[Lapg] Pine Ridge permablitz - assistance requested

[Koreen Brennan]

We are on our yearly pilgrimage to Pine Ridge reservation to plant trees and other seeds and gardens of all kinds. We will be planting 500 windbreak trees (about 1/4 that are edible tilia - linden - trees) donated by National Wildlife Foundation, and up to 100 fruit and nut trees in 6-7 locations. We are headed up with two cars and eight people from Florida, graduates or future PDC students of ours and another graduate will be flying up. Pine Ridge is part of the free internship program we're providing to people who want more in depth experience. We also send people to other projects, and accept people from other areas. This is a 100% volunteer project, no one is getting paid. I've been doing this since 2009 and involved on the reservation since 2005. We are really excited to be working with this team that is going up;  lots of great skill sets amongst this crowd!  We have a Kickstarter campaign going that we wanted to let you know about - any amount
 really helps! We make it go very, very far. It took a long time for kickstarter to get us through the approval process which is why it's so last minute. 

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/892430421/permablitz-for-pine-ridge-reservation-2013


Many of the people on the rez have it rough. Their houses are often not insulated well; organic, fresh food can only be found in Rapid City which is 100 or more miles away for many on the rez; life span is only 49 years for Lakota male; diabetes and heart disease are epidemic with more than 1/2 adult Lakota with diabetes; unemployment is 80% or more; many other problems. But yet there are numerous positive things happening on the reservation and we are working to support those things and provide more energy to existing momentum there (working with what is there, rather than against it).  

We can use many tools, wheelbarrows, and other equipment for people who want to garden and plant fruit trees. There will be many who will learn during this process. We're taking up plants and cuttings, including aloe which people can put in their kitchens and can't be found locally, and perennial greens they can grow indoors and have some freshness even in winter. 

We are integrating systems wherever possible -we will be installing a couple of bee hives for a Lakota beekeeper and looking for numerous ways to integrate that, planting wind breaks around orchards, and taking many steps to create good soils that can support the life there very well, working with the characteristics of the land to create water capture in a number of ways.   

We'll be using a number of drylands water catchment techniques, working with every tool we can to capture water - one of the top reasons for tree failure there is drought and we want to create systems that can go in with watering by truck a few times per year so we can plant thousands of trees in a way that they will survive even if something happens sometimes and the truck does not make it. We have continued to interview orchardists and others who have experience with edibles in harsh environments - anybody that wants to share stories and data, we are grateful. We'd like to plant thousands of perennial edibles on the reservation over the next few years and then do it on other rez's, or help others to do it by sharing info, resources, etc. 

So please consider donating and sharing this with others who might be interested. $25 will sponsor a tree (and we'll let you know where we plant it), but any amount will be greatly appreciated and used well. 

We are taking donations of goods - we have listed our needs on our permablitz facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/groups/permablitzpineridge/doc/491988147514969/
We can always use native plant seeds and starts (though must be in season, or fall seeds are ok too), especially edibles. 

Address to mail stuff is: Ogalala-Lakota Cultural and Economic Revitilization Initaitive (or OLCERI), HC 66 Box 21
Chadron, NE 69337-9601. If you don't want to do Kickstarter but would still like to contribute, you can do so via our partner non-profit, Earth Learning at:  http://www.permacultureguild.us/category/donate/
 
Koreen Brennan

www.growpermaculture.com
www.facebook.com/growpermaculturenow
www.meetup.com/sustainable-urban-agriculture-coalition
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