- Boozhoo, I'm Rita Karppinen.

Welcome to the 20th season of "Native Report."

- [Announcer] Production for "Native Report" is made possible by grants from the Blandin Foundation.

The generous support from viewers like Jack and Sharon Kemp.

And viewers like you.

(upbeat Indigenous music) (upbeat Indigenous music continues) (upbeat Indigenous music continues) - In this episode, we journey through the rich tradition of wild rice harvesting in Minnesota.

From the pristine lakes where manoomin grows to the careful hand harvesting techniques passed down through generation, we'll explore how this vital food source is harvested, processed, and celebrated while understanding the deep cultural and ecological significance it holds for Indigenous communities.

Stay tuned for a captivating look into the heart of wild rice traditions.

- These are my knockers.

This is an essential tool to ricing.

You need it.

You can't rice without it.

Not all rice beds ripen the same.

Some of them ripen faster.

You have to get into the lake, and you have to really check the rice bed because what my partner told me is that the rice waits for no one.

Now, as a knocker, you always wanna check.

Check that you're not knocking too hard.

And this is what I learned from the rice chief here, that you look at your manoomin, and you look at the manoomin and make sure that it's fully grown all the way.

So you look at your manoomin.

And then the final test is grabbing a few pieces and seeing if they sink.

And that's essentially how you reseed too.

So you take this.

Now, these seeds sink.

So I'm not knocking too hard.

Especially in the beginning season, you wanna be very gentle with the plant.

Very gentle.

It's our medicine.

So we wanna make sure to take good care of it because it takes good care of us every year.

Manidoo gives you everything that you need.

So by the end of the season, manidoo gives you what they wanted you to have.

(soft ethereal Indigenous music) - Wild rice is Ojibwe soul food, so to speak.

It is both in a practical sense at the center of the traditional Ojibwe diet and, in a spiritual sense, really important to Ojibwe people.

Two people can harvest hundreds of pounds of food in a day pretty easily.

- So I'm knocking in the back of the canoe, and what I'm doing is, with my two knockers, I am gently pulling the manoomin down into the canoe.

And I do two taps, like a heartbeat.

Ba-boom.

You're like one with the lake, ba-boom.

You only do light taps.

If you're knocking too hard, you'll break the stock.

And what happens is that stock will never regrow.

It'll never come back.

So that's the importance of being gentle, being respectful, and finessing the manoomin into the canoe.

- [Rita] Harvesting rice by hand requires skill, patience, and respect for the water and the rice itself.

- [Anton] This is a superfood.

It is loaded with nutrients.

And a staple food.

So people ate wild rice all the time.

The Great Lakes area, abundant in wild rice.

And it is incredible how efficient it is to produce food with this product.

So if you wanna feed people, that's how it's done.

- [Rita] After the harvest, we learned about the intricate process of drying, parching, and winnowing the rice, a tradition passed down through the years.

(Michaa Aubid speaks Ojibwe) (Michaa Aubid speaks Ojibwe) - My name is Michaa Aubid.

I'm from East Lake.

I'm a member of the Sandy Lake Rice Lake Band.

We're here at the 1855 Sandy Lake Indian Reservation, one of our favorite places to harvest manoomin.

And we wanted to show that you can pretty much process your manoomin wherever you're at as long as you have your gear ready.

- After the ricers have got off the lake and, you know, spread out the rice to dry for a little while.

(harvester speaks Ojibwe) And after that, they start the process called parching the rice.

And generally it involves the okaadakik, in traditional fashion, the three-legged cast iron kettle.

- One of my favorite parts of manoomin is the processing it, and sitting in front of the kettle all day parching it is a great way to pass time.

You can visit with your friends, family, relatives.

One of the ways you can tell if your manoomin is getting to the right temperature is you wait for it to pop.

If you've ate Rice Krispies before, you pour your doodooshaaboo in there, you can hear it kind of going.

(Michaamagad mimics crackling sound) You don't want that with your manoomin 'cause that means it's popping and your fire's a little bit too hot.

So when you're spinning it, you're just spinning the manoomin around there to transfer the heat equally throughout the kettle.

And some of my earliest memories as a child is seeing the old people from my community parching in a kettle like this.

So I tried to learn at a young age, and now we try to pass it on to all of our young people.

