Bloomington's Parks and Recreation Department is asking for volunteers this Sunday, July 26, from 1 to 4 p.m., to help prep the ground for an Indigenous arboretum and botanical garden at Pond-Dakota Mission Park, 401 E. 104th St. The session opens with a presentation on soil quality, compaction, rock dust, soil amendments and water retention, followed by hands-on work: shoveling, hauling wheelbarrows and raking in soil amendments. Anyone can drop in for any part of the three-hour window, and organizers suggest bringing your own shovel or rake if you've got one.
The garden itself won't go in the ground until a planting date is announced later, but the project has been building since 2024, when the city and Bloomington Public Schools' American Indian Education Program began laying out a 30-foot circle near the center of the park for the arboretum. The effort is led by Cânté Sütá-Francis Bettelyoun, a Lakota expert in Indigenous plants, food ecosystems and land-based practices who previously directed the Native American Medicine Garden at the University of Minnesota's St. Paul campus. The goal, per the city, is a working demonstration garden of edible perennials native to Minnesota, many no longer common in the area, that teaches what the city calls "the important bidirectional relationship humans have with Mother Earth" through Indigenous, land-based practices.
Bettelyoun led a walking tour and vision session for the garden back in June, walking attendees through the planned plant layout, soil restoration and how to volunteer going forward. The city has framed the project as a year-round effort: planting in spring, tending and harvesting through summer, more harvesting and soil prep in fall, and storytelling and food preparation once winter sets in. There's no need to register for Sunday's session, and questions can go to the Parks and Recreation Department at 952-563-8877 or [email protected].
