Meeting Manoomin with Chris Outdoors
A weekend spent learning hands on from Caleb Musgrave and Chris Gilmour about Manoomin/wild rice
September 14 & 15, 2024
Rice Lake, Hiawatha First Nation, Ontario
All year long, month to month, week to week, and even day to day, different things cross my mind, as many people tend to do.
Im speaking specifically to not just things, more so creatures, beings… the living things on this earth.
What crosses my mind, is directly related to the time of year, the season, the weather. The month of September had wild rice crossing my mind, or the name I now know it by in Anishnaabe: Manoomin.
Wild rice is a beautiful grain I have bought for years, specifically for having to eat as a special nutrient rich food I keep on hand to support good health. After buying a bag from the store in September, my annual thoughts on wild rice flooded in “Where does one collect wild rice? Where does it grow best? Is this the time of year to gather it? Is this why all these thoughts are coming to mind right now?!”.
It is amazing how in tune with the seasons our intelligence and body systems can become when we invest the energy and time.
Within the next few days, I was about to go to bed, when I had this impulse to check my email… something I do NOT like doing right before bed, as screens effect my ability to fall asleep.
For some dang reason, I checked my email.
There is was.
An email from Chris Gilmour, at Chris Outdoors, sharing that there was a Wild Rice weekend coming up, with 3 open spots remaining.
Did I mention our systems can become in tune with things?
I signed myself right up.
Here is the story, from Manoomin, to you!
Day 1: Saturday September 14:
My son standing before Pimadashkodoyang, or Rice Lake.
After arriving to the location, the group was headed onto the water via canoe, right into the Manoomin patch.
Hands on learning at its best!
Origins:
Manoomin, (Zizania palustris) “Northern wild rice,” is the Anishnaabe name for what most know as wild rice.
I will name that I am not Anishnaabe in background. I am someone who does believe in learning from people who have strong cultural ties to the land. There is something so important in this, and is the reason why I am sharing the names I learnt in Anishnaabe from this weekend.
In honour of what I was learning, and who I was learning from.
Something I did not know about Manoomin, is that it is a grass.
It belongs to the grass family, Poacea.
As a species of grass that grows in a wetland, a “patch” of manoomin is essentially, a wetland meadow. I find this to be very fascinating and cool.
Once on the water, the group paddled as several canoes. Each boat holding 2 people, 1 in the front, and one in the back, except for our boat which also held a Lou.
Collection:
Upon reaching the edge of the meadow of manoomin, Caleb gave us some pointers on collection. The person in the front of the canoe paddles, while the person in the back, using the ricing sticks, collects the rice.
Lou would sit in between, and eat dried mango and participate as he saw fit.
Krista and Lou in the canoe, with the start of our gathering of manoomin.
Ethical Collection or gathering:
We learnt a lot about how to collect the rice, directly in relation to how the plant grows. Caleb shared that each grain of rice, reaches its hight of maturity, from the top down. Meaning that one must collect only from the main top of the plant, so that the grains lower down on the stalk, may continue to develop, grow, and reach maturity in coming weeks. This also ensures that further collection from this manoomin patch is possible.
Remember, if we are to collect anything, plant, animal, fish, bird, depending on how we are collecting something, we can harm, or even destroy somethings ability to continue to grow well. That’s where what is more generally known as “Ethics” comes in.
In essence, ethical collection or gathering, is to be collecting something in a way that leaves a very low or minimal effect from human impact, while allowing the health of a patch of a plant, or a population of an animal, to remain strong and able to continue to be healthy, months and years after collecting it.
Its a “take the whole patch” VS “thinking with the next generations ahead” sort of mentality. Think long term, sustainable, gathering.
Manoomin has been, and is an actual food source for people. The rice we would collect, has a specific intention and use. It would be used for a re-seeding project that Caleb has been working on, to bring back manoomin patches to areas were it no longer grows. Specifically it would be used to re-seed areas of water that would fit the growing conditions for the plant, for Indigenous communities. Manoomin, has been, and is, a staple food culturally to Indigenous communities.
I really want to emphasize the value this plant has culturally, and ecologically. They go hand in hand.
However, as I named about re-seeding, I understand thus far, that wild rice is not growing as much as it once was. Therefore, it is not being collected, and eaten as much as it once was, within the communities that had been collecting it as a major food source more often at a point in time.
This is separate from commercially grown wild rice, the wild rice one generally would find in a store.
What happened to the wild rice?
