Wild & Indigenous Foods with Akaya (Amanda) Ruiz, Bringing the Sacred Back to the Black Hills HeSapa

Kristine Reiner October 20, 2024 No Comments

Wild & Indigenous Foods with Akaya (Amanda) Ruiz, Bringing the Sacred Back to the Black Hills HeSapa

Environmental Members of Our Community

Saturday, November 9th, 2024 – 10:30am MT in the Stanford Adelstein Gallery

Interactive learning about wild & indigenous foods from Akaya (Amanda) Ruiz, that can be foraged throughout the HeSapa (Black Hills) and prairies of Western South Dakota. Come explore your senses as you learn plant identity through touch & smell at my interactive booth.

Akaya (Amanda) Ruiz is currently a PhD student at SDSU. She recently earned her Master’s Degree in Plant Sciences and is an alumni of Oglala Lakota College where she earned a dual degree (Bachelors of Science in Natural Science and an Associates Degree in Lakota Studies) during the global pandemic.

Amanda has earned an array of certifications, awards and accomplishments both internally and among Indigenous national conferences. Amanda is deeply rooted in her passion for serving the He Sapa (Black Hills) community, and has been involved in youth education for almost her entire life (but we won’t publicly age her!) Her braided background in STEM, community gardens, youth education and enhancing local food security systems through culturally significant plants has led to a vast array of internships at NASA, USDA-ARS and things she had to practice annunciating.

She currently serves as the Vice President of The Bringing the Sacred Back to the Black Hills HeSapa and volunteers on the Black Hills Region Youth and Family Services (YFS) Garden planning committee. Her current passion project is designing an Indigenous youth demonstration and education memorial garden.

Reducing Tillage on SD Vegetable Farms: What Have We Learned From The Research?

Kristine Reiner October 20, 2024 No Comments

SARE Panel: Reducing Tillage on SD Vegetable Farms: What Have We Learned From The Research?

Cultivating: Building Markets with Community in Mind

Saturday, November 9th, 2024 10:30am – 11:30am MT – Wells Fargo Theater

Join SD farmers and SDSU students as they discuss on-farm research trials related to reducing tillage and incorporating cover crops for vegetable production.

This session will celebrate collaboration by highlighting how farmers and universities can work together to explore research questions, learn new ideas, and support innovation. The farmer presenters will share eastern and western SD production challenges and opportunities, and the students will dig into the data. Come ready to ask questions and bring home ideas for research trials on your farm! Panelists include: Kristine Lang, SDSU Extension; Michelle Grosek, Bear Butte Gardens; Kjersten Oudman, Blue Sky Vegetable Co.; Connor Ruen & Hannah Voye, SDSU Graduate Research Assistants

Kristine Lang is a South Dakota State University Assistant Professor and Extension Consumer Horticulture Specialist based in Brookings, SD. She holds a Ph.D. in Horticulture and Sustainable Agriculture from Iowa State University. Her horticultural career has included working in private-sector, university, and nonprofit organizations across four Midwestern states.

Michelle Grosek grows certified organic vegetables at Bear Butte Gardens, 5 miles outside of Sturgis, SD. A combination of high tunnel growing, and outside garden growing is utilized to grow a full variety of vegetables for CSA, an on-farm year-round store, and local chefs and small restaurants.

Kjersten Oudman cultivates plants and community at Blue Sky Vegetable Co. in Worthing, SD. Blue Sky Vegetable Co. is a Community Supported Agriculture farm focused on providing their farm share members with delicious vegetables and a connection to each other and the farm. When not farming, Kjersten and her husband, Dirk, spend their time chasing their two energetic kids and a lovable black lab who never tires of playing fetch.

Hannah Voye is in her second year pursuing a Master of Plant Science at South Dakota State University. Originally from Wisconsin, she studied Horticulture with an emphasis in sustainable fruit and vegetable systems at the University of Wisconsin – River Falls. Since arriving in South Dakota, Hannah has loved learning from and collaborating with growers through the SARE funded Soil Tarping Project.

Connor Ruen is a SE Minnesota native and moved to Brookings, SD to attend South Dakota State University to earn a bachelor’s degree in agronomy and minors in horticulture, soil science, and crop protection. He is currently a second-year plant science graduate student, focusing on the effects of clover living mulch and tillage practices on soil health, weed suppression, and the yield of broccolini. His research aims to help farmers improve their efficiency and improve their soil health.

Cultivating Community Through Agritourism: Is it the right step for you?

Kristine Reiner October 16, 2024 No Comments

Cultivating Community through Agritourism: Is it the right step for you? By Nancy Kirstein, The Good Earth Farm & Peggy Schlechter, SDSU Community Vitality

Cultivating: Building Markets with Community in Mind

Friday, November 8th, 2024 – 2:30pm MT – Wells Fargo Theater

Join Peggy and Nancy for an engaging panel discussion exploring the vibrant world of agritourism, where agriculture meets adventure! Peggy will delve into the myriad ways agritourism is transforming rural economies and enhancing community connections. Nancy will discuss her experience in transforming her farm in eastern South Dakota into an agritourism operation.

