In today's episode, Matte talks Deanna Eaglefeather, a member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe who lives with her husband and four kids on a homesite east of Mission, SD on the Rosebud Reservation. Deanna shares how and why she made her way home to Rosebud after growing up in the Twin Cities, how she became interested in food sovereignty, growing food, and harvesting the wild foods of the prairie, some of her family's future plans for their homesite, and some tips for tapping boxelder (a species of maple) trees for sap to make syrup right here on the prairie.

Full episode transcription available here.

Enjoy listening to Food Revolution? Consider donating to the Sicangu Food Sovereignty Initiative to help us in our mission to build food sovereignty and a local foods economy to empower our tribal community through food! Donations are 501(c)3 tax deductible.

Website: www.sicangucdc.org

Facebook: Sicangu Community Development Corporation

Instagram: @sicangucdc

Twitter: @sicangucdc

TikTok: @sicangucdc

(Intro) 00:00:00 Hau Mitakuyapi, and welcome to Food Revolution, brought to you by the Sicangu Food Sovereignty Initiative. Every other week, we'll be bringing you stories of food sovereignty from community members and tribal food producers working to build a more just, equitable, and regenerative food system for the Sicangu Lakota Oyate - the Burnt Thigh Nation. Together, we're building tribal sovereignty through food, and we've set a place at the table just for you. Join us and be part of the Food Revolution.

(Matte) 00:00:29 Hey everyone. This is Matte Wilson. Today we'll be talking to Deanna Eaglefeather about the path she and her family have taken to practice food sovereignty in their everyday lives. Later on in the episode, Dee is going to talk about tapping boxelder trees to make syrup, and walk us through that process a little bit. This episode was recorded in advance, so we wanted to let you know that the best time to tap trees for sap is in late February or early March, when the temperatures are above freezing during the day and below freezing at night.

While you're listening, we have a favor to ask. The Food Sovereignty Initiative is currently doing surveys to help us understand the experience our community members have around food, so that we can work towards building a more inclusive and equitable food system where everyone has access to healthy, fresh, local foods. Respondents will be entered into a drawing for cash prizes, with the chance to win up to $500. If you're interested, head over to our Facebook page, Sicangu Community Development Corporation, for more information and to access the survey. And now, back to the show.

(Survey available here. Please only complete it if you live on or within 30 miles of the Rosebud Reservation.)

(Matte) 00:01:30 Dee, wanna introduce yourself? Tell us a bit about your background, how you came to be living on Rosebud?

(Deanna) My name is Deanna Eaglefeather