Meet Michaa Aubid and Veronica Skinaway.
They're both Anishinaabe which means the original people.
What's in the giant black cauldron?
- We call it manoomin.
- Okay.
- It's wild rice.
(gentle upbeat music)
- [Baratunde] Manoomin is native
to Northern Minnesota's glacier-carved lakes and rivers.
And according to oral tradition,
it's at actually why the Anishinaabe
first decided to settle here.
- We've been here a very long time.
This is a tradition that survived for hundreds,
thousands of years.
And so it's really unique
and there isn't anything like this food in the world.
It's the best food for your body.
The best food for your heart, your soul, everything.
- [Baratunde] It's said that the Anishinaabe
once lived far away on the Atlantic Ocean until one day,
they received a vision of a food that grows on water.
They found it along the edges of Lake Superior.
And manoomin's been sacred to them ever since.
- [Veronica] This is what saved the Anishinaabe people.
So it is very, very important to us.
- [Baratunde] I'm curious to see how manoomin is gathered.
Especially since Minnesota is in the midst of a drought.
(gentle music)
Water levels are low right now,
which makes Michaa's job as a poler a major challenge.
- So what the poler tries to do is, you know,
cut through the bed like that,
creating as minimal of disturbance as we can.
And getting it to where that manoomin hangs
just over the boat, just right for the picker
to be able to not have to work too hard to tip it in.
- All right, so your job as the picker or the knocker,
how does it work?
- I kind of take that manoomin.
Then I gently tap down on it twice.
Like a heartbeat.
So, boom, boom!
(twigs crunching)
- Ricing is 90% perspiration and 10% nutrition.
(both giggling)
So that's about what you're doing out here
is you're exerting yourself to the max.
But it's for a good cause and it's a labor of love.
- Gentle tapping.
And then you see the ripen manoomin going into your canoe?
(twigs snapping)
- [Baratunde] Michaa and Veronica invite me to participate
in the process as a picker.
And while it's hard at first to find my rhythm,
it doesn't take long for me to understand
why they love this so much.
- [Michaa] Love to add your name to the ricing list.
- [Veronica] Yeah.
- One or two days and you'll have enough food
for your family for the year.
(gentle music)
- [Baratunde] This tradition of gathering manoomin
has gone on for millennia.
Yet Michaa and Veronica,
worry it might not be around for much longer.
So what are the threats to manoomin?
- Well, the primary threat
that we're always concerned about,
there's a lot of 'em, but is the changing climate.
These are delicate ecosystems here
and even the slightest change can alter it.
(gentle music)
- [Baratunde] Michaa and Veronica are also concerned
about a new oil pipeline.
Its supporters say it will bring jobs to the region,
but it would also run right through native lands.
- So that's a great concern to us.
It travels right through our ceded territories,
where we reserve the wild rice here.
- Indigenous groups and climate activists
have joined forces, claiming the pipeline
would impinge on the rights of wild rice itself.
It's a fascinating idea.
And out here, it does feel like the rice
has a life of its own.
Oh!
- Wow!
So how are you doing Baratunde?
- I feel like I'm emerging from like another realm
or something.
Pulling the veil up, it's like crisper.
And there are a few moments where I hit a little rhythm.
So it was kind of like grab, tap, tap,
grab, tap, tap,
grab, tap, tap.
There's a little beat in my head running.
And it was just very soothing, very soothing.
And I got some rice I think.
- Oh wow, you did good.
You are a natural
- I didn't wanna be dead weight out here.
- Yeah, you're a natural. - I gotta work for it.
It might not be the most impressive haul
that Veronica has ever seen,
but for me, it's a first,
This is the first time in my life
that I have touched rice in the wild.
I've only ever gotten rice out of a bag or a bin.
- Wow.
- That's it.
I hold one of these.
And then I look out and there's billions easily.
It feels infinite.
It might feel that way in the moment,
but just like Minnesota's other abundant natural resources,
these sprawling rice beds are fragile and limited.
And learning from those who have lived in balance
with them for so long, in my view, is crucial to our future.
With all the changes that happen in the world
there is this constant of the rice harvest.
And, why does that constant
in the midst of so many other changes,
why does that matter to you?
- It matters to me because this is something generational.
This is something that's been here for hundreds
and thousands of years.
And this is something that you can't learn in a classroom.
This is something real special.
Having some things taken away over time
it makes us appreciate even more.
Makes us fight harder for it.
- Yeah. - Yeah.
- [Baratunde] Hey you!
Thanks for watching!
Do you want more
America Outdoors?
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(gentle music)