You Can Harvest Wild Rice!

Ever wonder where Wild Rice comes from?

These are the final two videos from the series I shot with Arthur Haines, Botonist and Wild Foods Expert and Primitive Skills Master! When he wants to eat Wild Rice he doesn’t go to the market or health food store, he goes to into the Wilds!

For much of the year Wild Rice has formed a significant part of my diet and I recommend it to my friends and clients often as a commercially available source of Wild Food! For countless generations it served as a staple food crop to many indigenous peoples of North America.

Arthur and his crew harvest enough each season to last them through the year, and they process all of it by hand! This is more than interesting, it is an education in how you can get started too!

Special thanks to both Arthur and the Maine Primitive Skills School for introducing me to him! I will be taking part in a 3 day course this weekend with them on Winter Survival Skills, and I will be sure to get lots of great footage!

Also, there are just a few days left to grab your discounted tickets to Eden Hot Springs (seriously)! Don’t miss this chance to soak in these Wild Waters!

And, if you love Arthur let him know by leaving your comments! If all goes well we will offer a foraging class sometime this summer!

Thank You for reading this and for all your support! This is for you! ~Daniel

Robert T

Great stuff Daniel. Love Arthur’s energy and enthusiasm! Cheers! -Rob

Jan 27, 2010 @ 9:51 pm

madhuri

Thanks so much for the inspration and information. Can’t you bring Arthur out to CA with you

Jan 27, 2010 @ 11:07 pm

Katie

Thank you for all of the information you have provided. I am in the process of planning a hike through the PCT and this video series has been more than enlightening as I am preparing. Can’t wait to see you when you are out here in the Pacific NW!

Jan 28, 2010 @ 1:10 am

Max Floyd

These videos are a blast, thanks so much for posting them. This has me all the more inspired to continue studying wild crafting and “primitive” skills.

Jan 28, 2010 @ 8:52 am

Angelique

I’m loving these videos — thank you so much for taking the time to film and post them. Arthur seems like a wealth of information and so generous for sharing this with us!

Jan 28, 2010 @ 9:09 am

MBramble

Thanks so much for such a valuable resource as Arthur. I’ve already enrolled in his Spring foraging class and can hardly wait.
Peace,
MB

Jan 28, 2010 @ 11:27 am

Jakob roze

wow great work, i have been trying to find a sufficient staple food that can be collected in abundance and will be nutritious, i think i just found one =]. I am signing up for a class with Arthur this spring or summer, hope to see you soon! =]

Jan 28, 2010 @ 1:33 pm

Chantel

Thank you Daniel…that was amazing…

We do a beautiful wild rice dish by blooming the rice for two days then adding herbs and diced veggies with lemon juice …It great..wish i could get the real wild rice…you need to sell some…

Thank again
Live Juicy

Jan 28, 2010 @ 5:21 pm

Lin

Hey Daniel,

Great videos! Thank you.

Although Arthur didn’t say so, the truth is that just about all of the so-called “wild rice” commercially available for sale these days is not really wild at all, but is in fact cultivated. These domesticated, hybridized strains are cultivated in paddies, fertilized and herbicided (unless they’re certified organic) and harvested with a combine. Most people are unaware that what they’re eating is actually domesticated wild rice!

How oxymoronic…

If you want truly *wild* rice but are unable to harvest and process it yourself, you need to seek out the real thing, which the Native Americans called manoomin.

Here are a few links with more information about the differences between authentic, hand harvested wild rice, and paddy grown cultivated rice, as well as some resources for purchasing uncultivated, undomesticated, unsullied, honest to goodness WILD rice, which is harvested by hand just the way Arthur does, usually by Native Americans:

http://www.savewildrice.org/cultivated

http://www.savewildrice.org/history

http://nativeharvest.com/catalog/1/wild_rice

Check out the two videos on this page. One shows Native American elders in a canoe hand harvesting wild rice, and the other is of the rice being parched by hand in the traditional way:

http://www.nettlakewildrice.com/our_story.html

Jan 28, 2010 @ 10:48 pm

Jason Arno

Awesome work and great video. Daniel thank you for this great series of videos and introducing us to Arthur. Arthur thank you for sharing your knowledge with us all. You both are such an inspiration to me and I would consider it a great privlage to learn from you both. Thank You

Jan 29, 2010 @ 12:26 pm

Lauren Michelle Kinsey

I love Arthur! Thank you so much for bringing him to my awareness Daniel.

