Get to Know Minnesota Grown Wild Rice and the People Who Harvest It
When you think of Minnesota’s natural beauty, its thousands of beautiful lakes and winding rivers likely come to mind. Our waters are more than just picturesque – they support wildlife and serve as a source of cherished memories and foods for our communities. Among the life that flourishes in our waters is wild rice, a native plant that has grown here for millennia.
Wild rice is much more than just a delicious grain for many local producers. For harvesters like David Wise of Native Wise, it’s a way of life. Having lived most of his life on the Fond du Lac Reservation where wild rice plants grow in abundance, it is an essential link to his heritage, community, and the natural world. As a Minnesota Grown member, David is passionate about introducing this delicious grain to others and passing on the knowledge and traditions that make it so special.
In this blog, we’ll dive into Minnesota wild rice through David’s eyes – it’s cultural significance, what makes it unique, and his thoughtful process behind harvesting and sharing it.
What is Wild Rice? What Makes Minnesota Wild Rice Special?
Wild rice is a grass seed that thrives in the shallow, fertile waters of lakes and rivers. Each stalk can hold hundreds of seeds, rich in nutty flavor and packed with nutrients, such as protein, fiber, and potassium. “It’s like quinoa,” David says. “It’s a superfood, really.”
It's a superfood, really."
There are two types of wild rice: natural, harvested on waterways, and cultivated. Cultivated wild rice is grown in controlled conditions on farms, also known as paddies. While wild rice grows all around the country, Minnesota is one of the top producers of wild rice worldwide! Our state has more acres of natural wild rice than any other in the U.S. and is home to about 20,000 acres of cultivated paddies.
Natural wild rice grows abundantly in the Great Lakes region, making the Fond du Lac Reservation near Lake Superior a fantastic harvesting location. Each year, Native Wise hand-harvests hundreds of pounds of natural wild rice from waterways within the reservation and across Minnesota.
Get to Know Native Wise
Nestled between lakes, field, and forests on the Fond du Lac Reservation near Sawyer, MN, the Native Wise farm is a place where David Wise’s lifelong connection to wild rice thrives. Alongside his wife, Patra, and their two children, the family runs a bustling farm and ranch, home to a herd of over fifty bison, Ojibwe Spirit horses, and abundant vegetable plots.
Wild rice has been part of David’s family for generations, selling their harvests locally for years. In 2019, the Wise family founded Native Wise to share Minnesota wild rice with as many people as they could. Patra’s expertise in branding and marketing made business boom, expanding their reach far beyond their local community.
Together, David and Patra pour love and care into nourishing their lands, connecting with their community and relatives, and passing down knowledge to the next generation. Native Wise offers classes to Native youth, sharing traditional knowledge David and Patra’s elders shared with them. David leads experiential wild rice classes, teaching everything from harvesting to respecting to the plants. Through his work, David hopes to ignite enthusiasm for wild rice, not only amongst Native youth but everyone in Minnesota. “The more people I can get excited about rice, the more people will want to protect this natural resource,” David says.
The more people I can get excited about rice, the more people will want to protect this natural resource,”
Stemming from his strong personal connection, David’s passion led him to study wild rice at the USDA for over 30 years, collecting data on where it grew and thrived. His lifelong dedication makes his knowledge invaluable, offering a rich perspective on Minnesota wild rice, its traditions, and its significance.
Personal, Cultural, and Community Significance of Wild Rice
Ojibwe History of Manoomin
The relationship between David’s lineage and wild rice stretches back centuries. His ancestors originated from the northeast coast of the U.S. but travelled to the Great Lakes Region when a young woman in their tribe was told in a vision to find the place where the “food grows on water”.
Their long journey along the St. Lawrence Seaway led them to lands that make up the Fond du Lac Reservation today, where they found an abundance of “the good seed,” also known in Ojibwe as manoomin or wild rice in English. His ancestors chose this land as their home, and its fertile, shallow waters have sustained his tribe from generation to generation.
