[Update posted 08/01/25] The Crossing announces a change, a seed planted four years ago. For the past four years, the land belongs, as is fair and good, to a Tribal University and Land Grant University located on the Rosebud Reservation, home of the Sicangu Oyate, in South Dakota. Our donation of the property was formally accepted by Sinte Gleska University during September of 2020. Since then, the seed has sprouted and pushed roots of beginnings down into the soil and the sprout and it's cotyledons have come out into the sun. Last August, with an amazing gathering here of a group of people from The University, inipis (sweat lodge, in Lakota) were poured and prayers sent up to Creator, and the transition from private ownership to the establishment of Sinte Gleska University's welcomed and growing presence is forever engaged – the first true leaf has opened to the sunlight. Helen and I will share more about the future of The Crossing and the direction by Sinte Gleska University when you get here, sharing for now that food sovereignty and herbal medicine, in the context of acceptance and maintenance of an indigenous way of life are what you will experience.
After reviewing the introduction to The Crossing presented here, if your passion and experience fit the need just described, please get in touch and explore the possibilities with us. The following three titled paragraphs describe typical activities during the coming season. The titles are from the Lakota names for the Moons associated with the coming season.
Waniyetucokan Wi - Middle of Winter Moon (December)
A couple of the wood stoves have fires 24/7 now and the sauna in The Cabin offers warmth around the clock. Vigilance is kept for the colder nights when Mamie's Garden needs fires in her two wood stoves. Greens, like kale, spinach, lettuce and Swiss chard, grace every meal. The hoop house root crops, like carrots, beets and Asian radishes are coming on and are sweetened by the cool days. Repairs, maintenance and projects take center stage, as well as the initial planning for the coming year. Even the oaks have lost most of their leaves, with only the beech holding their tan leaves near the ground until spring.
Waniyetucokan Wi - Middle of Winter Moon ( early January)
These are times to regroup and begin preparations for the coming seasons of growth. Days are already getting longer. Plants in Maime's Garden, the 80' x 30' heated high tunnel, are holding on and thinking of making new growth and showing more vitality soon. Seed and plant orders should be completed now, if not earlier, to get early order discounts and to insure availability. Preparations for the coming maple sap collection are speeding up. Firewood is being staged and on the warm days, when fires in the wood stoves can be let go for a day, chimneys are cleaned. Vegetables and fruits preserved during the previous growing season are daily prepared for table. Supplies of stored vegetables are regularly examined and any that are going bad are composted or destroyed. Building projects and maintenance are moving along.
Wiotehike Wi - Moon of Hard Times (mid-January to mid-February)
In the middle of this moon, all plans must have been readied to allow a smooth transition into setting taps for maple sap collection. Prayers, permission and offerings are made at each tree prior to tapping. Mapling taps are usually set in the 3rd or 4th week of January, depending on weather forecast. All has been readied to allow a month or more of following the sap flow and collecting sap and hauling it to an Amish sugar shack operated by Amos Frey and his family. Wood supply for the heating stoves in the living areas is staged, ashes are taken out and spread on gardens and chimneys are cleaned as needed. When sap is not flowing, repairs and maintenance get more focus and the shop is busy. Planning and preparation for the coming growing season continues. The high tunnel gets regular tending, including maintaining fires in the 2 wood stoves on nights when forecasted low temperatures go below about -9 degrees C (15 degrees F). Invasive species control and other outdoor maintenance can be done when weather allows and when sap flow is limited by prolonged spells of low or high temperatures.
Cannapopa Wi - Moon of Popping Trees (mid-February to mid-March)
In addition to the ongoing collection of sap and caring for the wood stoves, seeds are started and closely monitored in the seed starting area. These include tomatoes and peppers, followed by melons and sweet potatoes. Brassicas, like kale and cabbage, are also started indoors for transplanting to replace the greens planted last August or September, which have been making it to the table throughout the winter. Sap flow slows as the tapped holes begin to heal and when the weather indicates, the taps are pulled. The sap collection bags are taken down, rinsed out, turned inside out and stored. The outdoor gardens can be worked as needed and when soil conditions allow, in preparation for the spring planting. It is a busy time. Scion wood from the neighbor's specialty persimmons, a native fruiting tree, are collected and placed in the refrigerator for grafting to native saplings in May. The equinox approaches, winter begins to fade and the things of the earth are preparing for an awakening. Watermelons and cantaloupes are started in the seed starting area. Mamie's Garden gets busier with bed preparations and the early plantings of things like peas, leeks and onions. Early potatoes can be planted in the outside gardens so they get an early start on rooting and growth, as soon as the soil temperatures begin to rise. Pruning is done while fruit trees are still dormant.
We are a wife and husband who grow vegetables for personal consumption, and we freeze, dehydrate, sun dry and can for our own use and donate the excess. We do mapling during the season and manage our forest without timbering. For 10 years we have been planting crops specifically to feed the wildlife, with a mindset as a wildlife sanctuary for all who want to come and partake. There are no fences, cages, pens or chains/ropes for the creatures, except fences around the vegetable gardens to keep hungry critters out. A 3.5 acre plot along the river is a pollinator plot with 16 different types of native wildflowers.
"There's always something to do on the farm." That's what my parents were frequently heard saying, when I was a boy. And that is true here today, at The Crossing.
Another of our larger scale harvestings is maple sap, about 3000 gallons of maple sap. Anytime after the middle of January, we'll be asking permission of the trees, one by one, as a tobacco blessing is placed at the base of each maple trunk that is tapped. From then through February, or most of it, the weather dictates sap flow and we follow the weather and collect sap for a few days. It is delightful and one of our very favorite seasons here. It is hard work, but invigorating and refreshing, as we watch and feel the early beginnings of spring while walking around in the sugarbush whenever the weather dictates, after it has warmed following a cold period.
So, there's a lot of good things going on and we are waiting for your help and enthusiasm to keep things flourishing here. We love creating and enjoying abundance. The more experience with gardening, among vegetable, fruit and flower, the more satisfaction you will enjoy. But, if you are new to these practices and want to learn and gain experience, that's great, too! We are really hopeful of finding farming and project help right away and for the coming seasons. Eager to hear from you. Larry and Helen
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Learning opportunities
Vegetable farming
Fruit or nut farming
Forestry
Wild foraging
Aromatic or medicinal plants, teas
Seed saving or production
Vegetable or fruit preservation
Bakery
Renewable energy production
Mechanics / tools / technology
Methods or systems
Biological pest control
Holistic management
Permaculture
Regenerative agriculture
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Self-sufficiency property
64.8
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160
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