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White Earth Food Sovereignty Initiative: What Food Sovereignty Looks Like on the Sovereign Nation of White Earth

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First paragraphs: Here in White Earth, we started our Food Sovereignty Initiative in the fall of 2017 to bring together and organize community-driven efforts that aid in establishing a sustainable and sovereign food system based in traditional methods of planting, gathering, harvest, hunting, and fishing—all protected by tribal policy. We start our food sovereignty work primarily through gatherings with the White Earth commu­nity. Once a month, or sometimes once every two months when we are busy planting and gathering, we hold a potluck food sovereignty meeting (see Photo 1). Present are our core partners, such as the White Earth Tribal and Community College (WETCC) Extension Service, with whom we are intertwined in many grants and commitments. Other partners include our White Earth health department, dieticians, nutritionists, SNAP-Ed, 4-H youth agriculture program, directors and managers in education, the agriculture department, natural resource department, commodity foods program, and the Elder Nutrition Program. Other partners include nonprofits, interested community members from White Earth, and others doing similar work coming from our neighboring reservations Leech Lake and Red Lake. . . .
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Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development
ISSN: 2152-0801 online
https://www.foodsystemsjournal.org
Volume 9, Supplement 2 / Fall 2019 19
White Earth Food Sovereignty Initiative:
What food sovereignty looks like on the
sovereign nation of White Earth
Zachary Paige *
White Earth Band of Minnesota Chippewa Tribe
Submitted March 26, 2019 / Accepted March 26, 2019 / Published online December 16, 2019
Citation: Paige, Z. (2019). White Earth Food Sovereignty Initiative: What food sovereignty looks like
on the sovereign nation of White Earth. Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development,
9(Suppl. 2), 19–23. https://doi.org/10.5304/jafscd.2019.09B.021
Copyright © 2019 by the Author. Published by the Lyson Center for Civic Agriculture and Food Systems. Open access under CC-BY license.
ere in White Earth, we started our Food
Sovereignty Initiative in the fall of 2017 to
bring together and organize community-driven
efforts that aid in establishing a sustainable and
sovereign food system based in traditional methods
of planting, gathering, harvest, hunting, and
fishing—all protected by tribal policy.
We start our food sovereignty work primarily
through gatherings with the White Earth commu-
nity. Once a month, or sometimes once every two
months when we are busy planting and gathering,
we hold a potluck food sovereignty meeting (see
Photo 1). Present are our core partners, such as the
White Earth Tribal and Community College
(WETCC) Extension Service, with whom we are
intertwined in many grants and commitments.
Other partners include our White Earth health
department, dieticians, nutritionists, SNAP-Ed,
4-H youth agriculture program, directors and
managers in education, the agriculture department,
natural resource department, commodity foods
program, and the Elder Nutrition Program. Other
partners include nonprofits, interested community
members from White Earth, and others doing
similar work coming from our neighboring
reservations Leech Lake and Red Lake.
These food sovereignty meetings are also heal-
ing meetings. We do the best we can to prepare
foods that are traditional or at least healthy. This is
our time to sit and visit, things that are often lost in
our busy technological age. At the meeting held in
December 2018, we had some smoked goldeneye
from Red Lake Fisheries, shared by David Manuel
in Red Lake, canned venison sliders from the
WETCC, wild rice and buffalo brats from White
H
* Zachary Paige, Food Sovereignty Specialist, White Earth
Band of Minnesota Chippewa Tribe; 1482 Highway 200;
Mahnomen, Minnesota 56557 USA;
zachary.paige@whiteearth-nsn.gov
Special JAFSCD Issue
Indigenous Food Sovereignty in North America
sponsored by
Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development
ISSN: 2152-0801 online
https://www.foodsystemsjournal.org
20 Volume 9, Supplement 2 / Fall 2019
Earth, and quinoa
salad from Diane
McArthur, our White
Earth nutritionist. We
have fruitful conver-
sations that are rooted
in the true needs of
our community,
keeping us on track
and building toward a
grounded food system
in White Earth. The
conversations keep us
engaged and empow-
ered to make focused
efforts and have an
effect on the
sometimes overwhelmingly broad need for a
healthier food system. From time to time we also
invite outside speakers from other organizations,
University extension and researchers, the state
agriculture department, who join us to learn about
our community needs. Those attending our meet-
ings regularly know that each of us is a slice, part of
filling the big circle of food sovereignty. We all go
back to our departments and families and play our
role and expand upon our gifts that fit us as indivi-
duals and within the community. Then when we
come back together, we share our experiences in
increasing our communal understanding of our
progress and how to work together effectively as a
group. By having such an extraordinary and diverse
group of community members focused on food
sovereignty so close to the ground level come
together regularly, we are able to act as branches
on a connected system of roots, as we are all well
aware that there is much work yet to be done.
