By Ruth Hopkins for Indian Country Today - It’s time for the harvest. Traditionally, the Oceti Sakowin (Great Sioux Nation) are hunter gatherers. For generations, our children have gotten excited when the chokecherries turn black, because that meant they were ripe for picking. Buffaloberries and wild plums are ready when the chokecherries are. Wild strawberries and raspberries were ready a month previous, along with wild onions; prairie turnips (timpsila) were picked two months before that. The berries and plums can be eaten fresh picked, and are made into jams and jellies. Wojapiis a delicious dessert made from honey or sugar and berries, usually chokecherries. Chokecherries mixed with kidney fat and dried meat are also used to make wasna, ceremonial food. My father, who is a wild game hunter, loves pemmican. We gather first. Hunting will come in another month’s time. It’s time to pick medicine too. The prairie sage is tall. We start collecting sage and sweetgrass ahead of sundance, but we continue to collect enough to last us through the winter, which is well into March in the Dakotas. Do not pull them out by the root, and leave an offering along with a prayer of thanks for your bounty. There are many other Native plants that can be harvested and dried for medicine, like yarrow and purple coneflower. If you’ve never used these wild medicines before, I caution you against doing so unless you’re under the guidance of an elder, medicine person, or ethnobotanist. We like to pick from designated areas as well, as some plants have been exposed to manmade pollution and aren’t suitable for consumption.