Our Homeland
Key Terms
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Coniferous forest
A forest largely populated with cone-bearing evergreen trees.
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Deciduous forest
A forest largely populated with trees that lose their leaves each year.
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Habitat
The place where a population (e.g. human, animal, plant, microorganism) lives and its surroundings, both living and non-living.
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Parching
A method of slow roasting wild rice that preserves it for storage and makes it edible. Because parching destroys the inner kernel of the rice seed and prevents it from sprouting, parched rice can be kept indefinitely.
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Winnowing
Agitating wild rice to separate the chaff, or hull, from the grain.
Explore: Finishing the Rice
STEP 1: Drying STEP 2: Parching STEP 3: Jigging STEP 4: Winnowing Correct! Next Clue Correct!
Parching dries the rice further and loosens the shell from the grain. The rice is roasted over a fire in a cast-iron kettle and stirred with a cedar paddle. As it's roasted, it turns glossy and dark.
Jigging removes the rice kernel from the husk. The rice is put in a small pit lined with wood slats and danced on by the jigger. The poles help the jigger balance.
Winnowing separates the grain from the chaff. The rice is placed in a winnowing basket, or nooshkaachinaaganan, and tossed in the air to allow the lighter chaff to blow away.
Freshly harvested rice must be dried. It is spread out on birchbark or other material, where it is raked and exposed to air and sun. The rice is dried for two or three days.
Try These Questions
That is correct!
The 12 members of the Natural Resource Advisory Committee tell the community when the crop is ready.
That is correct!
All of these factors protect the rice beds, helping them give a good crop year after year.
That is correct!
Wild rice must be finished with a multi-step process before it can be cooked or stored.
Story Project Planner
Choose Images for Story Project
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Image 1 of 11
Toggle Favorite "So when I'm looking at the water, I'm t...Jeff Harper, water quality specialist, Leech Lake Division of Resources Management
"So when I'm looking at the water, I'm taking in the history of what my parents and my grandparents told me and people in the community. I'm trying to think ahead to what my children and my grandchildren will see when they come out here to partake of the water and the wild rice."
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Image 2 of 11
Toggle Favorite Ojibwe people have been using the same m...Ojibwe people have been using the same methods of harvesting rice for centuries. 1939
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Image 3 of 11
Toggle Favorite "This rice is unique to each area, and a...Steve Smith, instructor, Leech Lake Tribal College
"This rice is unique to each area, and an experienced wild-rice harvester could identify where a particular rice had come from—where it had been harvested from—by looking at it by the color, the size."
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Image 4 of 11
Toggle Favorite Wild rice dies in autumn. Seeds that fel...Wild rice dies in autumn. Seeds that fell in autumn take root underwater in spring, with shoots growing past the surface. Starting in late August, the seeds ripen gradually from the top down, then drop into the water. Wild rice plants are green during the growing season, and mature seeds are brown. 1998
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Image 5 of 11
Toggle Favorite "We have a natural resource advisory com...
Jeff Harper, water quality specialist, Leech Lake Division of Resources Management
"We have a natural resource advisory committee and they're elders from the Leech Lake area here. What they'll do is they'll come out every few days and verify how long the rice is, and then they'll say, 'next week we're going to open this bed for harvesting.'"
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Image 6 of 11
Toggle Favorite Traditional harvesting doesn't deplete w...Traditional harvesting doesn't deplete wild rice beds or disturb the wetland. As the rice is gently knocked into the bottom of the canoe, some grains fall into the water or remain on the stalks, replenishing the crop and nourishing wetland wildlife. 2010
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Image 7 of 11
Toggle Favorite Moist rice is spread to dry on a birch b...Moist rice is spread to dry on a birch bark mat. ca.1940
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Image 8 of 11
Toggle Favorite Grace Rogers parching wild rice, Leech L...Grace Rogers parching wild rice, Leech Lake Reservation. 1939
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Image 9 of 11
Toggle Favorite Chippewa Indians beating wild rice to br...Chippewa Indians beating wild rice to break the husk. ca. 1925
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Image 10 of 11
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Image 11 of 11
Toggle Favorite "It's a big part of our culture to share...
Jeff Harper, water quality specialist, Leech Lake Division of Resources Management
"It's a big part of our culture to share with people, to help out in times of need."
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Take notes and save images to help answer these questions. Your images and notes will be saved to the Story Project where you can use them to create your own slideshow.