The overall health of the White Earth
community members is of vital importance. There
are many areas of health: mental health, dietary
health, disease treatment, physical improvement, as
well as elder and youth care. We focus on food as a
healing and universal glue to bring people together
to heal our bodies, minds, spirit. There are some-
times challenges in accessing traditional and
healthy food when living in the country—even
when there are plenty of people gathering, planting,
and hunting for themselves or their families. When
observing food access from an eagle’s view, the
majority of the White Earth Reservation is a fed-
erally recognized food desert, because many people
live upwards of 20 to 30 miles away from a big
grocery store where most people shop for their
daily foods. And even when shopping at those,
there are limited traditional or healthy foods
available.
Together, we created a food sovereignty
assessment survey for the White Earth Reservation
community members in 2017 and received over
250 responses (Figure 1). We will be able to use
findings about our demographics in our dialogue
moving forward. The responses also revealed the
lack of cooking and reasons for the lack. We also
found out that the White Earth community is very
invested in all of the programs we suggested to aid
in increasing traditional and healthy food access,
including a farm-to-school program, a tribally
shared agriculture program from a White Earth
farm, and a mobile market grocery.
In 2017–2018, the White Earth Food Sover-
eignty Initiative (WEFSI) staff started with one
person, Zachary Paige, as coordinator. With a
limited staff we are limited in some ways, but we
utilized many volunteers from the White Earth
community and beyond to start our White Earth
Community Pilot Farm. Volunteers include the
Extension Service of WETCC, families and inter-
ested community members, the White Earth
Natural Resource Department, the ACUTE Care
Photo by Nolan Morice.
Photo 1. White Earth Food Sovereignty Initiative Meeting
Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development
ISSN: 2152-0801 online
https://www.foodsystemsjournal.org
Volume 9, Supplement 2 / Fall 2019 21
men’s health facility, youth from the White Earth
4-H, students from Minnesota State University, the
nonprofit Global Citizens Network, and others.
We grew, cultivated, and harvested plots with the
three sisters (corn, beans,
squash) using traditional
mounding system (Photo 2).
With a family and elder pro-
gram that met weekly, we
went through the entire gar-
dening process. We offered
traditional seeds that we have
been saving for years for
people to choose from and
plant. We grew a diverse
range of vegetables, such as
pumpkins, potatoes, peppers,
and tomatoes, as well as
strawberries in a low tunnel
system to keep out weeds.
We were also involved in a
cover crop project led by
Vivian Wauters from the
Grossman Lab at the Uni-
versity of Minnesota, as well
as a sweet corn taste test pro-
ject from Iowa State Univer-
sity. The cover crop project
showed which varieties of
cover crops worked best in
our soil type throughout the
summer and demonstrated
how they cool the soil, keep-
ing soil microbes alive and
adding organic matter to the
soil. We held a community
soil health day to showcase
the results of this trial as well
as to discuss soil health prin-
cipals from both sustainable
farming and traditional
viewpoints.
To respond to another
need identified in the survey
(Figure 2), in 2018 we pur-
chased a food truck to cook
and distribute traditional
healthy foods throughout the
reservation. To support this
project, we received funds
Figure 1. Graph Displaying Results from a Question from the White Earth
Food Sovereignty Survey Regarding Gardening Activities
Photo by Zachary Paige.