And please tell him that I think his rice is much much prettier than the wild rice I buy in the store.

I’ve been soaking my wild rice in spring water for many days before I cook it in stews. I imagine that makes it more digestible even through it’s gone through the modern processing.

I love the mashed potato dance. I wish I had a tribe to prepare food with and for instead of paying to go to a gym to do the same motions and have some semblance of community.

Thank you for having the most exciting website on the planet Daniel.

In Joy and Gratitude,
Lauren

Jan 29, 2010 @ 12:47 pm

solara coral

Arthur in amazing and divine inspired!

Jan 30, 2010 @ 6:27 pm

Papyrus

Arthur, I thank you for this information. I’ve found a new use for my canoe! ~Namaste

Feb 01, 2010 @ 1:15 am

doraw

Arthur is the MAN!!! So interesting.
I can’t wait to harvest my own too!
Maybe even where we live here in Northern Jersey?
(10 minutes from Manhattan)
I wonder if there is any wild rice here…

Feb 01, 2010 @ 4:11 pm

Marvin

I agree with Lauren. Your website is tops. Just packed with loads of useful information. It’s so inspiring to know that people like you and Arthur are out there. And willing to pass your teachings along to us.

Thanks Daniel and Arthur.

Feb 01, 2010 @ 6:02 pm

Daniel

Gratitude Marvin!

So much more to come!

Feb 02, 2010 @ 6:33 pm

Not sure!

Bet there is lots of acorns though!!!

Feb 02, 2010 @ 6:34 pm

Papyrus,

Let us know when you fill the canoe!

Solara,

I agree! So great to spend time in the presence of Masters!

Feb 02, 2010 @ 6:35 pm

Lauren!!!

I soak mine too! His was the nicest I have had. The difference is obvious immediately! Thanks for all your support!

Keep shining your light and breaking up the darkness!

Feb 02, 2010 @ 6:37 pm

Jason…

Its just the beginning!

Lin!

Way to bring it!

Gratitude for this contribution!

Feb 02, 2010 @ 6:46 pm

Chantel!

Sow much Love!

Thanks for your endless support!

Feb 02, 2010 @ 6:48 pm

MB,

Great choice! You wont regret it!

Feb 02, 2010 @ 6:49 pm

Blessings Katie!

Thanks for your support!

Feb 02, 2010 @ 6:50 pm

Madhuri…

Wish I could!

Max…

Me too!

I am just back from a weekend primitive skills class! So inspiring!

Feb 02, 2010 @ 6:51 pm

Angelique!

I think this is what he was born to do!

I am so happy to share, and so glad to see it so appreciated!

Feb 02, 2010 @ 6:52 pm

Robert! Thanks for your enthusiasm too!

I am doing this for people like you!

Mike Lund

“Federal Reserve debt notes”.. I love it!! You’ve been busy writing.
Much Love.

Feb 04, 2010 @ 12:55 am

Kevin

haha this is awesome Daniel! Thanks for posting this

I love the idea of being self-sufficient in terms of harvesting my own food wild. Looking forward to learning more about this. I’m definitely going for some wild food/mushroom walks this year up here in Toronto.

Cheers,

Feb 15, 2010 @ 11:27 am

Lorra

This guy is AWESOME! And of course, you are awesome, Daniel. I really hope you come back to Vancouver, it was great to meet you. And next time, bring this guy along, too!

Feb 18, 2010 @ 11:21 pm

Kris Naphtali

Respect Daniel, This is what it’s all about!
The reason I have a deep respect for your works is because it’s not all about marketing a product it’s also about education.

Teaching people to be self sufficient is one of the most powerful tools.

Since ancient of days before nutrition was seen as a industry or production. It was known as a way of life!

Leave out the “new age” and seek the ancient age.

Give thanks and Rastafari bless for your continued efforts to educate the masses.

-Kris

Feb 25, 2010 @ 7:42 pm

Thanks Kris…. Its kind of become the Newage… like sewage! Ha!

Mar 08, 2010 @ 8:57 am

Lorra, I will be there in May… stay tuned!

Mar 08, 2010 @ 9:19 am

Thanks Kevin!

Great springs outside Toronto too!

Mar 08, 2010 @ 9:26 am

Daniel Vitalis
Health Motivator and Longevity Strategist