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Photos
of wild rice harvest near Baraga ...  Miranda
Voakes of L’ÄôAnse poles a canoe for her
grandmother, Fanchon Boyette (neˆ© Picard) of
Milwaukee, who joined in the Keweenaw Bay wild rice
harvest early this fall.
 Fanchon
Boyette uses two sticks to beat the rice into the
canoe. "This gets rid of my frustrations,"
Boyette said. She told her daughter, Valerie Voakes
of L’ÄôAnse, "I may be here the rest of the
afternoon ’Äì I like it so much."
 Alice
Brunk of Baraga and her niece, Miino Anung Ikwe
(Good Star Woman), 4, enjoyed riding in the canoe.
The Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission
(GLIFWC)
donated the canoes. Suzy Jondreau, a GLIFWC officer,
brought the canoes from Odanah, Wis., for the
harvest.
 Christine
Edwards of Assinins examines some of the rice
harvest with Wayne Loonsfoot of Baraga.
 Eddie
Edwards of Assinins supervises the parching process.
Misty Pelcher (White Cloud Running Water) of Baraga
(foreground) and DeAnna Hadden of Baraga stir the
rice with paddles as Amanda Irwin of Baraga (third
from left) and Sandy Dowd of Baraga (far right) look
on. Edwards noted, "When it turns gold and
brown, they say that’Äôs Indian gold ’Ķ That’Äôs
the kind of gold Indians get gold fever about ’Äì
not that other gold."
 Said
Dowd, "You cook it until you hear a popping
sound. It usually takes about 45 minutes. You have
to keep it moving so it won’Äôt burn."
Elder Jim Welsh of Dynamite Hill (not
pictured) said, "Usually they have a tarp and
put the wild rice on it to dry it out and clean it.
Then it doesn’Äôt take as long to parch it."
Dowd explained that the next step would be
"jiggin’Äô the rice" ’Äì walking or
dancing on it until the hull comes off. (The person
who does this should weigh between 140 and 150
pounds.) After that, "fanning" the rice,
or shaking it in a bowl or birch bark basket, allows
the hulls to fly out.
An important custom is to put
tobacco down as an offering before harvesting the
rice. A KBIC elder (who preferred not to be
identified) said, "Mother Earth has given it to
us, so we give thanks for it."
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