Megan Schnitker

Teaching Generations

By Heidi Newbauer | Submitted photos

When Megan Schnitker was a young girl growing up in the small community of Milks Camp on the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota, she spent a great deal of time at her Grandma’s farm learning about plants and listening to many stories passed down from her ancestors. “I grew up in a traditional Lakota family and had great teachers.” She continues

to preserve those traditions today through her work in Mankato.

Schnitker settled in Mankato in 2015 initially to help with a recovery program through the Transcendence Foundation while continuing to make salves, soaps, herbal teas, and tonics from the medicinal plants she had learned about growing up. Then her husband, Ethan, said, “Why don’t you just sell what you make?”

Lakota Made, LLC began in 2018, with Schnitker making small batches of soaps every couple of months and teas mostly made to order. Just about three years later, she has her own facility in Old Town and is making 30-40 batches of tea at a time. “We ship as far as Australia and regularly to Canada.” She has a small handful of employees along with three volunteers, two service-learning students from MSU and an alternative-learning student. She also takes the opportunity to collect extra peanuts and bubble wrap from the community and recycles it at the facility.

Some of the medicinal products include Elderberry Chaga Tonic, Tatanka Pain Salve, and Nettle Goldenrod Herbal Tea. The other eco-friendly products include beautiful soap and lotion bars infused with essential oils and herbs, like the Marigold Turmeric Body and Hand Bar and the Rosemary and Sage Lotion Bar. Bundle packages are also available. More product information can be found at https://www.lakotamade.com/.

When she is not at her for-profit business, she is active in her nonprofit work. While initially serving as vicechair of the Mahkato Wacipi Committee and chair of Indigenous People’s Day, she realized that these things happen just once a year and that the work needed to be bigger, so The Mahkato Revitalization project was born. It is a nonprofit dedicated to revitalizing Indigenous Culture through art and education. “Classes are taught for any age. This is where I can use my platform to teach the history and culture of the missing narrative of Lakota life, recognizing that it is still very much a living culture.” She has taught about Lakota Life at VINE and has traveled as far as Omaha teaching classes. With COVID, classes are not currently taught in person, but there is still plenty happening! More information about booking a class for a group is available at https:// mahkatorevitalizationproject.org/

Schnitker has also been on the board for the Twin Rivers Council for the Arts for the past year and a half to further bridge these passions together in Mankato, including the installation of the silo paintings with Guido Van Helten. “He got his inspiration from the Mahkato Pow Wow, which was super exciting.”

How does she get it all done? “It’s easy to do a 50- or 60-hour work week on the for-profit and nonprofits. Start times aren’t typical; it really depends on when I can spend time with my kids. If I’m not at my office making things, I’m on the phone or sending emails.”

The passion for her work is generational. “I want it to be something that I pass down to my kids and grandkids. Keeping the cultural knowledge alive and teaching the public about plants that are in their backyards and hiking trails is something that I love to do.”

Staying connected to the Earth and spending time with her family is what she enjoys in her spare time. They currently have four girls at home with them who are learning what this or that plant is, and they get excited to pick them. “We love doing outdoor things. The three-year old, Arrow, races with Ethan to find mushrooms.” Schnitker picks plants with the seasons, just like the teachers before her, and uses stinging nettle and mullein the most. “Nettle helps with inflammation and is a good detox.” Even with her allergies, her time spent with nature always brings joy. “There can be poison ivy, tears, sneezing, screaming when I find a giant garden spider. It’s an adventure.”