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Caroline Yang
St. Paul, Minn.

Photos: Return to tradition on White Earth Reservation in fight against poverty, hunger

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Billie Jo McDonald
Billie Jo McDonald, 33, of Waubun, Minn. and her son, Camarin Hanks, 11, take a walk to look for berries on Thursday, Sept. 22, 2011. McDonald is a single mother of three boys, ages 11 to 17, and struggles to provide them with enough food and nutrition. One obstacle she faces is the limited number of grocery stores on the White Earth Reservation. More common are convenience stores, but they mostly carry processed foods. Transportation to a grocery store is an expense she cannot always afford. McDonald receives about $500 a month in food stamps for her family, but says they don't last the entire month. Near the end of the month she and the kids sometimes eat macaroni and butter, or oatmeal and bacon grease. She sometimes skips meals so the kids can eat. McDonald is learning about traditional Ojibwe foods and would like to return to traditional ways of harvesting, but says she needs more time and resources to do so.
MPR Photo/Caroline Yang
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Wild Food Summit
Kelly Larsen, 49, of Bagley, Minn., led a group into the forest to harvest mushrooms as part of a Wild Food Summit on the White Earth Reservation on Friday, Sept. 23, 2011. The Fall Mushroom Foray was sponsored by the White Earth Tribal and Community College Extension Service, which runs wild food summits regularly. The summits are aimed at teaching people to identify, harvest, and prepare wild foods. They are organized by Steve Dahlberg, director of the extension program, who says returning to traditional foods can help create self-reliance.
MPR Photo/Caroline Yang
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Billie Jo McDonald
Billie Jo McDonald, 33, of Waubun, Minn. and her son, Camarin Hanks, 11, take a walk to look for berries on Thursday, Sept. 22, 2011. McDonald is a single mother of three boys, ages 11 to 17, and struggles to provide them with enough food and nutrition. One obstacle she faces is the limited number of grocery stores on the White Earth Reservation. More common are convenience stores, but they mostly carry processed foods. Transportation to a grocery store is an expense she cannot always afford. McDonald receives about $500 a month in food stamps for her family, but says they don't last the entire month. Near the end of the month she and the kids sometimes eat macaroni and butter, or oatmeal and bacon grease. She sometimes skips meals so the kids can eat. McDonald is learning about traditional Ojibwe foods and would like to return to traditional ways of harvesting, but says she needs more time and resources to do so.
MPR Photo/Caroline Yang
2 of 14
Billie Jo McDonald
Billie Jo McDonald, 33, of Waubun, Minn., found plants and berries while walking with her son on Thursday, Sept. 22, 2011. McDonald struggles to provide for her three sons, but has been attending camps to learn how to harvest and preserve wild food in an effort to return to traditional ways of acquiring food. Her family eats several traditional Ojibwe foods, including wild rice, deer and berries.
MPR Photo/Caroline Yang

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