Getting your kettle the proper heat and knowing when it's done.

It's real easy to pull your manoomin when it's not ready, and then you're gonna have a hard time hauling it or dancing on it.

But the main thing is is looking at the color, biting into the grain, and seeing how easily the chaff comes off from the grain, are just some of the three main ways that you could tell if your manoomin is done.

- So as we look at all of those back, we try to make sure that the heat goes down on the kettle at least a little bit.

So as it gets to that almost dry point.

(harvester speaks Ojibwe) We like to pull it off.

We still feel that because of its heat and its internal temperature and warmth that it'll finish out, you know, drying out, you know, to the near 100% that we prefer, you know, to keep it, you know, through the next processes, and, you know, ultimately to store as a food source.

- [Anton] After it's parched, then it gets jigged.

And so the customary way would be to make a bootaagan, like a wood-lined pit.

And then the rice would be put in there, and people would literally sing and dance, jigging on the rice to separate the hulls.

It would be winnowed, and it could be kept in, you know, dry storage for years.

- [Rita] Processing wild rice by hand is a labor of love, echoing centuries of knowledge and care passed down through families.

This hands-on process preserves not only the grain but also the cultural connection to the land.

- We don't wanna remove the outside layer of the wild rice kernels, and that's called the bran.

So we want to keep the bran intact.

And I like the green color 'cause it's still a little bit early in this crop.

You know, as it gets farther in the season, you know, it turns blacker, and it even takes on a different taste after a while.

I can see there was one kernel that got a little bit warm over there, a little bit puffy, but a lot of that's normal.

Can't beat that.

(harvester speaks Ojibwe) And during this nooshkaachige event, we fan it out or we winnow it out.

We always, you know, have the right wind direction into account when we're doing this 'cause we like to make advantage of the direction of the wind.

Although a significant portion of the fanning process here involves the technique where it creates its own fanning process.

- [Harvester] This is the winnowing process, and what we're doing here is we're getting the chaff off of the rice.

And after we do that, then it's ready for eating.

- While the Ojibwe have a diverse diet, wild rice, wild game, big game animals, small game animals, we probably ate fish even more than game, you know, berries and things like that, it's much more than a practical thing.

The DNA of Native people has been around for a very long time.

Genomic mappers have found that we've been separated from other humans for around 35,000 years, possibly longer.

But the emergence of the Ojibwe as a distinct language and culture within that, you know, genomic group is something that happened much more recently, over the past few thousand years, really.

A couple thousand years ago, our ancestors, Ojibwe ancestors, Ottawa, Pottawatomie, Cree, we were one people.

There are 29 different tribes in the Algonquian language family.

And we used to live on the Atlantic seaboard, another part of the planet that's well-suited for Indigenous agriculture, large game animals, small game animals.

And there was a population boom.

And then there were occasional droughts and competition over resources, and people started to move around.

During that time, there were prophets who appeared to the Ojibwe people who said, "Move west to the land where food grows on water," which we have understood to mean a reference to the wild rice.

And that started a long migration of Algonquian-speaking people settling in the wild rice lands around the Great Lakes.

This became a central of our physical existence, spiritual identity, even today.

Even in the language itself, manoomin, which is the Ojibwe word for wild rice, really is derived from minw, meaning good, and, min, like staple food.

And so it's the good food.

And that's why it's so important to the Ojibwe people today.

- [Rita] From the traditional methods, we transition to a farm where modern techniques have been developed to harvest wild rice on a larger scale.

The innovative equipment and methods used here show how traditional foods are adapting to meet modern demands.

- Today, we're out here, and we're gonna be showing you how we process our wild rice, which is all wood-fired.

And we try to process it within a day or two that it comes off the lake.

We take the inventoried product and we bring it to our bins and we empty 'em all out.

Basically do an inspection, make sure there's nothing in it that shouldn't be.

And then we shovel it into the parchers so that we can start the fires and start the processing.

This is the most crucial point of wild rice processing is the man or woman that's in charge of parching.

'Cause they're like your chef.

They're the ones who make it right.

So then once the wild rice is parched, we put it back into the bins, and we bring it over to this station and shovel it into the elevators.

Which then brings it up to a hopper that feeds it into our hauling machine.

And then the wild rice drops out on this bin.

All of the chaff gets sucked out before we even touch the rice.

