May 2-4, 2025, 15 participants gathered at Lakota Youth Development (30122 352nd Ave, Herrick, SD 57538) for the Lakota Earthsong Ethnobotanical Workshop. Funded by the USDA: NCR Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) Grant, this event was part of a pilot project aimed at developing an ethnobotanical curriculum specific to a four-state area in the North Central Region. The workshop bridged Lakota traditional knowledge with ethnobotanical studies, emphasizing the importance of cultural wisdom in sustainable farming practices.

Congratulations! Today is your day. You're off to Great Places! You're off and away! You have brains in your head.

A colleague shared a podcast with me a couple of weeks ago that spoke about “high-functioning codependency.” Before you write this off thinking you are not involved with an alcoholic, an addict, or an enabled person, I encourage you to open your mind to an aspect of codependency this podcast helped me to consider in a new way.

Often your tasks will be many, And more than you think you can do. Often the road will be rugged And the hills insurmountable, too.

May 12, 2025 - For the week ending May 11, 2025, there were 6.7 days suitable for fieldwork, according to the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service. Topsoil moisture supplies rated 24% very short, 42% short, 33% adequate, and 1% surplus. Subsoil moisture supplies rated 30% very short, 44% short, 25% adequate, and 1% surplus.

Defined by the 3rd Edition of the Holistic Management Handbook, drought is simply a “Departure from Normal.” Yet, in the same conversation we might not agree on what is considered “normal.” How do extremes in temperature affect ranching and through management are you doing something about it? It is common knowledge that after the dry period of the drought year, there will be less vegetative cover, late summer and fall. What isn’t so common knowledge is after a significant multimonth drought year, it is years 2 and 3 which have less cover even if precipitation returns to normal. In sandy soil rangeland there could be a 20% reduction in cover and in loamy – clayey soil rangeland there could be an 8% reduction in vegetative cover.