Yellowbird Life Ways Center holds Traditional Feast

Fans of gourmet food would have easily coughed up $500/plate or more to partake in the Food Sovereignty Celebration held at the Blessed Sacred Catholic Church on Sunday evening, November 17th. Instead, the gourmands were regular Northern Cheyenne people (about a hundred or so, including elders, families and many children) who had participated in the Yellow Bird Life Ways Center Food Sustainability Project under the direction of Annette Two Bulls, Oglala.

It was a lavish feast, and the church social room was beautifully arranged. All the serving utensils, plates, napkins, and everything else coordinated perfectly!

The menu featured wild game, food that had been grown and preserved through the gardening project – an amazing array of culinary delights. The menu featured: buffalo roast (donated by the Sherman family, Oglala from Pine Ridge), elk roast, wild turkey; elk tacos with corn tortillas, sweet potatoes, acorn squash, stuffing; a wide range of vegetables, especially squash; even wild rice with an amazing assortment of topping choices sent as a gift from Ojibway relatives in the Great Lakes area; wild berries, a marvelous wild mint tea, flavored with wild honey, cornbread and everything pumpkin.

In introductory remarks Annette told of attending the harvest of a bull from the Oglala Buffalo herd. “The animal ‘showed’ or presented itself for sacrifice to us,” she said. “The kill and butchering of the offering was conducted in a respectful way. Food is medicine”.

The theme of the evening was Decolonizing our Diet, Reconnecting to our Food Ways. Krystal Two Bulls, Oglala activist and organizer gave a presentation about tribal connections to the land, food, culture and lifeways and the Landback program. “For the first time in tribal memory some of the lakes where wild rice is harvested are drying up,” she explained. “This is due to corporate greed and we have to always fight and protest development of these food sources.”

Sovereignty is a much-used term among tribal peoples. But, what does it mean” According to Webster’s dictionary: it has a variety of meanings including independence, Self-government, Freedom and Power.

“If we cannot feed ourselves, how can we be Sovereign?” Krystal Two Bulls posed. She went to note the plenty to be found on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation: wild berries, turnips, wild game and fish that we can hunt and harvest, gardens grown by tribal members, clean air and water. “Northern Cheyenne is the only place I can put my lips to the ground and drink the water,” she noted. “The fact that we own and control 98% of our reservation shows our reverence and respect for the land.”

The Food Sovereignty gardening project, now going into its fifth year begins accepting applications in March and April. They can help such as rototilling; basic gardening tools, seeds, and even fence your garden if deer or wild horses are a problem. Thus far, dozens of Cheyenne ranging from elders to children have participated and some related their success stories at the dinner.

“We got twelve pumpkins from two little seeds,” told Donna Fisher who catered much of the meal. “It has inspired us go back to the old days when Grandma always had a garden. Next year, we are shooting for bigger and better.”

“One of the most powerful things you can do is plant a garden and care for it,” Annette Two Bulls concluded.

Also present were Yellow Bird Lifeways Board members, Micah Highwalking and Al Little Coyote and tribal member interns from MSU who have been involved in the project.

(Contact Clara Caufield at acheyennevoice1@gmail.com)

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