 Tribal Extension agent builds "sweat lodge" greenhouse
At a time when most Extension agents are trying to get a handle on new technology, Wilbert Fish is looking to the past. Fish, an affliate MSU faculty member and the tribal Extension agent for Blackfeet Community College near Browning, teaches students the importance of using traditional methods to raise and harvest plants. He learned plant lore from his grandparents, and has been passing on this knowledge to students for the past 15 years. They learn, among other things, the healing properties of plants, how to make herbal preparations like tinctures and how to identify wild plants. To cultivate plants, Fish needed to start a nursery. One of the aspects of Indian-run greenhouses is respect for the land. This usually means growing plants organically, without the use of pesticides. This is certainly true in Fish's case, as he believes that the use of pesticides and chemicals have a direct correlation to the rise in diseases among native people. As a traditionalist with a deep connection to the land, Fish wanted a structure designed like a sweat lodge, an important spiritual place for native peoples. It also had to be able to withstand the temperature extremes and high winds of the nothern plains. After much searching, Fish found a company called Growing Space that could build the structure. Now, medicinal plants like comfrey, wild licorice, mints, cicily and echinacea thrive there. Culinary herbs like parsley, chives, basil and oregano are also grown. For forestry programs, Douglas fir, western larch, lodgepole pine and spruce seedlings are cultivated. Other plants include sweetgrass and buffalo grass. Vegetables like corn, cucumber, green beans and onions and hard-to-cultivate fruits like huckleberry round out flora. No chemicals are used - everything is grown organically. The greenhouse operation should be able to produce 100,000 plants, and plans are underway to build another 10 domes and 20 nurseries, which could eventually feed 8,000 people. Fish hopes to encourage tribal members to build greenhouses on their own land to have a plentiful supply of fresh produce. Funding for the project came from the National Park Service and the federal Bureau of Reclamation, as well as the Blackfeet Tribe, the Browning School District and Montana State University. --by Kent Goodman, MSU Communications Services
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