Today, we had the extreme pleasure of spending the morning with David Johnson on his land outside of Sioux Falls, South Dakota. After the politically-charged conversation of the night before, we spent the early morning chatting lightly at the sunny breakfast table with a feast of pancakes, which David, Chris and Dana flipped on the wood stove in the kitchen. There were also sourdough blue corn pancakes, accompanied by a warning from David that only a tough stomach would be able to handle the good bacteria and enzymes from the natural fermentation process. Claudette Weber from Sioux city joined us for breakfast, which also included fresh sausage patties and bacon from his own livestock. It was suggested that we each put massive amounts of butter on our pancakes, as David has recently begun eating according to the diet suggested by Sally Fallon, which includes a return to saturated fats, raw milk, fresh vegetables, and omega-3 fatty acids.
After breakfast, the whole troupe suited up for a tour of David’s farm, which includes a total of about 280 acres of freshly snowed-upon land. We visited his pigs and saw some of his year-old cattle, of which he has about 100 head, who roam around a variety of pastures throughout the year. Around the corner lay a bizarre contraption, which turned out to be a homemade tractor built from a truck frame, which Dave uses all over his farm. Then, the fun began. We tromped through the snow, sometimes two and a half feet deep, and hiked all over his fields and pastures. Every few hundred feet, we had to jump live electric fence before sinking back down into the drifts. We hiked to the top of the hill on his land, through soybean and corn stalks, where we turned and looked out at the vast and beautiful land below us. A massive flock of red-winged blackbirds who enjoy the rare patch of trees by Dave’s house rose from the trees in sync and danced through the sky, singing away. At the top of the hill, the wind was strong, and we discussed the potential for a wind turbine on the land. Dave also pointed out the gravel pit on his land, which he is trying to excavate as cleanly as possible, keeping open the possibility of re-filling the pit with its original top-soil for future replanting. We hiked back, on the way picking up glacially deposited pipestone, a soft red rock often used for carving pipes and other crafts in the area.
Before heading out, we loaded the van with 90 pounds of ground beef. David had made a donation to a Boys and Girls Club in Pine Ridge, where we happened to be heading next, so we temporarily became the Carleton Ground Beef Delivery Crew. With meat in our trunk and fresh air in our lungs, we took off westward to Pine Ridge.
When you cross the Missouri River, the drab and insanely flat and boring fields shift suddenly to beautiful hills and rock outcrops. It flattens out again after that, until the amazing Badlands rise out of the land. We drove through the northeast corner of Badlands National Park at sunset, stopping for a walk in this most strikingly incredible of regions. We arrived at the isolated red-log cabin home of Nick Tilsen and were greeted by two beautiful Huskies, Sheila and Fat Girl, and a wonderful 6-year old girl, Brisa. The rest of the clan was still out, but later we would meet the crew: Nick, 22, the head of the Lakota Action Network (www.LakotaAction.net); Mark, 21, Nick’s brother and a jail guard; Kim, their sister, who works for a Lakota non-profit organization providing assistance to small business owners; Holyoke; Nick’s girlfriend and Brisa’s mother, who lives in Rapid City;…etc. They are a young, extremely hospitable and lively bunch, and all are all passionate and active believers in traditional Lakota spirituality.
When Nick returned home from the night’s sweat lodge, we immediately engaged in an avid story-telling/question and answer session focused mostly on the 1890 and 1973 Wounded Knee incidents. Nick pulled out Voices from Wounded Knee: 1973, a detailed written and photographic account of the 1970’s violence on the reservation. He and Holyoke pointed out pictures of their grandparents and of local political and traditional leaders who were actively involved in the intra-tribal conflicts that erupted during that extreme era. They recounted incredible stories of the fights between the people of the American Indian Movement and the Guardians of the Oglala Nation (GOONs). After a long discussion, we collapsed exhausted into the comfortable and inviting home of these wonderful people.
Our culture is really strong. It’s all we have. It’s not a culture, really, or a religion—it’s a way of life.
