Homage to American Indian tradition of gathering wild rice

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Some local history of my area. Mecosta Michigan. This is a little old, but never out of date.

"A couple of months ago, I never knew we had rice in Michigan," Tomczyk said.

LaBine, 54, of the Trout Creek area, aims to raise awareness of the grain's cultural, historical and spiritual importance. Natives were told by one of seven prophets they would head west from the East Coast until they found the "food that grows on the water," according to legend.

Manoomin sustained the Anishinaabe throughout their dealings with Jesuits, French traders and others, LaBine said. "That's why the manoomin is treated with such respect," he said. "It's a gift right from the creator to (the Anishinaabe) people.”LaBine worked with his now late uncle, Archie McGeshnick, on wild rice restoration efforts in Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin through the Great Lakes Indian Fish & Wildlife Commission.

They sowed beds in the Lac Vieux Desert -- their own neck of the woods -- in the 1990s, replacing crops that were destroyed when a power company built a dam near the lake in the 1930s, LaBine said. Thanks to their efforts, there are 93 acres rich with rice where there had been none.
https://www.mlive.com/outdoors/2010/09/campers_pay_homage_to_american.html