Be nurtured and appreciated, help with gardening and food preservation in southern Indiana, USA

Details

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  Description

  [Update posted 032325] The place 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 place 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 place 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.
  
  Magaglihunnipi Wi - Moon When Geese Return (mid- April to mid-May)
  
  Spring is just starting to burst with life now. Redbud trees are blooming, followed by the dogwoods, and the landscape is covered with pink and white as their flowering periods overlap. Morel mushrooms and ramps are sneaking up, lending excitement to the menu. The work in the outside gardens takes center stage with tilling and planting. Berry canes are tended. Onion plants arrive and are set out. Vegetation is turning green and initial mowing begins, then continues for months. The 50% last frost date is at the end of April, beginning of May. Weather forecasts are closely watched for the possibility of setting out tomatoes and peppers. Green beans and cucumbers are planted. Potatoes are heeled into rows and mulched. Both summer squash and winter squash are planted. Asparagus is shooting up and going to the table daily. Wheat, sprouted from the straw mulch placed over the garlic planted last fall, have become weeds and are pulled out. Firewood is still being staged and burned to ward off the chill of the cool nights and mornings. Foraging of wild plants is worked into the schedule. Equipment repairs and building maintenance are ongoing. So much is going on during these exciting days.
  
  
  Ptehincala Sapi Wi - Moon When Calves Are Red (mid-May to mid-June)
  
  Asparagus is still going to the table. The crimson clover is in full bloom and the honey bees are loving it. Mamie's Garden is providing plenty of greens and the root crops, beets and carrots, etc., are digging in. Napa cabbage is filling out and daily weeding in Mamie's has been going on for some time. Now the weeds are starting to show in the green beans and cucumbers, and soon in the recently transplanted tomatoes and peppers. The large sunflower patch gets planted in the Polly Garden. Peanuts are planted. Tomatoes and cucumbers need to be trellised. Heat loving sweet potatoes get their slips transplanted. Okra seeds go into the ground. A big job we, and the butterflies, have come to love the results of is the planting of rows of zinnias alongside the onions. Weeds are coming up everywhere and have the stirrup hoes flying daily. Vegetation, fed by the spring rains, is taking over and the mowing intensifies. We start to set our sights on processing, as green beans ripen for canning and cucumbers plump up for pickling. Strawberries grace the table for shortcake and go to the freezer for winter enjoyment. Tomatoes start to vine up the trellises and must be trained. It is summer now, the solstice approaches and our world is fully alive and growing.
  
  
  Wipazuke Waste Wi - Moon When Berries Are Good (mid-June to mid-July)
  
  Tomatoes are growing tall, with training. Crimson clover and winter oats seeds are purchased for the upcoming summer planting of about 3 acres for the wildlife – feeding the deer throughout the fall and winter, then nurturing the honeybees in May, with nectar to take back to their hives. Summer squashes (zucchini, yellow crookneck and others) are going to the table. Companion plants, like nasturtiums and marigolds are beginning to bloom. Onions are pulled and put on shelves to cure, leaving the zinnias to flower for the butterflies. Early cantaloupes are ripening for the table. Tomatoes are enlarging and some early ones can be eaten fresh. Weeds are flourishing everywhere and stirrup hoes and hand pulling take a chunk out of each day. Asparagus is allowed to grow tall now, nurturing their roots for next year. Sunflowers are getting taller and early ones begin to bloom, attracting especially goldfinches. Groundhogs, raccoons and deer are eager to get inside the garden fences to savor the veggies they love. Only vigilance and hope can protect the crops. Processing includes many quarts of canned green beans and plenty of frozen berries and berries made into jams and jellies. Some community folks come over to harvest the 4000 garlic bulbs, which are bundled together in groups of 10 or 12 and hung in the rafters of the carport to cure. The varieties are Music, Rosewood, German and one found in a nearby roadside ditch by neighbors. That one we call Orange County and it has grown to be the most robust and as good a winter keeper as the other varieties. The folks who come to harvest the garlic in the summer and plant the garlic in the fall are assured of an adequate supply for their tables through winter.
  
  
  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.
  
  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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  Types of help and learning opportunities

  Charity Work

  Gardening

  DIY and building projects

  Farmstay help

  Creating/ Cooking family meals

  Help around the house

  General Maintenance

  Help with Computers/ Internet
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  UN sustainability goals this host is trying to achieve

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  What's this?
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  Cultural exchange and learning opportunities

  The description above includes much. In addition, we are deeply involved with several folks and organizations on reservations in South Dakota. We have been very supportive of the Indigenous ways and our brothers and sisters who are maintaining the old ways. Check out our FaceBook page: ask us for the link

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  Help

  Growing and foraging vegetables, fruits and medicinal plants and herbs are the focus, along with processing and preserving. Building and maintaining structures that support these activities are going on simultaneously. We eat a lot of our own more-than-organic veggies.

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  Languages spoken

  English: Fluent
  Spanish: Fluent

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  Accommodation

  Lodging is on the second floor of a passive solar, 70'x20' building. There is a complete kitchen (separate from that of our own residence), a basic bathroom that is clean and tidy, a sleeping room with 2 twin beds, and a community area with a futon and another twin bed. The kitchen is included in a large open community area for dining and relaxing. The is a large deck outside with clotheslines. A washing machine is in the rooms/shop below. There is a beautiful swimming pond, with a deck, located a few hundred feet up the hill.

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  What else ...

  Great if you have your own transportation. But, we have picked people up who travel by other modes. We love seeing the wildlife up close, so pets are discouraged.

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  A little more information

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    Internet access

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    Limited internet access

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    We have pets

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    We are smokers

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    Can host families

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  Can host digital nomads

  All have access to the large and comfy community area. There are two private rooms in the same building with the community area. The entire building has unlimited optic fiber with 50 mb up and down. There's a house phone available using VOIP through the optic fiber. Extended calls require scheduling in advance. If your personal communication devices allow, you may VOIP via WiFi.

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  Space for parking camper vans

  This host can provide space for campervans.

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  How many Workawayers can stay?

  More than two

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