Determined to continue the traditions of her ancestors alive, Bear Clan member Rhonda Funmaker created her business, Native Gardener, LLC, in part to promote, protect and teach the knowledge passed on to her by earlier generations.  Native Gardener, started in 1998, specializes in growing food organically, and later using what Rhonda describes “as a natural cooking process” markets the foods at trade shows, fairs and other selected events.

Although the ground was snow-covered, a visit to Good Village, named after a past chief three generations ago, where Rhonda shares a home with her husband Ken Funmaker, makes a visitor feel like Native Gardener

Rhonda Funmaker, founder of Native Gardener,LLC.

Prior to starting Native Gardener in 1998, Rhonda was a regular at the Dane County Farmer’s Market, traveling there daily to sell her fruits and veggies.  She occasionally cooked and sold her food at pow-wows and few other events before breaking through in 1998.  As part of Wisconsin’s “Sesquicentennial Celebration” in 1998, she set up a booth in Dane County, where her food received rave reviews from those in attendance.  She received a Four-Star rating from the Wisconsin Arts Board, leading to invitation to sit on the Master Chef’s Panel.  Her culinary creations have been the subject of numerous magazine articles.

Politically active, Rhonda is the co-founder of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin American Indian Caucus, and together with Ken designs and builds jewelry and furniture.  Those other interests and Wisconsin’s short growing season limits Native Gardener’s participation to events that Rhonda believes are important.  She has a booth every year at the Midwest Renewable Energy and Sustainable Living Fair in Custer, WI.  Both Rhonda and Ken support using renewable energy and the event which last year drew nearly 55,000 visitors is one of the largest of its type in the country.  At the weekend long event Native Gardener’s  “Indian tacos” proved to be a popular item.  Noting that all meat used is from animals organically fed by other farmers, Rhonda annually sells her “organic taste” at other venues, including the Madison Art Fair on the Square, Taste of Madison and at an event held at the Effigy Mounds National Monument, near Prairie du Chein, WI.

Both Ken and Rhonda want to keep the Native American tradition alive.  To achieve that goal, Rhonda stated that the profits of Native Gardener are used to support two specific projects important to the couple.  Held every summer at Good Village, the Great Lakes Solo Youth Camp brings together 80-100 youth eager to learn “cultural survival skills.”  Sleeping under the stars and enjoying Rhonda’s cooking, in addition to learning these survival skills, youth are exposed to pottery classes and other recreational activities.  The Good Village Foundation Corporation, another of the couple’s projects, focuses on cultural and environmental preservation and the promotion and survival of Native languages.

Both projects, Rhonda said, stress the need to create Native role models willing to work to keep our traditions alive.  Aware that Native Americans need to be more active in politics, business and industry, she believes the two programs serve a need in bringing tribes together.  She added that if Native people work together as a group and use traditional leadership to establish a network sharing information, the traditions passed on to her and others will live in past the 21^st century.