Harvesting Wild Rice

On the White Earth Ojibwe (Chippewa) reservation in northern Minnesota, sales of traditional foods such as maple syrup, wild rice, dried corn and hominy, and wild fruit jams and jellies generate income and help fund the White Earth Land Recovery Program. Founder Winona LaDuke envisioned a program which would preserve Ojibwe culture by recovering original tribal lands and building a sustainable economy. 

The marketing program, Native Harvest, provides jobs for tribal members and promotes traditional foods. In addition to raising funds to buy back original lands, the tribe also works to preserve traditional culture by offering classes in the Ojibwe language and operating a nutrition program for the elderly, using traditional foods (wild rice, hominy, wild fruits, and buffalo sausage) to fight malnutrition and an epidemic of diabetes on the reservation.