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Dream of Wild Health's
Amber Raven sowed seeds on the Minneapolis nonprofit's 10-acre
organic farm in Hugo. The organization's reach will soon expand.
Elizabeth Flores / Star Tribune
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On a barren cornfield in Hugo, crews are transforming the land
with ambitious plans.
After clearing invasive buckthorn trees, they will restore the
sandy, clay soil and plant trees and a meadow to house birds and
insects while boosting the amount of healthy, culturally specific
food for American Indians in the Twin Cities.
"We're trying to turn the clock back on the soil," said Jessika
Greendeer, the farm manager. "It's going to take some time."
The need for additional land was critical," said Neely Snyder,
executive director of the nonprofit. "It just feels like, now more
than ever, there's a need for food."
More than seven tons of fruit and vegetables grown each year at
the nonprofit's original 10-acre organic farm and orchard in Hugo,
30 miles northeast of Minneapolis, are distributed through youth
programs, farmers markets, a CSA, sold wholesale to Indian chefs
and restaurants, and donated to food shelves.
The nonprofit's work is part of a broader movement in Minnesota's
American Indian community to combat health issues and promote healthy
indigenous foods and food sovereignty, reclaiming a traditional
way of life and relationship with the land.
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Dream of Wild Health's
Mallory Mitchell, left, and Ashley Monk work in the greenhouse
on the Minneapolis nonprofit's 10-acre farm in Hugo. Elizabeth
Flores / Star Tribune
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Many of the state's 11 tribes seven Anishinaabe or Ojibwe
and four Dakota or Sioux are in "food deserts," areas with
limited access to grocery stores. American Indians also face higher
rates of health issues such as diabetes and obesity disparities
widening during the COVID-19 pandemic.
As a result, tribes, nonprofits, and foundations across the state
are adding emergency COVID efforts, distributing more food and resources
to American Indians in need as unemployment rises and casinos
major tribal employers and sources of tribal revenue stay
closed during the pandemic. Grants from a $11 million Minnesota
Disaster Recovery Fund backed by foundations have supported the
Lower Sioux Indian Community, Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior
Chippewa, and White Earth Reservation Housing Authority.
In St. Paul, a $12,000 grant from the Minneapolis Foundation is
helping Interfaith Action of Greater St. Paul bolster its culturally
specific food shelf for American Indians in the east metro. The
food shelf, which costs $15,000 a month to maintain, is seeing demand
skyrocket by 200%, with all food distributed within two days each
week, said Randi Ilyse Roth, the nonprofit's executive director.
"There's tremendous need," she added.
Dream of Wild Health received a grant from the Headwaters Foundation
for Justice's new fund to boost support during the outbreak. Dream
of Wild Health is also partnering with the Minneapolis American
Indian Center to provide food for 100 free meals a day delivered
to elders during the pandemic from venison tacos to rabbit
stew and fresh salad. The program is backed by a grant from the
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota Foundation, which has also
given grants for emergency food distribution to the Leech Lake Band
of Ojibwe, Lower Sioux Indian Community, and Northwest Indian Community
Development Center.
Garlic, lettuce, and carrots will sprout this month on Dream of
Wild Health's Hugo farm as crews begin the work of restoring the
new 20-acre site nearby, reworking 2 acres at a time.
"People don't realize the importance of connecting with the earth
it's healing," Snyder said.
Dream of Wild Health bought the new land, which has no electricity
or water source, for $240,000 this year. But it will cost much more
than that to revamp the land, install irrigation, plant hundreds
of trees, add a hoop house and greenhouse to extend growing year-round,
and continue to grow traditional plants from corn to squash
without fertilizer or any pesticides.
The small nonprofit, which is fund-raising for the project, started
more than two decades ago with leased land in Farmington before
buying the Hugo property in 2004.
Now, the nonprofit has 16 employees, nearly 100 volunteers, and
an $800,000 annual budget the bulk of which is supported
by foundations and donors. A $50,000 grant during Minnesota's Super
Bowl in 2018, funded by the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community,
helped fund a new kitchen for cooking classes.
Due to COVID-19, volunteer events are canceled or postponed, while
workshops, such as one on sacred medicines, recently have moved
online. But crews are moving ahead on work at the new 20-acre site,
which will allow the nonprofit to grow more fruits and vegetables
and regenerate more ancient indigenous seeds.
"They're a priceless gift from our ancestors," Greendeer said.
"It's all about getting back to the roots of our ancestors."
Dream
of Wild Health
The mission of Dream of Wild Health is to restore health and well-being
in the Native community by recovering knowledge of and access to
healthy Indigenous foods, medicines and lifeways.
https://dreamofwildhealth.org
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