August - Manoominike-giizis, Ricing Moon

The video above is a 15-minute video. It talks about wild rice and the lakes and rivers contributing to the rice, and how the Ojibwe people were told to move to where the food grows on the water.

As a young woman, I went ricing with my uncle. Years later, I riced with my brother. My brother was used to knocking, and so was I. But I knew how to do both, due to my uncle getting drunk after selling some of our rice. He would be hung over and couldn't pole, so I did it.

Ricing for many meant school clothes, and school supplies for the coming school year. For others, it would mean food for the year and longer. Wild rice stays good for eating for a long time. Indefinitely when stored properly. After cooking, still for about a week's time.

Minnesota is known as the "Land of 10,000 lakes". For the Ojibwe people, August is known as the moon of ricing. Sometimes ricing doesn't occur until September, or isn't finished until September. My mother would make an excuse for me to miss school to rice. Now kids have a cultural excuse when ricing goes into September.

Rice is costly, and it is a lot of work. This year's wild rice can sell for anywhere from $15.00 to $25.00 a pound for home-processed wild rice. If you are an elder and enrolled in a tribe in Minnesota, you can occasionally buy wild rice for about $6.00 a pound. Benefits of being an elder.

My son was here for a visit, and I left out all of the ingredients for making a wildrice casserole/hotdish. He asked if there was something he could do and I asked him to make the casserole/hotdish. He did, and from then on, when I go to his place, he makes the same dish with his own twist.

In Red Lake, Minnesota, they have paddy rice. It is very dark rice. Black rice. It takes longer to cook and has a different taste and texture. Typically, it costs less. I prefer wild rice from Leech Lake and White Earth reservations. The Red Lake reservation people will get teased about their paddy rice.

My husband loves wild rice and went ricing for school clothes as a boy. I should say that wild rice is the only rice he will eat. He doesn't eat pasta either as he says rice and pasta make your arms shrink. Who knows, not me. I think it is a joke for anything he chooses not to eat.

He prefers wild rice in a hotdish with ground beef, Campbells mushroom, celery, and chicken soups with nothing else. Because I am allergic to beef, I cook this dish with chicken. He eats it, but not as much, which is okay with me. He can get his favorite at potlucks or family gatherings.

Because I don't care for Campbells soup, I use alfredo sauce, from a jar or homemade alfredo with parmesan cheese. I also use onion, celery, green pepper, red pepper, and other seasonings. And I have been known to add tater tots on top of the casserole/hotdish.

My kids didn't go ricing, even though they liked the idea of missing a few days of school to go, but they love to eat wild rice dishes, as do my grandchildren.

My two brothers who riced the most in our family have continued to rice on occasion, even though they are now in their 60s. I will occasionally get rice from them as a gift, or be able to purchase rice from them. I never run out of rice and cook it at least monthly.

~~~~

Mikeydred's monthly dollar prompt - see below.