Native Lights is a weekly, half-hour radio program hosted by Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe members and siblings, Leah Lemm and Cole Premo. Native Lights is a space for people in Native communities around Mni Sota Mkoce — a.k.a. Minnesota — to tell their stories about finding their gifts and sharing them with the community.
Leah and Cole take a trip to Four Sisters Farmers Market in Minneapolis! It’s the first market day of the year, and our hosts chat with nature-inspired jewelry designer Lali Aguilar from Corn Silk Daughter; food and plant loving Rivianna Zeller, a Farmer & Distribution Coordinator with Dream of Wild Health; Native book publisher Tom Peacock from Black Bears and Blueberries Publishing; and Destiny Jones, Food Sovereignty Coordinator and Farmers Market Manager at Four Sisters Farmers Market at NACDI.
Stay tuned for part two of our trip to the market!
The Four Sisters Market is every Thursday 11am to 3pm during the summer and fall at The Native American Community Development Institute (NACDI) in Minneapolis.
Native Lights: Where Indigenous Voices Shine is produced by Minnesota Native News and Ampers, Diverse Radio for Minnesota’s Communities with support from the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage fund.
Subscribe to Native Lights wherever you get your podcasts
More from Native Lights
- Budd Parker & Tim “Pete” Fairbanks: Restoring the Legacy of White Earth’s Forgotten Veterans
Today we’re joined by Budd Parker and Tim “Pete” Fairbanks. Budd is a Navy veteran and descendant of the White Earth Nation. He lives in Osage and was raised by grandparents who knew Civil War soldiers. He and his crew, including cousin Pete Fairbanks, dig through records. They clear forgotten cemeteries and set corrected headstones so families can hear their ancestors’ names again. Pete is also from the White Earth Nation, and he works with Budd to restore headstones and graveyards. - Alex Kmett: Culture as Curriculum, Language as Medium
Today, we’re speaking with language revitalization leader and cultural educator Alex Kmett. Alex is a citizen of the Red Lake Nation and a descendant of the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe. He’s a 2026 Bush Fellow and a co-founder of a charter school in Red Lake Nation. - Ryan Dixon: Making Friends with the Dakota Language
Today, we’re speaking with Ryan Dixon. Ryan is an enrolled member of the Oglala Lakota Tribe from Pine Ridge in South Dakota and has spent over two decades immersed in the Lower Sioux community in southern Minnesota. He trained under First Language Dakota speakers, and he now teaches Dakota. An educator and Indigenous language activist, he co-founded a Dakota Immersion Head Start programming and works to keep the language alive for future generations.
American Indian Month Continues With Weekend of Open Houses