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5/21/25
We are pleased to announce that Longshadows Ranch has received a $20,000 grant from the Carolyn Watson Rural Oklahoma Community Foundation Fund to support our Grow Oklahoma! program. We train individuals ages 14-30 how to use small to medium sized land parcels to generate food, herbs, small livestock, bees and associated products through regenerative and sustainable agriculture according to traditional Cherokee lifeways.
We’re honored to continue preserving valuable cultural knowledge while providing practical skills for young people in rural Oklahoma.
Oklahoma City Community Foundation
This grant allows us to get started with 8 people, and as we acquire more funding we will expand to 25 participants. This program runs June 1, 2025 through May 31, 2026. Our focus is teaching restorative, regenerative and sustainable agriculture that allows people to create sustainable lifestyle. Participants earn $10/hr.
Grow Oklahoma! is a 1-year program conducted by Longshadows Ranch that teaches youth and young adults ages 14-30 how to engage in sustainable and profitable agricultural practices. Participants learn how to use small to medium sized land parcels to generate food, herbs, small livestock, bees and associated products through regenerative and sustainable agricultural methods according to traditional Cherokee lifeways. The ultimate goal is to help this demographic develop self-sufficiency and economic independence.
Grow Oklahoma! is in its third year. Upcoming milestones include expanding livestock to include sheep, increasing the existing food growing area, and acquiring additional tools and equipment such as a tractor, wood chipper and related items.
This program is critically important to rural Oklahoma citizens in our community where food security is threatened, jobs are difficult to come by and training for owning and managing land for profitability in sustainable ways is not well understood.
The ideal demographic is teenagers, young adults and young families in under-served communities interested in becoming self-sufficient and providing not only for themselves but supplementing their community resources as well. Ideally, the population that engages in this project is looking to become economically stable, self-sufficient with limited resources and be interested in learning and preserving Cherokee lifeways.
We accomplish our goals using a staggered work week with 5 individuals per day.
(June 2025) Soil amendments, planting of various seasonal crops, harvesting and preserving spring crops, setting up sheep portable enclosures and learning the basics of the animals needs, trenching water to food areas. Incubating and hatching fowl. Building commences on an additional animal shelter. Basket weaving session for participants and community. Incubating and hatching fowl.
(July 2025) Food plot work, persimmon tree removal (invasive growth) which will be potted to sell/donate to the community, foraging of wild edibles, medicinal and textile plants, harvesting. Building continues. Water trenching continues. Beading session for participants and community.
(Aug 2025) Fence work: repair and cross fencing. Felling trees, chopping and preserving wood. Building and water trenching continues. Food plot work continues including composting and feeding, rotating crops. Harvesting and preserving. Bee keeping session. Foraging continues. Butchering fowl includes a workshop for community. Incubating and hatching fowl.
(Sept 2025) Harvesting, preserving, packaging. Market training. Smoking foods. Breeding animals for late fall delivery (rabbits). Building PVC animal tractors to house new animals. Fishing and food preserving (smoking and drying). Building continues. Water trenching complete with drip system. Butchering and preserving pigs from April.
(Oct 2025) Seed harvesting and packaging, includes a community workshop. Composting. Wood chipping for mulch. Plant harvesting and preserving. Drying medicinal plants for storage. Elder workshop on the historical use of various plants as medicine. Building continues. Hunting training begins. Fishing continues. Incubating and hatching fowl. Stickball.
(Nov 2025) Hunting, Building, Fishing, Harvesting, Fences continue. Seed harvesting and preserving continues. Food perseveration continues. Participants begin to lead community workshops. Bees! Preparing hives for winter, harvesting honey responsibly, swarm collection, bee hive building. Infusing oils to make medicinal salves in the winter. Building complete. Fences complete. Medicinal salves workshop which includes elders (Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw) to share their wisdom.
(Dec 2025) Business classes and marketing during inclement weather. Harvesting, preserving, hunting and fishing continue. Preparing animals for cold weather – cold proofing coops, deep hay method, mulching perennials in food plot. Planting winter crops. Feeding and composting in beds that will lie fallow. Introducing new fowl that hatch ed earlier into flocks. Foraging. Pruning trees and other food producing crops like grapes. Pruning is a community workshop.
(Jan 2026) Setting up seedlings for spring planting. Turning and feeding soil. Business and marketing classes during inclement weather. Bread making. Cheese making. Herbal medicines preparation. Bookkeeping and basic accounting. Introducing participants to market hub presidents so they will have an outlet for what they produce over the next year. Visiting participants plots and land to mentor and troubleshoot. Rotating livestock through pastures.