Harvesting Runs in the Family
David’s family has harvested, honored, and celebrated manoominn for decades. He grew up harvesting wild rice on a lake just a few hundred of feet away from where the Native Wise farm sits today. “As a young man, it was a rite of passage to be able to go ricing,” he says. When the time came for him to learn, the tribal elders taught him harvesting techniques and instilled the value of respecting the plants and grains. His grandma passed down her traditional knowledge, from how their tribe harvested when she was young, to the subtle cues that signal the harvesting season is almost ready to begin. “My grandma was an artist of rice. She knew what she did and how to do it. And she taught us all,” he says.
As a young man, it was a rite of passage to be able to go ricing."
Wild Rice Brings Communities Together
The wild rice harvesting season typically runs from mid-August to the end of September. In David’s tribe, chosen elders serve as rice chiefs, responsible for overseeing the harvest. Before the season begins, the rice chiefs survey the wild rice plants and their habitats, looking for signs of ripeness. When the time is right, they announce the start of the harvest to the community. David’s father was a rice chief, and now he and his brother carry on that tradition.
“As a kid, [the harvesting season] was always what we call manoominike giizis or the wild rice moon,” David shares. “The peak of it would be…a few weeks in August to three weeks into September because that’s when that moon would change and a lot of the rice really ripens.”
There’s a special camaraderie the community experiences when the season begins, everyone catching up with each other and sharing in the joy of harvesting. “Everyone’ll be out there,” David says. “And everyone’s happy because you know you’re getting food for your family that can last throughout the year.”
How is Wild Rice Harvested and Processed?
The Tools & Techniques
Harvesting wild rice is hard work but incredibly rewarding, requiring skill, teamwork, and respect for the plants. A two-person canoe team, a poler and a knocker, works together to gather the rice. The poler stands at the front of the canoe, using a long cedar pole to gently push the canoe through the rice beds without damaging the plants. Meanwhile, the knocker uses a shorter cedar stick to tap the stalks, causing ripe grains to fall into the boat.
While the process may seem simple, it’s physically draining and takes practice and patience to master. As a poler with decades of experience under his belt, David offers insight into what harvesting is really like:
“You ever see people paddling on paddle boards? [Poling] is kind of like that, but imagine pushing 500 pounds rice with it too,” he says. A full day of harvesting means pushing the canoe and knocking the stalks from nine in the morning until three in the afternoon – it’s exhausting just to think about it!
Traditional harvesting techniques require skill and strategy. As David explains, a good poler knows how to approach the rice stalks in a way that makes the knocker’s job easier and when to adjust the canoe’s speed. “After you get good at it, you can hear how the knockers are hitting the rice to know if you’re going the right speed,” he says.
David also knows a skilled knocker when he sees one. The best technique involves hitting the stalks at just the right force so the grains don’t break, leaving both the grain and hull perfectly intact.
So, what’s the telltale sign of a good knocker? “If [the harvested rice] looks like a porcupine laying in the canoe,” he shares, explaining that the tops of the hulls have fine, pointy hairs that stick straight up if the grains remain unbroken.
As you might’ve guessed, it’s not uncommon for someone to lose their balance and tip the canoe. “You’re doing everything that you’re taught not to do in a canoe – lean over the side, stand up,” he says with a laugh. “You can’t really count your grains until you’ve got them on the shore.”
You can't really count your grains until you've got them on shore."
Relationships of Reciprocity Between Harvesters, the Ecosystem, and the Grains
For harvesters, the manoominike giizis is a time of connection with the wild rice habitat. David painted a vivid picture of what it’s like to be out on the water.
“It’s just a beautiful ecosystem. To see the colors of the rice - yellow and purple and different shades of green - to smell the smell of it, and hear the sounds,” David reminisces, “there’s nothing else like it. It’s almost like you become a part of the plant community.”
Wild rice beds nourish the community and support a variety of wildlife, but to thrive, these habitats rely on the care of those who live in with them. David shared how traditional harvesting techniques and muskrats work together to sustain these ecosystems.
Native harvesters intentionally let half of the seeds they knock off stalks fall into the water, feeding waterfowl and reseeding the rice beds for new growth. However, these seeds need to be stirred to take root.
