Latrice Tatsey studies "our relationship to the world.”

As part of my ongoing study of regenerative food systems, I spent a day with my 6-year-old, Eloise, shadowing soil scientists Latrice Tatsey and Tony Hartshorn at Blackfeet Community College, in Browning, and on a nearby ranch against the Rocky Mountain Front.

I’d reported on Latrice’s work with the Piikani Lodge Health Institute earlier this year and was excited to learn how she’s adapting the scientific methodology she learned in her masters at MSU to be culturally appropriate for ranchers, especially those in her community.

Eloise and I helped Latrice’s team create a research plot shaped like a medicine wheel, and watched them build experimental wind breaks and snow fences from materials most ranchers have on hand, with the goal of making it easier for producers to research their own ground.

Latrice is working in a space she calls cultural science.

“It’s including cultural knowledge of Indigenous people like my tribe; using the science that ties people to the land, and understanding our relationship to the world,” she said. “This ensures we are maintaining balance along with our resources.”