Because of the distance of travel and the difficulty of getting fresh fruits and vegetables, a greenhouse is planned. This will make available to the Native Americans fresh vegetables in a more conveniently located area. Because of the high incidence of diabetes, being able to acquire fresh vegetables will help to promote more healthy eating habits and to ensure more nutritious food.

As one native man said to us recently, “finding a fresh crisp apple seems like finding a gold nugget.” With fresh foods over 100 miles in distance and most natives do not have vehicles this is a wonderful project that will bring blessings to many here on the reservation.

Design and greenhouse construction would be a great opportunity also to train Native American men and women to grow in their own greenhouses, which is something WAEM is planning in the near future to install small greenhouses to those who are trained.

We hope to begin work on the greenhouse in the summer of 2011.  We currently have an engineer working on design plans for a greenhouse that will work best for the South Dakota environment.