Photo 2. Stanton Stanton Alexander with White Earth Youth Planting in a
Three Sisters Traditional Garden System
Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development
ISSN: 2152-0801 online
https://www.foodsystemsjournal.org
22 Volume 9, Supplement 2 / Fall 2019
from the Indian Health
Service (IHS), First Nations
Development Institute
(FNDI), Good Food Access
Fund (GFAF), and the White
Earth Band of Minnesota
Chippewa Tribe. We pur-
chased our food truck from
Sean Sherman, the Sioux
Chef, and rebranded it with a
design to show that we will
not only be selling prepared
traditional foods off the truck
at events, but also will be a
mobile grocery distribution
unit. In the summer of 2018,
we grew strawberries and
ground cherries at our farm
and used them in smoothies
sold at the Mahnomen
Farmer’s Market and at the White Earth and Rice
Lake pow wows to advertise the truck and
showcase what we will be providing as a mobile
market. We held meetings to showcase the truck in
the communities in White Earth that have limited
access to grocery stores, such as Rice Lake and
Naytahwaush (and of course cooked a traditional
meal at each one). We also got the community
council’s opinion on route schedules and drop-off
points for the future mobile grocery. We are
currently getting the truck up to par with
improvements needed to hold grocery foods, and
figuring out staffing, drivers, and our route, as well
as applying to USDA to accept SNAP and WIC
dollars. We are also purchasing from local and
traditional producers some traditional food items
that we plan on selling off the mobile market, such
as wild rice, maple syrup, dried berries, wild herbs
as teas, and many more items. Some of the
traditional food items, such as tribally produced
popcorn and olive oil from outside reservations,
may be purchased from our Intertribal Agriculture
Council technical assistant, Dan Cornelius, who
has started a mobile traditional farmer’s market of
his own.
There are other projects happening, such as
bison and hemp programs that are just getting
some footing. The big picture for the White Earth
Agriculture Department is to continue to grow out
more traditional seeds on more acreage and pro-
vide White Earth businesses with traditional foods
such as corn, beans, squash, popcorn, and more to
package and sell back to community members at an
affordable price. We also grow out and keep pure
many varieties of old seeds that are very often
higher in nutrition than conventional hybrids. The
hemp program has the potential to supply up to 25
more jobs, as well as the opportunity to grow and
produce hemp as an agricultural product on a
medium to large scale. At this time, when there is a
trend of eating healthy and growing interest in
food justice and food sovereignty in our country,
we are able to utilize the movement of these efforts
to gain support primarily from young people of
privilege as they recognize the disparity of wealth
provided to people of color in this country for
centuries.
Along with our food sovereignty meetings, we
use many forms of outreach to the community to
get the word out on what we do. One way we do
this is through our tilling program, in which we
tilled over 60 community members’ gardens in
2018 and provided gardeners with access to seeds.
We post articles on social media, on the radio, and
through our tribal newspaper. We host events
throughout the year at our White Earth Commu-
Figure 2. Graph Displaying Results from a Question from the White Earth
Food Sovereignty Survey Regarding the Mobile Foods Market
Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development
ISSN: 2152-0801 online
https://www.foodsystemsjournal.org
Volume 9, Supplement 2 / Fall 2019 23
nity Farm in Mahnomen, Minnesota. We also host
the annual Indigenous Farming Conference gather-
ing, where representatives of many food sover-
eignty programs meet and discuss their stories. It is
always an enlightening time to visit and partake in
hands-on activities. The theme of the 2019 confer-
ence is Aanji-bimaajitoon Gidibaajimowininaan
(Revitalizing Our Story).
Resources
Articles:
NPR Morning Edition episode, White Earth hopes food truck puts reservation on road to better health:
https://www.mprnews.org/story/2018/07/27/white-earth-minnesota-food-truck-native-health-sioux-chef
NPR Morning Edition episode, White Earth tribe holds high hopes for hemp:
https://www.mprnews.org/story/2017/08/09/white-earth-tribe-high-hopes-hemp
Videos:
Minnesota’s Good Food Access Program Profile: White Earth: https://youtu.be/E_9aottj1n4
Minnesota’s Good Food Access Program: https://youtu.be/u0qjAaDW3BY
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