So What's Kithship Anyway?

(this is a very newsie newsletter...)

Hello everyone!! It’s really truly fully spring on the short-grass prairie, which means it’s almost summer since we don’t get much for in-betweens season around here. The lilacs are budding out, the trees are misted with green, the air smells sweet, and last night we got a full inch of rain (which is a BIG deal for us).

Almost summer means my season of travel is about to begin as well, this year with some extra excitement. As many of you know, I have a second book coming out through the South Dakota Historical Society Press celebrating the 10 year anniversary of my weekly column, Little Pasture on the Prairie. I’m going to include MUCH more on the book + book tour in next week’s newsletter, including the cover reveal.

Last week, I sent fleeces to the mill, so in addition to the new book, I will also have YARN to sell at summer shows!! The *mostly* complete tour schedule will be in next week’s newsletter, too, but if you have a yarn or book shop in your town that you think would want to carry my book or my yarn, reach out! Who knows, maybe I can fit in a stop there as well.

BUT this newsletter is actually about something else: KITHSHIP.

The grassland ecosystem (aka the prairie) is one of the most endangered on the planet and one of the least appreciated. Our ecosystem’s biodiversity and potential for carbon capture is exceptional. A few years ago, at the prompting of my friend and mentor, Kevin Locke, I began work on a project I’ve since named the Kithship Collective. Kithship (as opposed to kinship, which implies a genetic component) is a relationship built on a shared knowledge of place. The collective’s origin story involved a series of invocations of praise and prayers of gratitude for the prairie, for healing, for understanding and for rebuilding our relationships to this place, to one another, and to the many plants and other animals who also call this place home. I wanted to write love songs to all there was to fall in love with. I wanted to write songs people could dance to together, and I wanted to find other musicians and artists who were interested in doing the same thing. (You can read more about it here: https://kithshipcollective.com/)

When Kevin passed away suddenly before our first big Kithship event, I was devastated and unsure if I could continue the Collective’s work without him. There are some days I’m still not sure, but his spirit and memory keep guiding me and I know he wouldn’t want me to give up.

Meanwhile, my friend and neighbor, Sion Hanson, has been harboring his own big dreams for creating kithship on the piece of family land he stewards. For the past few years, by way of weird coincides and daydreams too powerful to ignore, he couldn’t shake the feeling that he was supposed to bring bison back to the land. Through a lot of hard work, collaboration, and a few small miracles, the dream is becoming a reality June 1st, when a small herd of yearling heifers arrives to become our newest neighbors!

I will never stop being amazed at how beautifully life unfolds when you are able to hold it lightly. We started to talk about the ways the Kithship Collective could celebrate the bisons’ arrival. Maybe a performance? Maybe a mural project that community members could help with? Maybe both…Then, last winter, when we were moving into our house in town, I noticed the front porch looked an awful lot like a stage…Little by little the event has come together, mostly by word of mouth, and I can not believe all the amazing folks that will be contributing to the welcome party. There will be visual artists, dancers, musicians, a community art project, general merriment, AND YOU ARE ALL INVITED!!

I’m going to finish with a quick run down of all the beautiful people who are performing or bringing art to share…and I really do hope to see you there!!

Much Love,

Eliza

Chuck Suchy is a folk musician, songwriter, and working farmer from Mandan, North Dakota. Among his albums are Much to Share and Dancing Dakota on Flying Fish Records, Dakota Breezes, Same Road Home, Different Line of Time, Evening in Paris, and Unraveling Heart. Chuck has appeared on stages across the country and internationally, including the Winnipeg Folk Festival and Prairie Home Companion.

Christian Begeman was born in Watertown, South Dakota. At an early age his family moved just north of the Moreau River between Dupree and Isabel SD. After graduating from Isabel High School, he attended the University of Sioux Falls. That is where an introduction to photography class started him down the road to his current passion for making photographs. Today, he works on the Marketing team with Midco in Sioux Falls. In his free time you will find him driving the back roads of South Dakota looking for new scenes to shoot. Christian is also a regular contributor to southdakotamagazine.com where he writes a photography column.

Performing folk, bluegrass, and jazz music since the age of 13, Jami Lynn has been holding audiences spellbound in the South Dakota and national scene for half of her life. Jami’s awareness of her deep connection to the landscape and culture of the Upper Midwest are evident in her songwriting and storytelling, and her melodies, lyrics and soaring vocals tell a story as vibrant and nuanced as the plains themselves. In addition to touring, she is also an urban farmer, a mother, and a regenerative ag enthusiast.

Lyle Miller is a retired teacher and a veteran of the US Army, a Sundancer and traditional dancer. He was Director of Tribal Historic Preservation for the Yankton Sioux Tribe and later Repatriation Specialist for the Crow Creek Sioux Tribe. Lyle currently practices his artwork professionally and is at home in Mitchell, SD.

Noelle Benson pieces prairie colors into the Star Quilts she makes. Continuing this tradition helps her feel connected to her family heritage. A member of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, she has also taught star quilt making classes, passing on her knowledge to another generation. The mother of two and grandmother of eight ranches with her family near Lemmon, South Dakota, and makes a limited number of custom star quilts for special orders.

Saddi Holiday-Miller carries her Grandmother’s Lakota name: “Akicita Winyan” (Warrior Woman.) Saddi is currently Senior Miss Yankton Sioux. She is a freshman in High School. She is an artist and creates handmade flowers as gifts for friends. She is a champion in both fancy shawl dancing and jingle dress dancing.