I am by no means an expert on this. If anything, I simply wish to share what I learnt with others during this weekend, so we may learn together.
Growing conditions:
Manoomin requires, just like other plants, animals, and creatures, specific growing conditions. It needs water that is about 4-5 ft deep, shelter from strong winds, and not too many strong waves. It also requires sunshine, water health, and not much competition from other aquatic plants.
What I saw on Rice Lake, based on what I understand, seemed like good conditions. Water depth, sunshine, and minimal competition, other than the Lilly pads and flowers (the main plant competitor in the patch). However there are other factors for this plant to compete with and that is boats.
On Rice lake there are motor boats, Jet Skis, Sea-doos, water crafts that are traveling quickly via motor, therefore creating waves, or a wake.
One may not think about the effect a motorized watercraft may have beyond itself, and, they have an effect. The waves caused by motor boats and the like, make their way toward the rice plants, where the water level is more shallow. These waves effect the plants enough to have an impact on them, as the root structure is not very long or deep. If the plants loose their rooted-ness, generally this is not a good thing for their ability to grow well.
My intention is not to speak negatively about watercraft. I am however wanting to name that they simply do have an effect in general, as all things do, and here there is one that is specific to this this patch of wild rice.
Living a balanced life is a constant process. Living a balanced life with other living things, even humans, is a fair amount of work. More specifically, plant life that supports the environment, and therefore our own well being; that is a process in itself. Perhaps this story about the rice weekend can support us in that process.
Miraculous seeds:
If anything, it is a miraculous feat that there is even a wild rice patch on the lake at this time.
Caleb shared an amazing real life story:
One man who joined us on Saturday for part of the collecting of the rice, is related to a man who threw seed down into the lake, years and years ago. This man obtained a bunch of rice seed, placed it into the water, with the hope and intention that it would grow. However, a year went by, and another, and another, and no rice plants grew. The man deemed that the seed was “no good”, that it would not grow. Years went by, and I can’t recall when it did happen, but the rice eventually DID grow.
No different than the nature of all seeds, wild rice seed requires specific growing conditions to be able to germinate and start growing. A lot like a biological clock. It will only begin to grow, when the conditions are right. That is exactly what happened!
Rice, or Manoomin, in the canoe with their seed coat still on, directly from the plants.
By natural consequence of the actions that man made years ago, by placing that seed into the water, today, there is a patch of manoomin. This patch is apparently a decent size in relation to the environment it is growing in. It is not a massive patch, but impressive and miraculous in itself, with the context, and conditions.
This patch, allows for this plant to continue. To re-seed new patches, in bodies of water that may no longer have this plant growing. For myself, this feels amazing. Although I love wild rice, I love to eat it, I will not be collecting wild rice for my own food use. This plant feels special to me, therefore I want to care for it. Until I get around to trying to seed a spot of the lake that is on our family land, I will continue to buy it from good sources.
Inside my mind and heart, its kind of like if you found a lovely small patch of a not so abundant wildflower. The desire to pick some, may come up, and, you may pick some.
But would you pick all of it?
What if it was the last few flowers that were left in the world? Would you pick them all? Would you even pick one?
Consider that if you picked only a few, or left all of the flowers, and picked none, that they could then go to seed, re seed, and next year, there could be twice, or three times as many as there are right now… things to think about…
After spending the core of the day on the water and in the hot sun, we made our way back to shore.
My son leaning in to enjoying being in a canoe!
Each canoe held a decent amount of manoomin, considering we were first-timers. On the paddle back, each person took a handful of the collected rice, and threw it out toward the edge of the lake where it met a wall of cattails. With the hope that in a few years a new patch will take hold!
Canoe with manoomin piled up.
On shore we swept the rice into a pile in each canoe, then placed it into a bag.
Every rice grain matters!
This bag of rice, once properly processed to preserve it and be used for food, would be enough to feed 1 family for the winter, Caleb shared.
My direct family is myself and my son. I know we can go through 1 bag of rice in a handful of months, and that is just 2 people.
The evening would include down time, dinner, connecting with others, and a before bedtime slide show all about Manoomin!
Gotta love a slideshow about manoomin !
Ecological Value:
One of the biggest take aways from the weekend that I learnt about manoomin, is what is called its “Ecological Value”. Earlier on I did name this. From the information in the slideshow, this idea was really solidified in me.
What it the ecological value? Why is it valuable?
