The following story was written and reported by Christina Rose, Native Sun News Associate Editor. All content © Native Sun News.
Jason Schoch and Patricia Hammond
Dead Man’s Hand Café
Organic coffee and chocolates are the fare
By Christina Rose
Native Sun News Associate Editor
KYLE — The name of the place, The Dead Man’s Hand Company’s Old West Gypsy Market and Espresso Café, is long and a real tongue twister, but the idea behind it is a story in itself.
The kismet story of Jason Schoch and Patricia Hammond, Oglala Lakota, is as romantic and charming as it was fateful. The owners of the Old West Gypsy Market and Espresso, across the street from the Lakota Prairie Ranch Resort, sat on the porch and remembered how their lives and passion for farmer’s markets first intertwined.
Schoch was from a small town in North Dakota; Hammond grew up in Pine Ridge. He traveled the country and saw the world, but was looking for a way to move back to the Dakotas. Through his work with Jane Goodall, internationally known environmental preservationist, he had become interested in setting up gardens for rural, under-served communities.
Goodall was hosting an event in Spearfish Canyon to present her “Roots and Shoots” program in South Dakota, but a late April snowfall kept almost everyone from attending, except Hammond and her teacher, the last to arrive before the snow became impassable.
Amidst the few who arrived, the conversation centered on Jane’s work, and her desire to get a “Roots and Shoots” youth program going on the reservations. “So we were talking about the problems on the reservation and Jane was talking about having had success in Africa with community gardens and Patricia was talking about wanting to do community gardens. I wanted to do Farmers Markets,” Schoch said. “So Patricia and I started talking.”
The two stayed in close contact over the next 3 months. “When he said he really wanted to get back to the Dakotas, I said why don't you come live in my garage? He said okay.” Grinning, she reached out to grab him and said, “That didn’t last very long, and I got him!”
Schoch moved in with Patricia in June, 2007 and they began to pursue their dreams. Hammond said, “We worked our way up from one community garden to sixteen across the reservation.”
In the last seven years, they learned a lot about raising gardens and hosting Farmer’s Markets. “In the years we had a lot of moisture, the gardens did well. The last few years has been really difficult because of the grasshoppers, the wind, the drought... so we are in the process of trying to teach people how to garden here within those conditions without chemicals,” Schoch said.
The couple tried many natural methods to get rid of the grasshoppers, but said they have become hardy. “The last few years, the grasshoppers will even eat the hot peppers and will eat the cilantro (a natural deterrent to insects) down to the stalks. We are now using an organic bran flake, there is something they put in the flake and you spread it when the grasshoppers are small and they eat it and die.” Schoch said that grasshoppers will eat their dead so the cycle continues. “It is about 60-70 percent effective.”
The couple used portable tents for their markets which they set up to look like old stores. “But with the wind and storms, we lost two or three a season. We got tired of those and wanted something permanent.”
Hammond and Schoch wanted a place where their market would stand up even on windy days. “When we built the store, we wanted to have a year-round farmer’s market and art gallery.”
That dream came true last October, and after only seven months is a success. There are regulars who come in everyday and tourists stop in when passing through. Gift baskets sold during the holiday were a big hit and carried locally produced items like their own canned goods and local soaps.
The tiny 500 square feet building now has three permanent stalls for the farmer’s market and wooden troughs for planting. Inside, there is an art gallery, featuring local artists and Guatemalan artists they discovered on a Mission of Love trip to build a hospice. There are also unique foods and grocery, and lots of different kinds of coffee and chocolate. The shop sells muffins, bagels, coffees, and all espresso drinks, specialty hot chocolate including spicy Mayan style, and fruit smoothies.
““We now carry the tribe’s buffalo and jerky,” Schoch said. “We want to provide food that is affordable. In the summer we will add old-fashioned sundaes, root beer floats, and sun teas. We do local honey, and choke cherry honey, which makes a dark red honey. We make a choke cherry cappuccino, which is our most popular drink, and we make the syrup. It’s natural, fresh and all local except for the coffee.” As time goes on the shop will feature fresh breads, apple pies, fresh pickles, and of course, the vegetable produce.
Besides edible goodies, Hammond creates wire wrap jewelry and Schoch takes beautiful photos, which he sells as gift cards, suitable for framing. There are also plans for the classes. “We are getting ready to teach people how to compost and we are doing hoop beds because it extends the season at both ends,” Schoch said. “They are fairly simple to do.”
Schoch added that they are including preservation of traditional and indigenous plants in their plans. “Those traditional plants that are getting grazed out by cattle or are over-harvested by humans, like Chaka Tea. And people who harvest timpsila too soon, and if it hasn’t seeded yet, the plant won’t come back. So we are gathering seed, and trying to cultivate these plants so we can produce it to sell here, and not over-harvest the wild stuff. We’ll be able to go and replenish, and we will grow sweet grass, our own Chaka. We are able to cultivate to make it meet the demand and also restore the seed.”
The couple is certain that it is only a matter of time before they outgrow their space. Between the classes they hope to hold, the local products they will be able to sell to the summer tourists, they see the future with perspective. Hammond said, “We are trying not to do too much too fast. We want to grow organically but we want to do it when its time, and do it right.”
The Dead Man’s Hand Company’s Old West Gypsy Market and Espresso Cafe is located across from the Lakota Prairie Ranch and Resort. The hours are 6:45 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, and will be opening on Saturdays in June.
(Contact Christina Rose at christinarose.sd@gmail.com)
Copyright permission by Native Sun News
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