Women sit in the stern of the boat, bend down the stalks with one beater and knock the ripe kernels into the canoe with another beater. Ripe kernels are also knocked back into the water in order to reseed the field.Once harvested, the rice is dried on a sheet of birch-bark, parched in a kettle to help loosen the husk, and then pounded in a barrel, which is sunken in the ground. The rice is then removed from the husks and trodden on by male members of the tribe wearing clean moccasins. Finally the rice is placed in birch-bark bags or baskets, covered with hay and sewn shut.

     Wild rice is an essential part of Ojibwe subsistence. In addition, it is regarded as a sacred gift to be protected by the conservation of the plants and their natural environment.

Text by Erin Dinsmore