Culturally Important Plants
And North Dakota’s Native American Essential Understandings
- Gain an understanding of Indigenous views of the natural world.
- Learn how to incorporate North Dakota Native American Essential Understandings into classrooms, curriculum, or family learning.
- Learn simple and effective strategies to incorporate Native American food and medicine into your life.
Join us each week in these hands-on workshops! Learn simple and effective strategies to incorporate Native American food and medicine into your life. Linda will lead each lesson to help participants gain an understanding of Indigenous views of the natural world. Participants can incorporate North Dakota Native American Essential Understandings into classrooms, curriculum, or family learning.
The workshop is FREE and open to the public!
Course Dates
Wednesdays 4:00-5:00 pm CST via Zoom
- Start Date: Wednesday, March 31st 2021
- End Date: Wednesday, May 12th 2021
- Final deadline to apply for CEU and stipend: Monday, May 31st 2021
Continuing Education Opportunity
1 CEU credit available by:
- Filling out CEU registration prior to workshop
- Participating in all 7 workshops (live or recorded)
- Completing assignments for each workshop
- Submitting final CEU evaluation
CEU applicants may be eligible for a stipend upon completion of all CEU requirements.
Each Week:
Join Linda live on Zoom, or watch the Zoom recordings at a later date.*
To complete the lesson and further your learning (required to earn CEU):
- Read a page from the ND Native American
Essential Understandings - Watch Two Elder interviews related to the
weekly theme - Fill out the weekly reflection
form*
*Zoom recordings and weekly reflection links will be uploaded every
Thursday.
General Resources
Pre-Workshop Background Information
At any time prior to the workshop, please read pages 1-3 of ND Essential Understandings. You may also want to view the
ND Native American Essential Understandings promo video.
Workshop Theme
Assignments
March 31, 2021 – Get to Know Your Plant Relatives
This workshop will feature tips for creating beneficial relationships with plants. Specifically, you will learn about
10 common plants, how to identify, harvest, prepare, and preserve them in a respectful and sustainable way. You’ll
never look at the “weeds” in your yard in quite the same way!
Activity: Making chickweed oil
Read pg. 4 of ND Essential Understandings
Choose and Watch two Elder interview clips on Sacred Relatives
April 7, 2021 – Plant Stories
Just as every person we meet has a story to tell, so do the plant nations. If we listen closely, plants will tell us
stories about their medicinal properties, methods for optimal harvesting, or sometimes the plants just want to reveal
fun facts about their place in the natural world. Join us for this fun workshop in which we tell the stories of five
amazing plants and how those stories tell us about our own place in the world.
Activity: Cooking with thínpsinla (prairie turnips)
Read pg. 5 of ND Essential Understandings
Choose and Watch two Elder interview clips on Learning and Storytelling
April 14, 2021 – Gifting Plants
There’s nothing more soothing and relaxing than a cup of tea in hand or an herbal sachet under your pillow. This
workshop with teach you how to make items for a simple herbal gift basket to promote wellness among all of your
friends and family.
Activity: Tea bags, infused honey, salt and sugar scrubs, herbal sachets
Read pg. 6 of ND Essential Understandings
Choose and Watch two Elder interview clips on Sharing and Generosity
April 21, 2021 – Planting Happiness
In a world filled with anger and division, it is difficult to maintain a sense of humor. But laughter and joy are
essential to our wellbeing and the overall wellness of our communities. Join us as we explore plants that heal us from
the inside out.
Activity: Growing Thyme
Read pg. 7 of ND Essential Understandings
Choose and Watch two Elder interview clips on Sense of Humor
April 28, 2021 – Foraging Respectfully
Wild foods and medicines are quickly gaining popularity in the United States and beyond. But how do we gather,
forage, and harvest with respect to the land, the plants, and the original peoples of this land? Join us as we discuss
protocols and tips for being a good ally on treaty lands.
Activity: Plant Walk
Read pg. 8 of ND Essential Understandings
Choose and Watch two Elder interview clips on Tribal Policies, Treaties, and Sovereignty
May 5, 2021 – Food Origins
Most of the world’s food supply has its origins in Indigenous knowledge and agriculture. Would it surprise you to
learn that there would be no Swiss Chocolate, no Italian Tomato Sauce, no spicy Sriracha, no corn, potatoes, avocadoes
or pineapples …without the contributions of Indigenous peoples?
Activity: Making Medicine Soup
Read pg. 9 of ND Essential Understandings
Choose and Watch two Elder interview clips on Native Contributions
May 12, 2021 – Native Identity
“You’re Not Home If You Don’t Recognize the Plants” Just as there is no “universal culture,” there is no universal
plant knowledge, and uses of plants vary from region to region and nation to nation. There is nothing generic about
sacred plant knowledge. In this workshop, we will discuss ways to honor these differences by discussing traditional
plant names of various North Dakota tribes (Lakota, Nueta, Hidatsa, Sahnish, and Ojibwe) and how Indigenous languages
inform our relationships with plants.
Activity: Making wóžapi (berry pudding)
Read pg. 10 of ND Essential Understandings
Choose and Watch two Elder interview clips on Native Identity
Complete your CEU credit
Earn your CEU credit by filling out the final evaluation form below. For the credit to register, you must have each
week’s reflection completed prior to filling out the form. Thank you for participating!
Linda Black Elk
Linda Black Elk is an ethnobotanist, ecologist, and activist specializing in teaching about culturally important plants and their uses as food, medicine, and materials. Linda works to build hands-on curriculum and ways of thinking that will promote and protect food sovereignty, traditional plant knowledge, and environmental quality. She has conducted significant research in plant medicinal compounds, and sits on various boards and committees involving the intersection of Native and Western Science. Linda has written for numerous publications, and is the author of “Watoto Unyutapi”, a field guide to edible wild plants of the Dakota people. She is the mother to three Lakota boys and serves as the Food Sovereignty Coordinator at United Tribes Technical College.
This workshop series is co-hosted by UTTC’s Land Grant Department
and the Intertribal Research and Resource Center.