(Feb 2026) Pruning of plants. Introducing pigs (2) for a late fall harvest (Sept). Pasture work including planting clover, peas and other nitrogen fixing plants. First rabbit breeding of year. Business and marketing. Community presentations. Getting prepared for markets opening. Building rock walls around beds with locally sources clay and sand. Maple tree tapping.
(Mar 2026) Planting of spring crops. Incubating and hatching fowl. Weeding early food plot. Changing coops and shelter from winter to summer readiness. Introducing turkeys for the first time. Bringing on a milk cow, milking and caring for cow. Fishing. Rock walls continue. Collecting wood for bow making. Boiling sap for maple syrup, bottling. Microgreens begin.
(Apr 2026) Checking fences. Planting. Early spring foraging and harvesting, preserving foods collected. Early spring medicinals and creating tinctures and salves. Community workshop, elders invited. Bow making, also a community workshop. Composting and feeding food plot. Feeding trees. Propagating various plants to raise and sell at market.
(May 2026) Wrapping up the year! Students demonstrate what they have learned through presentations. They will have been managing a variety of projects and review their work with instructors and teachers. They will have produced a business plan for their endeavors and submit it for feedback. Harvest cold crops. Foraging. General repairs and maintenance.
Dr. Eli Camp: Director of program, business and marketing training, admin, medicinal plants, coordinating and scheduling elders, workshops and advertising. Gardening activities, planting, propagating, food and seed harvesting and preserving: canning, drying.
Brian Kuhn: all building and construction projects, fencing, tools and equipment training. Gardening activities, food harvesting and preserving: canning, drying and smoking. Hunting and fishing instruction.
Brian Conway: Bee keeping, chicken and duck management, garden and plant management, foraging and preserving. Building and construction, electrical and plumbing, hunting and fishing. Butchering. Gardening activities, planting, propagating, food and seed harvesting and preserving: canning, drying. Bow making.
Sophia Conway: Rabbit keeping, breeding and management. Gardening activities, planting, propagating, food and seed harvesting and preserving: canning, drying. Baskets and Beading. Brad and cheese making. Social media training.
Drew Cooper: 3rd year ranchhand who completed the program first year will help with all aspects of the project.
Elders, Treasures and other Native Americans who are involved and teach various topics (this list grows every year): Dena Standingwater Hill, Alydia Baker, Lena Stick, Louisa Soap, Richard Fields, Ollie Starr, Bradley Wagnon, Elmer Dale, John Perry, Bill Davis (NAFI).
The primary audience served by Grow Oklahoma! is Native American, predominantly but not limited to Cherokee citizens and those of Cherokee descent. While we plan to enroll 25 people this year, the number of people impacted in much larger. Most of the participants come from families of 4-12 and they bring home what they learn here and teach it to their family. They often include neighbors in community gardens that they start and then distribute food, medicine and other items to those in need.
While our main participant demographic is people aged 14-30, most participants are between 14 and 20. We hold monthly gatherings to showcase what we do, introduce our participants to the community and simply strengthen community bonds. This leads to outreach, exposure in the media and on social media. In the first 2 years, many of our participants were able to go on to work for other homestead farms and ranches part-time while they began building their own operations.
We prioritize Native Americans living in rural areas who are seeking to build a sustainable lifestyle rich in native America lifeways and tradition, with a desire to learn and carry this forward to their own communities.
Everything we teach through Grow Oklahoma! is established as traditional lifeways from caring for the land, to producing traditional foods and incorporating other nutritionally important foods of today. We stress why things were and are done this way and how it benefits the land and people. The food we teach people to procure and produce is more than enough to feed themselves and their families reducing reliance on outside food systems. In addition, it adds to the community food supply and creates strong bonds. It is important to preserve and pass on our culture and traditions and also be able to exist and navigate a modern world.
Our organization spends considerable time learning historical methods and philosophy by reading and attending tribal offered training and educational sessions. We work with tribal elders and treasures to share their knowledge and methods and we also pass on what we have learned. Community is a priority for us here at Longshadows Ranch and teaching others how to care for the land and produce a sustainable life for themselves is of the utmost importance. In an area where there are limited opportunities for many people, we teach people how to make their own way and to care for others through teaching and sharing of the bounty they produce.
If you are interested in helping fund this program or you have questions reach out!
If you are interested in being a program participant, fill out this form: https://bit.ly/Grow-OK
6 Responses
I’m very interested in growing my homestead but I. Need of knowledge
Hi Sandy! Thanks for your interest. The best thing to do is fill out the participant interest form at https://bit.ly/Grow-OK.
I would like to participate
Fill out this form! https://bit.ly/Grow-OK
The form states 4 working hours a week, is this true, or is it supposed to say 40?
Thank you!
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