As the crops were harvested, they were prepared for food and winter storage. The women would dry the corn, beans and squash by hanging bundles of them on the drying rack outside of the bark lodges. Sunflower seeds were dried to eat as snacks and to take on hunting trips. After they were dried, the crops would be stored in parfleche (rawhide) containers and used during the long winter months.

 The Dakotah used the prairie to provide medicine to the village. Medicine men would wander through the prairie and woodlands looking for the special plants that would cure aliments that were afflicting the members of the village. A collection of prairie plants that were most commonly used by the Dakotah and other plains tribes is found in the museum’s Dakotah medicine garden. In this garden there are plants used to help with congestion, animal bites, cuts, bruises, broken bones and more serious illnesses.
 

This garden is in the form of a turtle. The Dakotah used the turtle as a sign for patience, longevity and to promote a steadfast character. Along with the turtle garden there is a medicinal shade garden and berry patch.

 The medicine garden was made possible by a generous gift from the Saint Paul Garden Club (2003).