The Forest County Potawatomi wants to have a fully self-sustaining farm to provide produce and meat to its tribal members and the general public.
It’s well on its way to getting to that goal.
The Potawatomi Farm took over the old red deer farm on county road h south of Blackwell in 2017.
“The tribe wanted to go a different way and be more self-sustaining,” said assistant farm manager Joe Shepard.
The farm grows a wide variety of fruits and vegetables. Farm workers also raise chickens, cows, pigs, and
bison.
Shepard said it’s been a bit of trial and error.
“When we did tomatoes, we look up different ways how do them. Trellising them looked like the best way to do it. We’re pretty proud of our tomatoes,” said Shepard.
The farm store opened this year. At first it was just open to tribal members. Now it’s open to the public.
Items are also sold at the C-stores in Stone Lake and Carter.
Shepard says he’s gotten good feedback from the community.
“Everybody is really happy about it. They like the fresh produce and they know where the meat is coming from,” said Shepard.
The farm hopes to open its corn maze and pumpkin patch this fall.
