 Started in 1999, the Winyan Toka Win (Leading Lady) Garden serves as a beacon of hope on the Cheyenne River Sioux Indian Reservation.
This active classroom at the Cheyenne River Youth Project® is a 2-acre organic garden outside of the Billy Mills Youth Center and the Cokata Wiconi Teen Center.
If it takes a village to raise a child, then it takes a community to tend the garden.
In the garden, community members and volunteers work with the children to teach them:
• traditional gardening methods
• repect for the land
• the importance of a healthy diet
The garden is named Winyan Toka Win, Lakota for “Leading Lady”, after the community elder, Iyonne Garreau, who inspired the garden. Learn more about Iyonne and her devotion to the Cheyenne River community in Stories from the Field.
Everything produced from the garden is shared between the Cheyenne River Youth Project®, the local elderly nutrition center, other community organizations, and Cheyenne River families.
Produce grown in the garden includes:
• vegetables such as corn, peppers, and squash
• fruit such as melons and berries
• staples such as beans, carrots, and beets
• hard to find produce such as turnips, onions, and greens.
 The children at the Cheyenne River Youth Project® are involved in every aspect of the garden from planting and weeding to watering and harvesting. They also participate in weekly classes addressing various topics, such as proper techniques and traditional agricultural methods.
For the past two years, the program has incorporated a native practice called “Three Sisters Planting” (corn, beans, squash) into the garden layout. This method not only prevents soil depletion, but also improves nutrient content, which is part of the practice of sustainable farming.
The Children's Garden has been nominated for several awards and has recently won the Garden Supply Company’s Garden Crusaders Award of 2005-2006.
READ ABOUT THE WINYAN TOKA WIN GARDEN IN INDIAN COUNTRY TODAY.
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