Native American Herbal, Plant Knowledge

and spoiled it by their manner of taking. The first time I went ricing, 1976, that was

how it was, much harassment and many arrests of Indian people ricing by the DNR.

White people caught ricing without permits were given tickets, to pay a small fine, not

arrested or thrown into jail, and their equipment wasn't taken.

I had no card so I wasn't going to go out. People at the rice camp felt I should. It was a

political statement about National Sovereignty, their right to control by whom and how

ricing was done on their lakes, I'd been invited, and they had the right to invite anyone

they wanted. I wasn't afraid to be arrested, none of us were. But I was afraid for the

canoes and the Pipes. A young man who was going to snare ducks (official legal hunting

season had not started, but some wild birds are needed for the first-rice feast) didn't

want any ID on him anyway, because it was automatic arrest if you were caught, he

would give them a false name, so he gave me his tribal card. His mug shot looked like a

young Indian guy unusually dark, long black hair, bony face. I have a round face and

short, fuzzy hair, light skin, and I was 39 then. ID wasn't too convincing.

"If they catch me, I'll have to tell them I had a sex change operation at the University

of Minnesota and the doctors made a few mistakes," I said. But they didn't come

around that lake that day, luckily. The men snared ducks and woodcocks that were

secretly cooked in clay away from our rice camp. These were offered and eaten in peace

and gratitude -- getting the birds was even more risky than ricing, "hunting out of

season" as the DNR calls the seasons officially. But it was important to us to be able to

offer wild birds along with First Rice. We were tricky, though, we brought some roast

chickens along to mix up with the ducks in case they caught us eating them.

BAASAN -- Drying, Parching, Winnowing

All stages of rice-processing were painted by Minnesota Red Lake Ojibwe

Patrick DesJarlait. See his and his son Robert's pictures; return here with the

BACK button.

Traditional people follow the old ways as nearly as possible the first day at least.

Some people go sneaky and get some birds. Others build a drying rack from green

branches and cover its shelves with dried grass, with a slow fire under it. A lot of the

first rice is dried quickly that way, the rest is spread on big canvases in part-sun

part-shade to dry more slowly. Then a washtub of dried rice is parched (giidasigun) to

loosen the husks. You put in about about 2 bucketfulls from the drying rack, and tilt

the tub to a fire. It's stirred constantly with a flat paddle (uhbwi) for about an hour.

This parching loosens the husks and gives it a nice flavor when boiled. Young girls

usually stir (mamaajii) it and are careful not to get lazy and burn it.

BOOTAAGAADAN -- Milling and Treading

The rice is then pounded. This is done in a kind of barrel with slanting sides called a

bootaagan and long-handled poles whose thick ends are kind of pointed. They are

sanded very smooth after carving. The pole is lifted up high, then just dropped down

along the slanting sides of the bootaagan, so it jostles off the husks without breaking up

Wild Rice

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