Manoomin (photo by Rick Tango)

Eat well with the "food that grows on the water." Native Harvest Wild Rice grows naturally in the lakes of Northern Minnesota and is hand-harvested by Ojibwe communities on the White Earth Indian Reservation using traditional methods.

Unlike the genetically manipulated "wild rice" grown in paddies, this authentic wild rice is an important American heirloom crop and a central part of Anishinaabeg culture and tradition. Anishinaabeg is a self-description often used by people belonging to the indigenous Odawa, Ojibwe, and Algonkin peoples of North America, who share closely related Algonquian languages. Ojibwe communities in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan and Canada, harvest and process wild rice in the tradition of their ancestors.

Manoomin, as the wild rice is known, is part of the Anishinaabeg migration stories and prophecies. It continues to define what it means to be Anishinaabeg. One definition of Anishnaabeg is Original-People. Another refers to ideas about the good people that are on the right path given to them by the Creator.

The campaign to protect the integrity of this authentic wild rice is an important aspect of the White Earth Land Recovery Project in Ponsford, Minnesota. The Project’s mission is to facilitate recovery of the original land base of the White Earth Indian Reservation, while preserving traditional practices of sound land stewardship, language fluency, community development, and the spiritual and cultural heritage of the people of White Earth.

Winona LaDuke is the organization’s Founder and Director. A graduate of Harvard and Antioch Universities, Ms. LaDuke received the Reebok Human Rights Award in 1989, with which, in part, she began the White Earth Land Recovery Project. The Project’s wild rice campaign is working to prevent the taking of the essence of the wild rice by the paddy rice industry, which would leave the Native Americans who have been the stewards of this resource for many centuries with nothing.

The campaign began in 2002, with the historic gathering that brought together traditional rice harvesters from Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan to meet with members from the academic, scientific and non-profit communities. That meeting set the foundation for the ongoing struggle to protect the sacred wild rice from issues of bio-piracy, further genetic manipulation, patent struggles and labeling issues.

The four main components of the wild rice campaign are:

1) Protecting the intellectual property rights of the Anishinaabeg.

2) Opposing genetic modification and contamination of wild rice.

3) Promoting a fair trade for traditionally hand-harvested, natural lake wild rice.

4) Educating on the tradition and culture surrounding wild rice.

To purchase this authentic heirloom wild rice, hand-harvested by Ojibwe communities go to: Native Harvest Wild Rice: Sacred Manoomin

To view a wonderful recipe employing Sacred Manoomin go to: American Black Walnut & Wild Rice Pilaf