Communing With Buffalo

Since first attending the summer camp run by the Texas Tribal Buffalo Project, a non-profit dedicated to reestablishing the connection between Lipan Apache and “our relatives the Iyanee’ / Buffalo,” Dmitri has come to appreciate the sacred relationship between buffalo and his tribal community.

As he sees it, the real value of the camp is “to get children that are on phones all day to respect nature, be surrounded by it, and teach valuable lessons.”

Such as? “At camp I learned to respect the buffalo because, for our ancestors, that’s mainly the food they lived on: buffalo, and also fish and plants. Without the buffalo we wouldn’t be here.”

Dmitri arrives to camp early in order to set up his tent and hammock near where the buffalo graze, so that when he wakes up he’s amongst them. He was especially moved to see the arrival of a newborn.

“We got to witness a calf being introduced to the herd for the first time, watching them kiss it, hug it. It was beautiful, to be honest.”

Newman’s Own proudly supports the Texas Tribal Buffalo Project, which fosters the deep connection between Native peoples and buffalo by teaching youth traditional practices for caring for buffalo and growing food.