My name is David Espinoza Jr. and I am a Sicangu Lakota from the Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota. I’m an enrolled member in the Rosebud Sioux Tribe. I am interning for a wild dude named Michael Prate. He’s a great mentor and co-worker. When we are working out in the garden I like to pick his brain on why we do what we do, the plants and many different weeds in the garden. Our garden is a fascinating place. It is just the right size to plant all of our vegetables and herbs. There are many different things that live in it, such as two chipmunks which we have named. Their names are Reginald and Larry. You can tell them apart because Reginald doesn’t have a tail. They live in harmony with the plants so we let them stay.
One thing I hope to learn through this internship is how to care for fruits and vegetables. I would like to have my own garden at my house so it would be cheaper for my family to eat healthier. While I work in the garden, I believe Mike will give me the knowledge to care for fruits and vegetables. I also want to be able to identify and prepare wild foods and herbs. So when I am hunting and walking throughout the prairie and mountains, I will be able to find edible plants I could take back to camp or even take back home. It would awesome harvesting wild foods I could cook with the deer and elk I shoot.
My friend and I getting soil (right) for the beds we made to plant (Left)
