Nueta Hidatsa Sahnish College (NHSC) in New Town has been awarded a two-year $100,00 grant to implement a food sovereignty virtual education program for the Fort Berthold community, according to the college.

“The grant is a $100,000 two-year grant sponsored by the American Indian College Fund,” said Lori Nelson, director of agriculture and land grants at the tribal college. “The goal of the new Food Sovereignty virtual community education program is to provide Fort Berthold community members with resources and education to produce their own food as well as to support healing and restoration of relationships with land, soil, plants, animals, self, and others through traditional and holistic ways of living and being.”

The grant is part of the American Indian College Fund’s Obdaya Opta Tate Kin Kah’boke (Winds Blowing Across the Prairie)” Tate Kin project. It will support the college’s existing Food Sovereignty program, which is primarily supported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The existing program also supports and provides education for community members who are interested in growing and preserving their own food. The program is a joint effort of NHSC’s Agriculture, Environmental Science and Native American Studies Departments.

“The newest funding from the American Indian College Fund will be used to create a virtual community education program for Food Sovereignty topics that will be hosted on a web-based platform,” said Nelson. “Topics will include organic and traditional gardening methods, contemporary and traditional food preservation, cooking, nutrition and wellness, and medicinal uses of plants and herbs. The virtual Food Sovereignty community education program is a response to the uncertainty about food and availability and the inability to have face-to-face community education caused by COVID-19. In order to continue to serve the Fort Berthold community adult-learners, we are increasing Food Sovereignty education while making it available to learners in a virtual format particularly important during COVID-19. The virtual format also allows for our more rural community members to access the same community education that those who lived in or closer to town were only able to access when workshops were only held in-person.”

Nelson said the virtual classes will include videos on organic and traditional gardening methods, cooking, contemporary and traditional food preservation, nutrition and wellness, and medicinal uses of food and herbs. Additional information will be provided on how to access local farmer’s markets, to help local community members create their own gardens, and will enable students to share information, stories, ideas, and successes in gardening on the college’s website.

The college also offers a for-credit traditional gardening course for students that is taught by Bernadine Young Bird. That course is required for tribal college students who are pursuing a bachelor’s or associate’s degree in Native American Studies.

Both Nelson and Ruth Plenty Sweetgrass-She Kills, director of the Native American Studies program at the college, said there has been a long tradition of gardening by members of the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara peoples that they hope to revitalize.

“Tribal food sovereignty also includes the farmers, wild-crafters, fishers, hunters, ranchers, and eater(s),” said Plenty Sweetgrass-She Kills. “It involves all aspects of our food systems and the decision-making that includes policies, strategies, and natural resource management. Through this work, we will strive to protect and sustain our tribal lands, waters, and natural resources that are vital to our tribal food systems and tribal food sovereignty. The Mandan, Hidatsa, Arikara Nation was a trade center partially because of our extensive garden produce. This is an example of our intact food and economic system. We envision our work as one way of positively impacting our food resources, our physical health, and our economic stability/independence.”

Nelson said the Three Affiliated Tribes grew large gardens in the bottomlands of the Missouri River, hunted and gathered wild foods. They raised huge crops of corn, squash, beans, and sunflowers, which are traditionally called the Four Sisters. The gardeners produced surplus crops, which women traded with other tribes.

However, in 1953, about 70 percent of the gardens and farmlands on the Fort Berthold reservation were flooded by the building of the Garrison Dam.

“Our vision is to begin healing and strengthening these relationships with the land,” said Nelson. “Our college values include things like being industrious, continuing to grow, having respect, our land, our language, and our collective future. The intent of this project is guided by these values. Through educating and empowering our community members, through building community and regional partnerships, we are strengthening our tribal food systems. We are potentially increasing the production and accessibility of local foods. We are also potentially increasing the accessibility of traditional foods, as well as foods that are traditionally gathered and prepared.”

Plenty Sweetgrass-She Kills added that culture and traditional languages will also be part of their work on the project and will help people to revitalize and reclaim their traditional lifeways.

The food sovereignty program is even more important now during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, which is the cause of food insecurity in communities on the reservation. The women believe that people’s attitudes will have changed even after there are fewer coronavirus cases and there will be more interest than ever in traditional ways.

Plenty Sweetgrass-She Kills said the college plans to work towards being self-sustaining with food and other products or using traditional trade systems for other items.

Jessica Uran, the college’s garden manager and local foods coordinator, will also be working on the project. The grant will partially fund one employee and also help support student internships at the college’s garden.