MAHNOMEN, Minnesota — Hours after a parade ends marking the White Earth Tribal and Community College's 25th anniversary, Robert Shimek is standing near some squash in a field, marveling at a bumblebee crawling into a blossom.
"Oh, that's a great big one," said Shimek, an extension employee with the college. "That tells you the soil is healthy."
Behind Shimek rises heirloom corn, stretching up to 9 feet in the September sky. On a platform, another staffer has plucked four juicy watermelons for wild rice camp this late summer weekend. And green vetch and field peas — a cover crop — sprout over black dirt.