“We always refer to the muskrat as the ‘keeper of the rice beds,’” David says, explaining how they swim through the rice beds and eat competing vegetation, naturally moving seeds around and keeping the area clear for rice to take root. Likewise, harvesters play their part by stirring the seeds as they use their poles to guide the canoes. In this regenerative cycle, both wildlife and people honor the balance between giving and receiving.
It’s just a beautiful ecosystem. To see the colors of the rice - yellow and purple and different shades of green - to smell the smell of it, and hear the sounds, there’s nothing else like it. It’s almost like you become a part of the plant community.”
Processing Wild Rice: The Step-by-Step Process
Once the grains are brought in, the transformation begins, turning freshly harvested rice into the flavorful, high-quality food Native Wise is known for.
Step 1) Drying
The rice is first spread out on tarps to dry, anywhere from a few hours to a few days, depending on the desired texture and flavor. For dishes like soups and stuffings, drying the rice for a few days darkens the grains, giving them a nuttier flavor and heartier texture. Rice that dries for only a few hours is lighter in color, texture, and taste. David highly recommends trying green wild rice for breakfast!
Step 2) Parching
After drying, the rice is parched, a process that further reduces moisture and enhances its flavor. Traditionally, this step involved stirring the rice in a clay pot over a wood fire until the grains were dry enough to separate from their hulls.
Today, Native Wise uses either a steel kettle or a mechanical parcher, depending on the batch size. The steel kettle can parch up to 45 pounds at a time, while the mechanical parcher can handle up to 500 pounds. No matter the method, Native Wise always heats their batches over a wood stove, giving the rice a distinct, mildly smoky flavor.
Step 3) Separating the rice from the hull
Once parched, the rice grains need to be separated from their hulls. Traditionally, this was done using “jigging holes” dug along the lakeshores, where dancers wearing moccasins would jig on the rice to loosen the hulls. “If you go around these lakes where we live here, you’ll see all those old holes in the ground where they did that,” David shares. After jigging, the grains were tossed in the air, letting the wind carry the hulls away.
Today, Native Wise balances tradition with modern techniques. Their mechanical parcher separates the grains and hulls, but when using the steel kettle, the rice is gently rubbed between palms, mimicking traditional methods.
Step 4) Packaging
David, Patra, and their kids package hundreds of pounds of wild rice each year. Every bag reflects the dedication, respect, and love they pour into the process, from harvesting to the final product.
Get a Taste of Native Wise’s Work
For David, eating and sharing wild rice is just as special as harvesting it. A self-proclaimed wild rice connossieur, he loves sampling rice from across the state. His favorite way to enjoy it? Simply with a little salt or butter to fully appreciate its raw flavor. “Each lake and river gives a different flavor to the rice,” he shares. “It’s like wine – if you go from one vineyard to the next, you’re going to get different flavors.” Besides eating it plain, the Wise family’s favorite wild rice dish is a hearty hotdish Patra has perfected, loaded with bison and fresh veggies from the farm.
Each lake and river gives a different flavor to the rice. It’s like wine – if you go from one vineyard to the next, you’re going to get different flavors."
Every pound of rice from Native Wise carries with it tradition, hard work, and care. Supporting Native Wise means helping to sustain their mission of respecting the land and strengthening their community. “I see a bright future for locally-grown foods,” David says. “I think it’s only going to be more and more important.”
I see a bright future for locally-grown foods. I think it’s only going to be more and more important.”
Native Wise offers wild rice products, bison meat, honey, maple syrup, and CSA shares. You can find their goods at Duluth Whole Foods Co-op, Cloquet Natural Foods Co-Op, and through their online store. Starting in spring 2025, they’ll also welcome customers to their new farm store, where people can buy their products right on the farm.
Visit Native Wise’s Minnesota Grown directory listing to learn more about their products, mission, and ongoing projects!
Explore the Incredible Flavor of Minnesota Grown Wild Rice
Each producer in Minnesota brings their own unique touch to harvesting and preparation. From its unique flavors to its versatility, Minnesota Grown wild rice is a fantastic addition to any meal.
Whether you’re trying wild rice for the first time or you need to restock your pantry, there are plenty of options available from local producers. Search the Minnesota Grown directory to find local wild rice around the state!