Nancy Kirstein is the owner of The Good Earth Farm in Lennox, SD. Nancy is a former English teacher turned vegetable farmer, event planner, and animal sanctuary executive director.

Learn More

For the past 13 years with SDSU Extension, Peggy has focused on entrepreneurship and agritourism as well as other community programs such as grant writing workshops, strategic planning sessions and the Marketing Hometown America program. She grew up on a ranch in central South Dakota and now makes a ranch north of Rapid City her home. Peggy possesses both a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in education from SDSU. Peggy loves small towns and rural life in South Dakota and promotes South Dakota every chance she gets.

Dakota Food Rx: Connecting Local Foods and Healthcare Using Produce Prescriptions

Kristine Reiner October 16, 2024 No Comments

Dakota Food Rx: Connecting Local Foods and Healthcare Using Produce Prescriptions by Geb Bastian, SDSU Extension & Jared Lukens-Black, Budding Moon Farm

Connections Across the Generations


Saturday, November 9th, 10:30am MT – The Joe Rovere Minnilusa Pioneer Room

Imagine going to your doctor and instead of getting a prescription for a medication, you get a prescription for fresh fruits and vegetables! For more and more South Dakotans with low income and dealing with diet-related chronic conditions, this dream is becoming a reality through produce prescription programs.

Join Geb and Jared as they discuss how the Budding Moon Farm Veggie Rx program has expanded into the larger Dakota Food Rx program, and how local producers and healthcare providers have come together to improve healthcare outcomes through the power of local foods.

Rx Program

Geb Bastian is an assistant professor and extension nutrition & health specialist at South Dakota State University. His research and extension outreach aim to bolster local food systems and improve access to healthy foods for all South Dakotans. Geb is the principal investigator of Dakota Food Rx, an expansion of the Veggie Rx program originally started at Budding Moon Farm.

Budding Moon Farm Info

Jared has been operating Budding Moon Farm – a mixed vegetable farm distributing through a sliding-scale CSA and Prescription Produce Program – since 2018 in Spearfish, SD. Before learning vegetable production from a number of farms in the Pacific Northwest, Jared was a middle school teacher in Minneapolis and Saint Paul, MN. The goal of Budding Moon Farm is to implement innovative programs that increase nutrition security in the community, while also supporting a healthy ecosystem and maintaining financial viability. Jared continues this work beyond the borders of South Dakota by collaborating with the Fair Share CSA Coalition and CSA Innovation Network on improving equitable access to healthy food.

SARE Panel: SOYL (Sowing Opportunities for Youth Leadership) Sustainable Agriculture Project

Kristine Reiner October 7, 2024 No Comments

Connections Across the Generations

Friday, November 8th, 2024 – 9:00am MT – The Joe Rovere | Minnilusa Pioneer Room

SARE Panel: SOYL (Sowing Opportunities for Youth Leadership) Sustainable Agriculture Project

SOYL (Sowing Opportunities for Youth Leadership) Sustainable Agriculture Project

SOYL is a Sustainable Agriculture Research & Education (SARE)-funded project for youth in YFS’ Middle School Program. Participants studied sustainable agriculture through a series of class activities and field trips to local farms and ranches. The final project activity was to showcase their learning by teaching their younger peers at YFS’ Girls Inc. about a sustainable agriculture practice of their choice.

  • Youth Led Sustainable and Ethical Beekeeping
    • Marla BullBear, Lakota Youth Development
      • Marla C. Bull Bear, M.A. is Sicangu (Burnt Thigh) Lakota, a wife of Naca Charles W. BullBear, mother and grandmother and has been sharing traditional knowledge with youth for over 30 years. Mrs. Bull Bear, founding Executive Director of Lakota Youth Development (LYD) received her Master’s in Community Counseling from a tribal university located on the Rosebud Reservation Her passion is the work of Lakota Youth Development and its culturally specific prevention program, teaching self-sufficiency with land stewardship and youth development through Lakota language immersion, apprenticeships in bee keeping and cultural heritage tourism enterprises
  • SOYL (Sowing Opportunities for Youth Leadership) Sustainable Agriculture Project
    • Sharon Oney & Destiny Durham, Youth & Family Services
      • Sharon Oney is Chief Grants Officer and Garden Project Director at Youth & Family Services, Inc. (YFS) in Rapid City who is an enthusiastic gardener and beekeeper with a consuming interest in healthy foods. Destiny Durham has a degree in Environmental Physical Science from BHSU and has shared garden education activities with hundreds of kids, pre-K – 8th grade, at YFS for nearly two years. She has a passion for stewardship of the land and enjoys sharing her passion with others.
  • Multi-state safe and humane shearing workshops
    • Jaelyn Whaley, SDSU Extension
      • Jaelyn Whaley has served SD as the Sheep Field Specialist for 4 years in Lemmon. She grew up raising sheep and cattle and throughout graduate school, helped coach wool judging. Her passion for both lamb and wool production continues through her extension efforts.