By: Belinda Brooks
In the Spring of 2020, throughout the summer, and now in the fall, Chief Rodger Collum and Butte Tribe members have been working diligently preparing the soil, planting, and harvesting vegetable crops for tribe members and the community. This year’s planting has not been an easy one. Scorching weather caused a lot of the produce to burn up. Chief Collum decided to install an irrigation system of approximately one mile of irrigation pipe. That was nice, but it just happened to be completed about the time that Hurricane Laura hit. That entire garden had to be replanted.
For as long as Chief Collum can remember, the chiefs planted gardens for the family on Butte land.
This year, Butte Tribe lost a significant player in planting and harvesting its gardens. Perry Desadier was Chief Collum’s right-hand man. He loved to work in the garden. Next to Chief Rodger Collum, other central Butte people who need to be mentioned in raising the Butte gardens are Charlia Collum, Mike Carter, Keith Hernandez, April Womack.
Many people throughout the Pace Community, as well as the Butte Tribe family, have enjoyed the benefits of the Butte Tribe gardens.