The type of habitat that manoomin requires to not only survive, but thrive, is the same habitat that will support many other wildlife to thrive, which is an absolutely amazing feat as one plant!
Wildlife such as:
Water fowl, shoreline birds, song birds, birds of prey, muskrat, mink, beaver, as well as fish/fish nurseries.
While collecting the rice, there were several times that we suddenly noticed either a big cloud of dirt in the water beside us, or a big splash near the boat. We didn’t see one to verify, but it was characteristic to a large fish hanging out under the Lilly pads.
Another sign of other species; I believe it was only once, that I did recognize some odd looking shoots of the rice plants that were cut on what looked like a 45 degree angle, close to the waters surface. This was something I did not think much of, until later on Chris and Caleb asked if anyone had seen any cuts like that. My ears perked up right then and there. Apparently that 45 degree cut, is from muskrats!
I recall Caleb naming something along the lines of that if you like fish or birds, that you would do yourself a favour to start liking manoomin, as they go hand in hand.
Where the manoomin grows, the fish and birds will go! … Along with many other species.
Day 2: Sunday September 15th
This day would be full of processing!
Caleb and Chris brought in some wild rice that had been previously collected, cared for, and dried, so that we may learn the process in a day. The bag we collected the previous day, was soaking in the lake, a necessary step.
While some folks began making a fire, others worked on crafting their own ricing sticks. Once the fire was burning well, the already dried rice would be carefully “parched” over the fire.
Parching:
This step involved a massive cast iron pot, in which the manoomin would be added, a batch at a time, carefully heated up, and stirred.
Too little heat, and it would take a long time and have little effect. Too much heat, and you could “pop” or “puff” the rice, or worse, burn in.
Freshly parched rice, still warm and cooling. The kids strategically removed any puffed rice grains, and "disposed of them appropriately", in their mouths.
Just the right amount of heat, would cause the seed coat to open up slightly, making it a bit easier to remove, and give the rice grain a nice little roast.
Dancing:
The next step, was dancing the manoomin!
Lou and Caleb under the Willow tree.
This involved bracing ones self using 2 wooden poles, as seen in the above photo, so that about 80% of your weight was not on the rice. The rest of ones weight would be gently distributed over the rice, which sat in another massive cast iron pot. While wearing clean moccasins, a person would gently place a some of their wight onto the rice grains. This “dancing” helps the seed coat to separate from the rice grain. Too much weight, and you break the grains of rice smaller, and smaller.
One person would dance as long as they felt like. Once they needed a break, another person would literally “step in” to the pot.
Caleb shared their are songs for processing manoomin. A lot of these songs have been lost, and they are finding their way back. Caleb sang some other songs he knew and played a rattle for rhythm, which made the dancing a lot more lovely.
I wondered if the rice could teach us the songs, if we really listened.
Winnowing or Nooshkaatoon:
The process in which the rice that had been danced on, would get a final visit from the wind. Usually done by naturally occurring wind, holding handfuls over a large tarp, the wind would seperate the seed coat from the grain, with the grain being heavier than the seed coat, landing in separate areas of the tarp.
It was not windy that day, so we used modern technology: a box fan.
After being winnowed, the odd grain of rice would still have its coat on. A birch bark basket was passed around the group while we sat in the shade, to be hand separated.
Many hands make light work.
Lou removing remaining seed coats.
One final point I want to express here is the spirit of folks working together, or community. If 1 single person were to go out and collect manoomin on their own, and go forth with the processing, it would take days.
We had a group of several+ adults, and it took us roughly 2 days to collect and process 1 bag that would feed 1 family for 1 winter.
It is these types of practices that keep communities together. That tie us to each other, depending upon our connectivity and relationship.
It is very simple and easy to go to the store to buy a bag of rice with money by myself. Yet, it is cut off from the connectivity, and the stories. The very stories that I shared with you above, that I had the opportunity to take part in over those 2 days.
Food is nourishing, and, experiences like this weekend, are nourishing in ways that food cannot be. I strongly believe that humans are needing this type of connectivity, and nourishment at this point in time.
Connecting with others, with self, and with the natural world.
A big thank you to Caleb Musgrave and Chris Gilmour for hosting this weekend and sharing their knowledge!
If your curious about the work that Chris and Caleb do, check them out online:
Caleb Musgrave:
Chris Gilmour:
If you enjoyed reading this, have any comments, questions, things you may notice need correcting, or your own stories to share, please leave a comment below!
Thank you for reading!
