Protect the Wilds of Wild Rice

Photo from a wonderful, in depth article on Wild Rice at Circle of Blue.

Real wild rice is at risk of disappearing.   

Manoomin, the “good grain” in Anishinaabeg, the only native grain to Northern America, the richly delicious and nutritious aquatic seed that is a keystone traditional food of Anishinaabeg tribes (Ojibwe/Chippewa, Ottawa/Odawa, and Algonquian) has yet another threat to its existence.   Unique to the Upper Great Lakes' region, Manoomin, which is on Slow Food USA’s Ark of Taste (and one of only seven US Presidia) for its amazing depth and diversity of flavors and its rich cultural heritage, is respected around the world as a true American food.  

But can we protect it here in Wisconsin?

Wisconsin State Assembly Bill 426, said to have been written “for” mining corporations, would repeal several environmental protections and limit public participation to streamline mining projects.  Of particular note is Gogebic Taconite's plan to open an open-pit iron ore mine in the Penokee Range in northern Wisconsin—a move which would directly affect the nearby Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Tribe.  An open-pit iron ore mine with relaxed environmental standards would be devastating to the tribe’s watershed—including the wetlands that are home to wild rice.   

Concerned? If in Wisconsin, contact your legislators. The Wisconsin League of Conservation Voters makes it easy here.

              

You can also help by supporting producers,  read more about wild rice and find Native distributors from our region in a recent post of mine and at Native Harvest..  

And, if you need some more inspiration, listen to my friend, writer and environmental advocate Eric Hansen, speak about the risk of mining to the ecology of the Upper Great Lakes here.

Buon Terra Madre Day

On this day,  Slow Food's Terra Madre Day, people all around the world are celebrating their own unique food sheds; supporting the good, clean, and fair foods and producers that are important to their communities.

Here in Wisconsin, we can celebrate the raw milk cheeses, heirloom winter squashes, antique apples, like the rare Milwaukee Apple that keep our agricultural traditions alive.  We can celebrate wild things too--venison, blackberries, hazelnuts, wild rice...  I'll be heading over to the winter farmer's market to pick up a few things like fairy winter squash, golden russet apples, red wattle pork salami and then will , and Saxon cheeses to share them with loved ones today and throughout the holidays.  You can check out how people are celebrating, in over 120 countries at the Terra Madre day website.