On Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024, Winona State University hosted its first informative event of the month as a part of the five events hosted by Winona State during October to celebrate Indigenous Peoples’ Day. This event was funded by a grant awarded to Dr. Mary Jo Klinker by the Winona State Foundation, which brought Nicky Buck, a Bdewakantuwan Dakota, to the heart of campus in the Indigenous Learning Garden to speak about her connection to the plants in the garden and how they are used to heal people both medicinally and spiritually.
Before the event started, students aiding in organizing the event placed chairs in a circle around the center patch of Sweetgrass in the garden as it began to attract both students of Winona State and community members of the greater Winona area. Quickly, the chairs were filled while the crowd populated themselves in the winding pebble paths like weeds springing up for more sun and water.
The crowd began to quiet as Buck stepped into the Sweetgrass patch to sit down and begin her talk. Buck began to talk about her experiences with harvesting Sweetgrass. As she sat in the patch, she carefully took a handful of the strands of grass while splitting them into three sections to represent her parents and ancestors, the values of the Dakota people and the next generations. Buck then braided each section together, noting how they are now strong enough to not be separated from each other.
Buck then discussed how she always thanks the plants she works with and harvests to make sure she is able to best respect and honor the plants. She placed importance on understanding that to be able to heal ourselves we have to respect ourselves and the plants so we can grow a deep connection with the plants and land.
After answering a few questions, Buck then began to walk around the garden to talk about several of the plants and how she uses them as forms of medication and their cultural importance to her community. Buck detailed how it is important to remember that through gratitude and love we can be our own medicine with the help of what is around us.
Buck closed the event by advocating for the Indigenous Learning Garden to have a committee started around it for students to be compensated for caring and tending to the garden to keep the connection to the land, the plants and the community strong.
After the event, third-year student Laurel Clark commented about what new things she learned and how she would like to use the new information she learned about plants and their additional uses in the future.
“I enjoyed how Nicky talked about plants and land and how to be kind to the plants we interact with,” Clark said. “I would like to use plants more in the future to create plant-based remedies which would be healthy.”
Another third-year student and Turtle Island Student Organization member, Gabrielle Quigley noted that this event reminded her of what she has already learned about the plants mentioned in the garden as a Native student.
“I was reminded about being respectful to plants and land and how important it is to Native culture.” Quigley said. “I also felt like it came full circle for me because I already have knowledge of these plants.”
Through educating others on the plants in the campus’s Indigenous Learning Garden, Buck was able to touch and teach the community to heal themselves at the heart of the Winona State campus. Join the Turtle Island Student Organization for the last Indigenous Peoples’ Day event on Friday Oct. 18, 2024 at 3 pm for their Traditional Lacrosse Workshop on Phelps Lawn.
