Roots, relatives, and remembrance: Reawakening the Native American Medicine Garden
June 3, 2026
Underneath a softly clouded sky, a breeze steeped in memory swept across the University of Minnesota Twin Cities campus in St. Paul on the warm spring morning of May 30, 2026, connecting the present moment to generations past. The air carried a tangible sense of anticipation. After lying dormant for about five years, a plot of rich, beautiful soil on the field across from the Bell Museum was prepared once again to welcome life. Tribal elders, representatives from the Minnesota Indian Affairs Council (MIAC) University leaders, and community members gathered with a shared purpose: the long-awaited Reawakening of the Native American Medicine Garden.
The atmosphere was both reverent and deeply joyful, anchored by a profound connection to the land. The University of Minnesota Twin Cities is built within the traditional homelands of the Dakota people. For the University community, the garden serves as a living acknowledgment that words are not enough, highlighting the institutional responsibility to provide support, resources, and programs that increase access to higher education for American Indian students, staff, faculty, and community members. By honoring the peoples on whose land they live, learn, and work, the University seeks to actively strengthen its relations with tribal nations.
Brandon Alkire, interim executive director at MIAC, opened the ceremony by noting that this reawakening was a meaningful milestone, two years in the making. He expressed that by putting medicine back into the ground, the community was giving thanks to the ancestors who guided them to this moment. Jennifer Garbow, the Tribal Engagement Outreach Liaison for the College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences (CFANS), spoke about the deep importance of this work for Dakota relatives, emphasizing that the plants themselves are viewed as vital relatives in Indigenous traditions.
The spirit of family and heritage was beautifully represented by Minnesota State Senator Mary Kunesh, a Standing Rock Lakota descendant, who attended alongside her two granddaughters. She shared memories of growing up in central Minnesota within a family of thirteen, where gardening and the land held deep cultural importance, as they raised much of their own food. Senator Kunesh also shared how meaningful it was to see the University of Minnesota actively partnering with the tribes on this sacred space.
The collaboration across campus was further highlighted by CFANS Dean Brian Buhr, who noted that the garden connects beautifully with ongoing work at the Bell Museum to recognize Indigenous heritage. He also mentioned that the Department of Food Science and Nutrition supports these initiatives through its Native Nutrition Program. Before the planting began, Wendy Spry, the Tribal Relations Director for the Minnesota Department of Corrections, offered a poignant reminder of the garden's broader impact. She explained that the fruits grown in this soil will be shared with incarcerated Indigenous relatives, affirming that culture itself serves as a vital form of medicine.
When it came time to return life to the earth, Dean Buhr had the honor of planting the very first seedling, carefully placing corn into the soil. Attendees and elders stayed to help work the ground, planting the sacred Three Sisters — corn, beans, and squash — alongside sage and tobacco. Hand in hand, the community turned the rich earth, ensuring that the Native American Medicine Garden would flourish once more as a place of healing, education, and enduring connection for generations to come.
