Producer
Patra Wise-Native Wise
Address: 4020 Kari Road Sawyer, MN, 55780
Phone: 218-499-5038
About Us
Our name comes from our Grandmothers teachings, Mino Mashkiki, meaning Good Medicine. We are a Native owned and operated business. Our farm is focused on soil health, we strive to farm in a way that reduces negative impacts to the ecosystem in which we live and farm. All of our Products are planted and or harvested by hand with the help of our family and community. Our ancestors traveled to this area in search of the “food that grows on water” or the wild rice native to Minnesota. They became some of the very first agriculturalists on the land that we now live and farm. We were taught by our grandmother to gather local plants to make natural medicines. This includes food medicines such as wild rice, maple sap, berries etc. as well as herbal medicines for a wide variety of ailments.
Our Mission: Our philosophy is that good, clean food is the best medicine for your body and mind.
“My Ancestors have taught me that Food is Medicine. High quality food nourishes your body and mind and is the best method to prevent a variety of ailments”
— David Wise, owner Native Wise LLC
Our Mission: Our philosophy is that good, clean food is the best medicine for your body and mind.
“My Ancestors have taught me that Food is Medicine. High quality food nourishes your body and mind and is the best method to prevent a variety of ailments”
— David Wise, owner Native Wise LLC
Practices
We incorporate companion/pollinator plantings or cover crops into all of our farm crop rotations in order to enhance soil health, optimize plant production and provide pollinator habitat.
https://youtu.be/A2mJ2UlSM6g
Our Wild Rice is hand harvested and processed by local Tribal affiliates of the Fond Du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa. David Wise personally harvests all of our Wild Rice in the Minoomin-Giizis (Rice Moon) which lasts from late August through September. David guides his canoe through local, native Wild Rice swaths by "Polling" with a 25ft. cedar poll with a hard wood crutch while his partner (usually a family member) "knocks" the rice into the canoe with the swift movement of two small cedar sticks called Rice Knockers. This method of harvesting Wild Rice has been passed down through the Wise family who has been harvesting this way for many generations and is beneficial to the Wild Rice ecosystem as it re-seeds the Wild Rice beds for the next season during the process of harvesting. Also, by managing Beaver populations to maintain optimum water levels in lakes and rivers the germination rate of Wild Rice is enhanced. Our Wild Rice is harvested from several lakes and rivers located within a 50 mile radius of the Fond Du Lac Reservation and Ceded Territories. Our rice is then processed by local Fond Du Lac Band members. Native Wild Rice is known as a good medicine in Ojibwe tradition and is a highly culturally significant plant as it plays a big role in the Ojibwe story of traveling to the place "where the food grows on the water" and settling here in Minnesota. We are very proud of our Wild Rice and strive to create a quality finished product. We look forward to sharing it with you!
https://youtu.be/A2mJ2UlSM6g
Our Wild Rice is hand harvested and processed by local Tribal affiliates of the Fond Du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa. David Wise personally harvests all of our Wild Rice in the Minoomin-Giizis (Rice Moon) which lasts from late August through September. David guides his canoe through local, native Wild Rice swaths by "Polling" with a 25ft. cedar poll with a hard wood crutch while his partner (usually a family member) "knocks" the rice into the canoe with the swift movement of two small cedar sticks called Rice Knockers. This method of harvesting Wild Rice has been passed down through the Wise family who has been harvesting this way for many generations and is beneficial to the Wild Rice ecosystem as it re-seeds the Wild Rice beds for the next season during the process of harvesting. Also, by managing Beaver populations to maintain optimum water levels in lakes and rivers the germination rate of Wild Rice is enhanced. Our Wild Rice is harvested from several lakes and rivers located within a 50 mile radius of the Fond Du Lac Reservation and Ceded Territories. Our rice is then processed by local Fond Du Lac Band members. Native Wild Rice is known as a good medicine in Ojibwe tradition and is a highly culturally significant plant as it plays a big role in the Ojibwe story of traveling to the place "where the food grows on the water" and settling here in Minnesota. We are very proud of our Wild Rice and strive to create a quality finished product. We look forward to sharing it with you!