Where The Wild RIce Grows - Personal Project

We have been documenting the Manoomin harvest in Northern Minnesota for many years and with each harvest comes a great appreciation for how special and delicate this process is. It’s also the best tasting rice you’ll ever have the pleasure of eating and hand-picked and processed.

Manoomin, which translates to “good berry” in Ojibwe, is a sacred food for the Ojibwe and Anishinaabe people and has been a part of traditional teachings, stories, and way of life since time immemorial. 

Every September, ricers canoe through the shallow water to harvest the Manoomin that grows near the shores of the wetlands abundant in the northern half of Minnesota. Researchers at the University of Minnesota College of Science and Engineering concluded what Anishinaabe already knew: Manoomin is an “indicator species.” A body of water will be only as healthy as the wild rice growing in it. “Our treaty foods are a canary in the coal mine for the environment,” Bibeau said.