I would say 90% of it does.

Then we bring it into this station, after the hull has been rubbed off, and we run it through this elevator into our air screener.

And your air screener takes out the fine particles and the oversize in case there's something in there.

And then it goes from this machine into another hopper, and we bring it over to our final cleaning station, which is our gravity separator table.

And then it goes through another elevator into our bagging facility here, and we bag it in 50-pound bags and then we stack it out there on pallets.

I'm really particular on how the wild rice turns out.

And rice processors are just like any type of miller or like a beer maker or wine maker.

They all have their own techniques.

- [Rita] Despite the differences in approach, both traditional and modern methods honor the importance of wild rice in Indigenous culture.

Wild rice remains more than just a food.

It's a symbol of survival, a link to heritage, and a reminder of the sacred relationship with nature.

- The demand is only increased as this food has been flowing into, you know, supermarkets and things like that.

There are a couple of issues with regard to wild rice, both how it's harvested and even produced, that are contentious.

So first is wild rice naturally grows in muddy-bottomed lakes and rivers throughout this area.

And it is technically a grass that just grows in the water.

However, there have been experiments at trying to cultivate it.

Now, growing rice, wild rice or white rice, really requires flooding a field, planting your product, and then, typically now, then they drain the field and run big combines and harvest all of the rice.

- [Rita] Despite the differences in approach, both traditional and modern methods honor the importance of wild rice and indigenous culture.

- Even today, that is still a place, among others, where it is, you know, commercially produced.

When you do that product harvested that way, it is a machine harvested, you know, and produced, often chemically laden through that process.

However, it has customarily been labeled wild rice.

It's not really wild.

It wasn't naturally growing wild in the environment when it was harvested.

And so for a consumer, there's just no way to tell, where did this come from?

And so there've been efforts to say it should be labeled as hand-harvested or, you know, things like that.

But on the street people say paddy rice versus wild rice.

To the trained eye or to somebody who's used to eating wild rice, you can just tell the difference because the paddy rice generally is darker, harder, takes longer to cook and so forth.

So tribes have been really concerned about what this means for the health and vitality of wild rice.

Controlling food is controlling people, and, as tribes have tried to exert sovereignty, this is an important dimension of it.

Controlling the production of our own food, access to our traditional foods, it's not just about being recognizable to our ancestors, although of course it's about that too, it's about controlling what we eat and where it comes from.

I think the other things that are really significant to know about are that climate change is having a profound effect on wild rice.

And if you think about during the last major Ice Age, the glaciers scraped all the top soil off of what we often call the Canadian Shield Country.

And now with climate change, you know, wild rice also needs the cold winters, you know, and the short, hot summers.

It needs stable water levels.

And so the construction of a dam is extremely disruptive for wild rice vitality.

Fluctuations, major changes in weather patterns are also extremely dangerous for wild rice production.

And the changes in temperature cycles are really damaging.

So what we have seen already that the historic range of wild rice that used to grow all the way down in Missouri and today, even the Wisconsin beds have been struggling.

Some of the best wild rice places on planet Earth have been struggling, mainly because of climate change.

and while northern Minnesota, where we are for this interview, still has some of the best wild rice beds on planet Earth, we are worried the range of wild rice can only go so far north before you hit Canadian Shield Country and you don't have numerous muddy-bottomed shallow lakes and rivers.

And so the range of the wild rice has been compressed and diminished and continues to be because, lots of things, also like just the human development, people are pulling up the wild rice 'cause they want a nice dock and a nice beach, and, you know, the chemicals in the water and other things are impacting wild rice too.

So climate change poses potentially even an existential threat to wild rice.

And if you are the people of the wild rice, it does something to your identity.

And I think this is also something about the Native experience that might not be deeply understood by the rest of the world.

We have a very different way of looking at things.

Aanikoobijigan is our word for great-grandchild and great-grandparent.

It spans seven generations.

So seven generations ago, our people were having a hard time going through treaties and dealing with things, and they were thinking of us today, and they thought, "What will they need?"

And they thought, "We will need land.

"We will need clean water.

"We'll need our language, our culture, each other."

And, against all odds, we still have those things.

So when we think seven generations into the future, no one's gonna remember my name no matter how many books I write.

But what are people gonna need?

They're gonna need the very same things.

So we should be taking actions today.

