Documentary: Connecting with my Ojibwe heritage by learning to harvest wild rice

Boozhoo. I’m Leah Lemm, citizen of the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe. I’m the senior editor of the Native News initiative at MPR News.  

I’m excited to share our new film, “Finding Manoomin: A Search for the Spirit of Wild Rice.” The film follows my journey as I connect with the harvest and with community members who took time to teach me about many aspects of wild rice.  

When I set out to make the film, I knew just enough to know I needed to learn more. Wild rice, or the food that grows on water, was central to our migration story. Wild rice is a relative to appreciate and be in relationship with. It’s a food that brings us together as a people. And as we care for and protect manoomin, it takes care of us. 

The participants in the film helped me bring these ideas into reality. I met new people, shared meals, learned to use knocking sticks and had meaningful conversations with my dad, who is a Mille Lacs Band elder.  

I also have a son who is now 11 years old. I don’t want tradition and culture to fade away with me — I want to be able to teach him as much as possible. Throughout the process, I learned lessons I can pass onto him as well, including how wild rice brings people together across community and through generations, and why many people are protective of our sacred plant relative and the waters in which it grows. 

My story of connecting to culture is both very personal and universal. Many of us, Indigenous or otherwise, have experienced disconnect with our heritages.  

As an Indigenous person, there have been many complex instances of assimilation or genocide that tried to cut us off from our traditions: removal from lands, forced schooling, decimation of food systems, punishment for speaking our languages, and so on. 

Although devasting, the efforts to remove Native people from our ways were not fully successful. Many people kept language and culture alive, kept innovating within our value structures and remembered the ancestors and upcoming generations in their actions. 

I have been helping to tell Native stories for a decade now, both through journalism and in ways that closely resemble oral tradition. I made the decision to do so with the support and generosity of family, colleagues, and Native community members around the state — giving of their time and voice, feedback and appreciation. And I’ve been inspired by their stories of learning language, nurturing Indigenous farms, creating art and literature, teaching, building and dreaming. 

I wanted to give something back in return, so I wrote a song as a reflection of my wild rice journey titled “Manoominike Giizis,” or “Wild Rice Moon.” The song is a gift to the participants who inspired the words. The lyrics are snapshots of moments that occurred while harvesting wild rice — from putting down tobacco in thanks, to hearing the laughter of a family across the water.  

When I set out, I was worried about being judged. I’m well into my 40s and barely knew what the wild rice plant looked like. But the people I spoke with were so generous and inviting. I was new but felt like I belonged.  

After finishing the project, I received a note from one of the participants that said that the film is more than learning about wild rice — it’s about being able to grow at any point in our lives, and that our tribal spirit cannot be broken. 

That is the hope I want my child to know. Miigwech. 

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