Harvesting Wild Rice

[leechmann]

Here's a couple of pictures of our personal best pick in one day. We picked 523 pounds of wild rice in one 6 hour day. It's been a great year. As of today, we have picked 4 days with a total of 1346 pounds of rice to date.

[img:center]http://

[PEATMOSS]

Only folks that have actually done this can appreciate how impressive this is. Great job.

I need a better canoe and I'm gonna have to push my kids a lot harder to ever top that.

[leechmann]

Thanks Peatmoss, my partner and I were talking about that today. He has a friend that had picked 396 lbs on his best day. So we had aimed to top that with anything above 400 lbs. My partner and I, previous best pick was 358 lbs, which we had done just two days prior to this pick.

So we were saying that when people asked us about how the ricing is going, and we would tell them about our record breaking day, that would say, " Is that good", and all we could do is laugh.

Thanks again, Have a great day.

Leechmann

[leechmann]

[img:center]

Here is the finished rice. We had a 47% green rice to finished rice ratio, which came out to 274 lbs of finished rice per partner.

[leechmann]

The wild rice season opened up on August 15, 2010 in MN. Let's post some pictures of our ricing harvest on this thread. My partner and I are going to let the rice ripen for a few more days, then get the Advil bottles out and let the fun begin.

[PEATMOSS]

Are you picking yet? Where the heck did my summer go? I can't believe how quick this came up on me. Haven't even been out to scout, too busy painting pinecones and looking for a few more places to pick boughs in October.

[leechmann]

Hey Peatmoss, no we haven't started yet. We had planned to go today, but the rice just isn't ready yet. We're going to take another look at it Monday. There are a few people out, but the processer people told us the rice that's coming in is needle rice. Meaning that the kernels haven't filled out.

You pick pine boughs? My buddy does too. Balsom?

[Quartersawn]

Could you recommend a few places to sell the wild rice we plan to harvst this late summer? Over the past few years I've only harvested what we've needed and for gifts and this year we are looking to spend more time on the water and would like to know of a few recommended places to sell our late summer harvest.

Thank you very much!

[leechmann]

Quatersawn, it depends how you want to maket your rice. Also depends where you harvest your rice. There are two rice processors in Cass Lake and I think they both buy green rice. The names are Bruhns wild rice processing and Geurkes. These are the two places I know of, but I'm sure there has got to be someone closer to you.

[PEATMOSS]

Hey Peatmoss, no we haven't started yet. We had planned to go today, but the rice just isn't ready yet. We're going to take another look at it Monday. There are a few people out, but the processer people told us the rice that's coming in is needle rice. Meaning that the kernels haven't filled out.

You pick pine boughs? My buddy does too. Balsom?

I'm off Mon-Thu this week and plan to go check out a bed or 2. I'm really going to be pressed for time, so I want to get out a couple days during prime picking and I'm thinking that might not be for at least a week or more where I'm harvesting.

I pick tons of balsam each fall, and a few other evergreens. My family and I make about 3000 wreaths every year.

[leechmann]

Thats awesome Peatmoss, that would be really cool to know how to make wreaths. Yeah, my buddy picked, I want to say 3 tons of balsom boughs last year. Lots of hard work, but who's afraid of hard work? LOL.

Maybe you should do a little demo on HSO. It would be a great thread.

[Scott M]

Thanks for the reports. Going to be giving it a try this weekend for the first time. Keeping it simple, one morning of work, take it to a finisher.

[Quartersawn]

Thank you for the leads. I will give them a call and see who they might know of in our area. Enjoy the harvest this year!

[swamptiger]

You guys are ambitious. I did some ricing during and after high school, but never even got close to that. If I remember right, we were getting close to a dollar a pound for green rice back in the late 60's, early 70's, which was darn good money for a high school kid back then though...beer & gas money...

[leechmann]

Went ricing today. It didn't take long and we knew that the rice was just not ready yet. We riced for about an hour and decided to give the rice some more time. We're going to give it a week. I let you know how it goes.

Leechmann

[PEATMOSS]

Thanks alot for the report, I was going to go out today, but I think I'll just keep on wiring pinecones and finnish up a few other chores. I'll probably go out next wed.

[spivak]

Here in the Duluth area it seems lots of the rice was lost to the strong winds we've been having lately. Not going to be a good season for us. Any other reports?

[reinhard1]

up in the duluth area do you ever harvest wild rice on wolf lake. having fished that lake many times i know there is wild rice there and were just wondering if people go there to harvest the rice. thanks and good luck.

[spivak]

We've riced up there before. Lots of rocks and timber in the rice. There can be good rice, but end up bumping into lots of stuff. Beautiful lake.

[reinhard1]

i have never harvested wild rice but i have asked myself that question plenty of times. thanks good luck.

[Duffman]

On the drive home from upnorth Monday I spied what I'm guessing were two big bags of rice next to a truck at the public access on Big Rice Lake north of Emily. Although it's tough to get a good glance at what's going on at 65mph, oops I mean 55mph.

[leechmann]

The rice crop in the Park Rapids area was a bust this year. My partner and I went out again tuesday and it became pretty obvious, pretty fast,that the rice was wind beaten and gone.

We talked with the rice processors and they told us that it was a bust everywhere. The wind has been out of control, along with rising water levels.

So hopefully mother nature won't be so stingy, next year.

Leechmann

[PEATMOSS]

My season has been likewise, almost unreal how poor it was. I was planning on hitting a small out of the way lake tommorrow and Sunday, but as I type this it's blowing and raining out. I will barely have enough left over from last year for my family. Bartered away alot of last years crop.