Plains Indian culture was one of hunters and gathers: the men did the hunting and the women did the gathering. The task of gathering and the preparation of seeds, berries and edible roots and plants belonged to the women. They continually gathered supplies of food throughout the spring, summer and fall to sustain their families, when food was scarce during the cold winter months. In some areas where tribes lived in semi-permanent villages, the women planted gardens in the early spring to supplement the wild plants they gathered around the countryside. They discovered that seeds from procured plants could be grown in their encampment and knowledge of soaking seeds to quicken germination was passed from tribe to tribe. The women started the plants indoors, then transplanted them outside when the weather permitted. In some tribes men tended the gardens, but generally women cultivated the gardens. In some communities, the women tended their gardens throughout the summer, while other tribes waited until the gardens were established and then picked-up camp, traveling throughout the summer hunting and gathering. When they returned in the fall, the garden was harvested and the produce was added to their storage of food.

Plains Indian women supplemented their family's basic diet of buffalo meat with a variety of wild berries, which were also an essential ingredient in making pemmican. Picking season began in late spring and continued throughout the summer. The women gathered in groups to pick berries and used this time to visit with one another as they worked. Because a young woman was in the company of other women, berry-picking was one of the few times of the year a man could court a woman.

Following the path of their ancestors, early Plains Indian women passed on which characteristics to look for in utilizing plants and roots to their daughters. The women's knowledge of the vast array of wild plants, used for food and for various purposes such as pipe-smoking, dyes, incense or medicines, was part of their realm. The women obtained honor and clout through their close relationship to food. Their important contribution to the food supply provided good nutrition for their families and large quantities of food improved their social standing in the community. In many Plains Indian tribes, the women had complete control of the food supply and her status in the community depended to some extent on the manner in which women distributed their reserve of provisions. Generosity and hospitality were highly valued as requirements of sociability among the Plains Indians; they were also a necessary form of welfare. In the Indian culture, it was customary that as soon as a visitor entered one's home, food was immediately offered and a gift of food was usually given to the visitor to take home. On ceremonial occasions, the women took pride in preparing food to bring to the feast.

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