[CelticJourney]

For anyone reading along who doesn't understand the complexity of reservation economics, it plays a big role in what is going on.

Hunting is greatly curtailed. 'Provisions' for the Sioux (not sure about other tribes) was changed from dollars to commodities - flour, sugar, oil. At the same time, reservations were given what I call 'responsibility without authority'. The result is that business can not operate on reservations without going through red tape at the federal level that makes it almost impossible to succeed. The result is a food dessert of epic proportions. One story I read was about a sub place that managed to open on Pine Ridge and a grandmother who went in a cried because she hadn't seen a cucumber is decades. Grocery stores are few and with an astronomical unemployment rate, probably aren't successful compared to the trouble of starting them.

Organizations are trying to return the family garden to reservation. Major problem - water. Many people do NOT have running water and the water they have is hauled in at a cost. Wells are possible, but sometimes are contaminated - that's what the Standing Rock protests were about. Then we can get into environmental issues such as GMO seed production that is manufacture to produce sterile product. So you can't save seeds from Monsanto ready tomatoes for next year, you MUST rebuy. Yes, there are other options, but it's just where we've gone with our food supply.