Originally published Sept. 28, 2008
By Susan Lampert Smith
HAYWARD – For those of us who buy wild rice in the store, Chris Smith has nothing but pity.
Pity, and a few choice words.
“It’s hybrid crap,’’ she said. “It’s not even real wild rice. It’s wild rice crossed with brown rice, then treated to look wild.”
Wild rice, called Mahnoomin by the Ojibwe, and celebrated this month during the Wild Rice Moon, is another thing entirely.
“It’s a treat, and a good staple,’’ she said. A true grass, not a cereal crop, it grows in lakes across northern Minnesota and Wisconsin, both of which have regulated wild rice gathering seasons.
To get the real thing, you have to do what hundreds of Wisconsinites do every September -- take to the shallow waters of the Northern lakes and rivers.
The 2008 wild rice season is winding up, and it has been a decent one.
“It’s not a real top-notch year, but it’s better than last year, which was the fifth year of a five-year drought,’’ Smith said.
Smith and Paul Vallem run The Rice Shack on Highway 63 just north of Hayward, where the region’s ricers bring their prize to be parched and threshed.
Vallem and Smith grew up ricing, and inherited the Rice Shack business from their fathers, along with a love of this special season in the north.
“Most of the people we deal with grew up ricing and learned it from their parents,’’ she said. “It’s not just the Native Americans who go ricing, it’s anyone.”
Sam Thayer, who runs The Forager’s Harvest in Ogema, teaches beginners to rice, but he said it is not for everyone. “If people aren’t used to physical labor, it can be very hard for them,’’ he said.
Anyone can buy a ricing license from the state Department of Natural Resources for $8.25. Thayer estimates the DNR sells about 500 licenses a year, and the tribes issue another 300 to their members.
It takes a canoe and two people: one to stand and pole the canoe through the rice, and the other to sit in front with two sticks called knockers, and whack the ripe grains, which fall into the bottom of the canoe.
Ricing takes some skill – most beginners will wind up in the water – and some fortitude.
“This is not for the weak of heart,’’ Smith said. “If you don’t like bugs and spiders and worms, don’t pick rice.”
To remove the bugs, hulls and moisture that will spoil the rice, the Rice Shack crew first parches or dries the rice in a 50-gallon cement mixer that rotates over heat, then threshes it in a second machine. The Rice Shack charges $1.75 a pound for its services, and will trade for rice. But most people keep their hard-won treasure.
“You have to pick twice as much as you want, because you only get half the weight back after it’s threshed,’’ Smith said. For her, about 40 pounds will last until next year’s rice season.
Pity, and a few choice words.
“It’s hybrid crap,’’ she said. “It’s not even real wild rice. It’s wild rice crossed with brown rice, then treated to look wild.”
Wild rice, called Mahnoomin by the Ojibwe, and celebrated this month during the Wild Rice Moon, is another thing entirely.
“It’s a treat, and a good staple,’’ she said. A true grass, not a cereal crop, it grows in lakes across northern Minnesota and Wisconsin, both of which have regulated wild rice gathering seasons.
To get the real thing, you have to do what hundreds of Wisconsinites do every September -- take to the shallow waters of the Northern lakes and rivers.
The 2008 wild rice season is winding up, and it has been a decent one.
“It’s not a real top-notch year, but it’s better than last year, which was the fifth year of a five-year drought,’’ Smith said.
Smith and Paul Vallem run The Rice Shack on Highway 63 just north of Hayward, where the region’s ricers bring their prize to be parched and threshed.
Vallem and Smith grew up ricing, and inherited the Rice Shack business from their fathers, along with a love of this special season in the north.
“Most of the people we deal with grew up ricing and learned it from their parents,’’ she said. “It’s not just the Native Americans who go ricing, it’s anyone.”
Sam Thayer, who runs The Forager’s Harvest in Ogema, teaches beginners to rice, but he said it is not for everyone. “If people aren’t used to physical labor, it can be very hard for them,’’ he said.
Anyone can buy a ricing license from the state Department of Natural Resources for $8.25. Thayer estimates the DNR sells about 500 licenses a year, and the tribes issue another 300 to their members.
It takes a canoe and two people: one to stand and pole the canoe through the rice, and the other to sit in front with two sticks called knockers, and whack the ripe grains, which fall into the bottom of the canoe.
Ricing takes some skill – most beginners will wind up in the water – and some fortitude.
“This is not for the weak of heart,’’ Smith said. “If you don’t like bugs and spiders and worms, don’t pick rice.”
To remove the bugs, hulls and moisture that will spoil the rice, the Rice Shack crew first parches or dries the rice in a 50-gallon cement mixer that rotates over heat, then threshes it in a second machine. The Rice Shack charges $1.75 a pound for its services, and will trade for rice. But most people keep their hard-won treasure.
“You have to pick twice as much as you want, because you only get half the weight back after it’s threshed,’’ Smith said. For her, about 40 pounds will last until next year’s rice season.
PHOTO INFORMATION: Chris Smith (front) and Paul Vallem check wild rice after threshing. If they find more than one husk in a handful of rice, they continue threshing for another minute and check again./PHOTO by Dennis Harnden
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