You know, like if our language and culture are here, if the wild rice is still abundant in our area, if our people still have clean water and land to live on, like all our strivings are worth it.

So we should be taking the actions today that are looking out for them seven generations from now rather than what my stock portfolio looks like.

- Thank you for joining us on this journey through the rich and vibrant tradition of wild rice harvesting in Minnesota.

We've witnessed the meticulous process of harvesting manoomin, and, through the eyes of the harvesters, we've seen how wild rice is not only a crucial food source but a powerful symbol of tradition and community.

As we conclude this episode, we celebrate the resilience of the wild rice beds and the ongoing commitment of Indigenous communities to preserve and sustain this vital resource.

(upbeat Indigenous music) - Manoomin means the good berry in Ojibwe.

In English, it's called wild rice.

It's an important food source for Ojibwe people and has a prominent role in our history.

Manoomin has been shown to be high in antioxidants.

Antioxidants are believed to protect against aging and reduce the risk of several diseases.

Manoomin is rich in dietary fiber, which can help keep cholesterol low and can help digestion.

Wild rice is a gluten-free grain and a good source of minerals, vitamins, and folate.

Those have been shown to protect against chronic disease and improve bone health and boost energy.

They may also potentially help reduce birth defects.

Compared with other types of rice, wild rice is significantly lower in carbohydrates.

It's a great plant-based protein source.

Diets high in whole grains, like wild rice, may decrease your risk of Type 2 diabetes.

The glycemic index is a measure of how high a food spikes your blood sugar.

The glycemic index of white bread is 100.

The glycemic index of wild rice is 57.

Wild rice is a great substitute for pasta, rice, or potatoes.

There are a variety of dishes, soups, salads, casseroles, and even desserts that have wild rice as a basis.

Tashia Hart's book, "The Good Berry," has recipes and stories of wild rice harvesting.

The full benefit of wild rice is realized when you harvest it yourself.

I feel connected to my grandparents when my wife and I are out on the lake ricing.

The ducks and geese are calling all around us as they migrate.

Seeing and hearing the flocks of red-winged blackbirds rise and fall by the thousands in the wild rice beds could be a time hundreds of years ago.

You can see what our ancestors saw and be as close to them as you can get.

I was told, "Look and listen "and pay attention when you're outside.

"Everything out there is trying to tell you something."

Harvesting and finishing wild rice is hard work, and it's satisfying to cook rice that you process yourself.

Wild rice needs clean water and clean air and is one of our most basic traditional foods.

Wild rice will take care of us.

We need to return that favor.

As always, remember to call an elder.

They've been waiting for your call.

I'm Dr. Arne Vainio, and this is Health Matters.

(upbeat Indigenous music) - Throughout the seasons of "Native Report," we've shared the wisdom of many elders.

Join us as we pause to reflect on the past and revisit their words.

(soft ethereal Indigenous music) - [Interviewer] What advice do you give to your grandchildren, great-grandchildren these days?

- Well, I have six grandchildren now.

I have six great-grandchildren.

And we're raising them to be, you know, Indian, to be traditional in our spirituality.

'Cause you have to have that.

And then also, though, to be able to exist and get along in the non-Indian world.

But the heart is who we are as Indian people.

You know, that's the strength.

I truly believe that we've got to go back to our culture and our values.

And that's why we have a lot of our young people floundering.

You know, used to be there were systems in place that kept young people, you know, from, I don't know, doing drugs or from acting out.

But those systems are fleeting with our loss of our culture.

And that's really just what disturbs me.

(soft ethereal Indigenous music) - If you missed a show or wanna catch up online, find us at nativereport.org.

And don't forget to follow us on Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram for behind-the-scene updates.

Drop a comment on social media if you enjoyed the show.

Thank you for spending time with your friends and neighbors from across Indian Country.

I'm Rita Karppinen.

We'll see you next time on "Native Report."

(soft ethereal Indigenous music) (soft ethereal Indigenous music continues) (soft ethereal Indigenous music continues) (soft ethereal Indigenous music continues) (soft ethereal Indigenous music continues) (soft ethereal Indigenous music continues) (soft ethereal Indigenous music continues) - [Announcer] Funding for this program is brought to you by: the Arts & Cultural Heritage Fund and the citizens of Minnesota.

(soft ethereal music)