SGU Greenhouse partners with local Extension offices to emphasize sustainable living with gardening, food preservation workshops

By Sammie Bordeaux
Sinte Gleska University’s Greenhouse has undergone some transformation this year as tragic events forced the near closure of the Green house following the death of former Green house director, Kim Wilczinski. In the absence of a qualified director, University administrators feared they would have to close the Green house in early spring.
The Greenhouse has been an active force in the community for the past seven years, providing seedlings and trees to local gardeners and valuable research and science-demonstration opportunities for science instructors at the University.  Operated under a grant from the United States Department of Agriculture Extension Grants program, the Green house has been a boon to the community as focus on gardening, sustainable living and wellness has bloomed across the Rosebud.
Working with Wilzinski’s husband, Dave Weisser, the administration found Carmelita Sully, SGU Environmental Sciences major, to take over the management of the Green house temporarily. Sully says she is a veteran of gardening after years of living on the “Sully Farm and Ranch” in White River. Sully is the daughter of Claude and Rose Sully of Okreek Community, who together raised 14 children, partly by growing and raising their own food.  Sully’s hard work through the spring and summer brought the SGU Greenhouse one of its most productive and profitable growing seasons ever.
Gardening doesn’t just stop at planting and harvesting food, says Sully, who has a dual purpose of providing the tools and assistance to gardeners but also education in gardening, nutrition and wellness. She has coordinated with local Extension offices to provide canning and food dehydrating workshops for local people, providing all the materials needed for families to grow and preserve their own food to save money and live healthier lives. In June and July, Sully spent several days planting flowerbeds across the SGU Main Campus, both to advertise the services of the Greenhouse and to beautify the campus to make it a more welcoming environment for students, staff and community members and tourists who visit.
Sully worked with Donna Adrian, master gardener and extension agent from White River, to till and plant four community gardens in Antelope, St. Francis, Okreek and Parmelee. She also coordinates her efforts with Rachel Lindvall, Todd County Extension Agent, and Ann Schwader, Gregory County Extension Agent. Because SGU is a 1984 Land Grant Institution, South Dakota State University’s Extension Program has offered technical assistance to SGU. This comes in the form of help from local extension agents and the donation of another green house for the University to expand their gardening efforts.
 “We’re really interested in helping people get back to healthier living because we can’t always afford to buy what we need from the grocery store, and the food isn’t always what’s best for us either,” says Sully. The addition of local food and a beautiful campus addresses both the physical and mental health of local residents.
Sully has plans to offer more workshops on harvesting seeds, tree and shrub pruning and growing and harvesting traditional medicinal plants in the future. Sully also hopes to plant a garden at the University and preserve the food for use in the SGU Student Lounge for their lunch program. Far in the future, Sully would like to see a horticulture program at the University to further aid local people in sustainable living and education. “I’m learning a lot about lots of different plants, every day I’m learning more, like about what plants do well here and how to
The Green house hosted a Canning Workshop on August 12 at the SGU Multipurpose Building. Twenty participants learned how to preserve food in two ways, using a hot bath canner and using a pressure cooker. Participants learned about food safety as well. The workshop was presented by Ann Schwader, Gregory County Extenion Agent. Participants received a free hot bath canner, information on canning, and all the materials needed to can their own food from their gardens from the SGU Green house.
 A workshop on food dehydration using solar paneled food dehydrators built by Sully and Adrian and the Green house staff will be held August 19 at the SGU Multipurpose Building at 5:00 PM. A workshop on tree pruning will be held August 31 at the SGU Main Campus. For more information contact Carmelita Sully at the SGU Green house.
Greenhouse staff working with Sully are Brandy Guerue, Matthew Sully, Maria Valandra, and Ty Wilczinski.