and Joe Lafferty from the CRST Cultural Preservation Office to come to the school to teach the students about the role of chokecherries in Lakota creation stories and in cultural ceremonies.
Then in 2015, Gilbert approached the CRST Elder Nutrition Center for permission to plant choke cherries on an unused patch of land beside the Center. The CRST Tribal Council approved the request. Gilbert, her assistant Janie Ducheneaux, and volunteers from the Sioux YMCA in Dupree plus other volunteers from the community worked together to plant the 400 tiny choke cherry trees that are now full-grown and thriving.
Gilbert expressed sincere appreciation to the Nutrition Center, CRST, the Cultural Preservation Office, and all the volunteers who helped to make this project an on-going success.
(Contact Grace Terry at grace@angelsabide.com)

The post Chokecherry trees planted in 2015 thrive in Eagle Butte first appeared on Native Sun News Today.

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