Knoess, Ferdi

Knoess, Rebecca

English

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Green Revolution Volume 5 Issue 11 Article 18 11-1-1967 North of the Mississippi - Wild Rice was $2.25 for 4 oz. Box in an Ohio Supermarket on Oct. 21 Ferdi Knoess Rebecca Knoess Follow this and additional works at: https://research.library.kutztown.edu/greenrevolution  Part of the Home Economics Commons Recommended Citation Knoess, Ferdi and Knoess, Rebecca (1967) "North of the Mississippi - Wild Rice was $2.25 for 4 oz. Box in an Ohio Supermarket on Oct. 21," Green Revolution: Vol. 5 : Iss. 11 , Article 18. Available at: https://research.library.kutztown.edu/greenrevolution/vol5/iss11/18 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by Research Commons at Kutztown University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Green Revolution by an authorized editor of Research Commons at Kutztown University. For more information, please contact czerny@kutztown.edu,. 4 - THE GREEN R EVOLUTION, November, 1 967 North of the Mississippi-Wild Rice Price Was $2.25 For 4 oz. Box In An Ohio Supermarket On Oct. 21 By Ferdi &: Rebecca Knoess Penningion. Minn. The harvesting of wild rice was completely new to me. I'd heard of it but hadn't any idea of how it was done. Since re­locating to the lake country of northern Minnesota I'd listened to the talk about ricing and saw rice being brought in last sum­mer. Came this summer I had a pretty fair idea of how wild rice was gathered. During the first part of August people began to talk and prepare for the ricing season. In one of the bull sessions I was activated into buying a homemade, secondhand ricing boat. The thing is almost 16 ft. long, a foot deep and 34 in. wide in the middle, tapering to the common wedge-shaped bow and stem. It has a flat bottom, unlike the canoe after which it is patterned. Since the art of home canoe mak­ing is largely lost and factory models are rather expensive, a great many ricers resort to a flat­bottomed rig simply made out of a few boards. Ours has two long planks for sides and two j ointed pieces of plywood for bottom. Two or Since wild rice is not polished, it is far superior to common rice. It is · used to stuff wildfoul, as a dessert, mill flour, or break­fast porridge. Besides, it is not commercially grown and there­fore not subject to the chemical bloat of the common grains. The question of money is be­for-e us at various intervals, de­pending on our needs, desires and goals. Even those homestead­ers who are getting along well on a few hundred dollars a year must secure funds by means available in their vicinity. In our case the opportunity to take in an amount of cash has expanded. We observe people in our area and then choose the least objec­tionable means to a money in­come. We do not believe that a cash economy best serves our needs and so do with as little cash as possible. We home pro­duce and barter frequently to free ourselves of employee sta­tus. We prefer money opportuni­ties that bind us little and tempo­rarily to the decisions of others. Methods that produce a relative­ly large amount in a short time have priority. Wild rice harvest­ing is one of those means. I'll be out again next year. three heavy coats of paint fin- N R d" ishes the craft. When materials ew ea 1ng are at hand the entire building operation may be accomplished R�viewed By in an hour. Millon Wend Two people are required to Edgartown, Mass. harvest wild rice. One manipu- In treating the exterior sur-lates a long pole (mine was 16 faces of buildings that have not ft.) to propel the boat in a rice been previously painted, pene­bed. The second person handles trating stains are much better, two sticks, called knockers (about cheaper, and more easily applied 2 ft. in length) to do the actual than paints. The latter decorate harvesting. The ricing partners but in almost all cases do not are referred to as the poler and preserve. Send stamped and self­the knocker, depending on which addressed envelopes for the fol­duty they happen to perform. lowing two excellent free pam­The poler stands aft and the ,phlets: knocker sits or kneels a few Publication FPL-046, U. S. De-4,set in front of him, facing fore. partment of Agriculture (send ��� 11ffiOC"i.{e, "d�(!., �<r,'k AMfe'n.. ,4, L ev '1-ocd�_.__q..!'.i1u«:, .I ��tit� , reach out and bring a bunch of Madison, Wisc. 53700). rice over the boat and then em- Penetrating Stain for Rough ploys the other stick to sharply and Weathered Wood (College of stroke the grain heads to loosen Agriculture, University of Wis­the rice into the boat. consin. 1450 Linden Drive, Madi-The wild rice is allowed to son, Wisc. 53706). collect in the bottom of the boat '' '' '' and is finally put into sacks and Ill Fares the Land, Dan. P. Van taken to a rice buyer. It can be Gorder, 1 966, $1 plus ten cents home processed as well. Ricing mailing charge, obtainable from is do.Re in a two- to four-hour Heathcote Center, Freeland, Md. period during the day. A longer 21053. period may rob local and migrat- With the subtitle of "The Fam-ing waterfowl of feed. ine Planned for America," this A rice bed may occupy an acre well written, hard-hitting book or perhaps a hundred or more. attacks the illusion of U. S. farm Wild rice prefers clean water surpluses that we have been pre­with a slight current. It doesn't sented with for several decades. grow in stagnant lakes or pools. The author shows with detailed Too much fluctuation of the wa- statistics that we are not produc­ter level may kill the plants. A ing any real surplus when what rich muck bottom is ideal. we export and import in foods School of Living Christmas Order Blank School of  Living Brookvi l le ,  Ohio 45309 Please fi l l  the fol lowing order: Date -·-·-- - - - - --$3.00 The Green Revolution for 1 year. (Attach names and ad­dresses for gift subscriptions on a separate sheet; 2 gift sub­scriptions for $5.00. ) $4.00 A Way Out col laborating with Modern Utopia, bimonth­ly. $4. 1 5  Go Ahead and Live! 200 page book. $8.50 for a l l  three of above - save $2.65. $3 .50 Education and Living, Borsodi. 2 volumes. $3.00 Chaffenge of Asia, Borsodi. $6.00 Education of the Whole Man, Borsodi .  $2.00 Definition of  Definition, Borsodi .  $4. 95  Let's Get W elf, Adel le  Davis. $4.00 Normal Neurosis, S. & G. Putney. Name _____ _ Street or Rura l Route _______ _ are considered. The shortages and rationing of war time "helped to demonstrate this fact. Cooperative Economy Proposed Mr. Van Gorder att, :.6utes this attitude on the part of the Dept. of Agriculture to a communist For some years Huw Williams infiltration that took place in the �as been a leader in a coopera-1 930's and offers many proofs tive_grou� establishing "Tolstoy," to sustain his approach. Whether an mtentional community on a one can agree with his thesis or farm near Davenport, Wash. He not, the book is well worth read- wants it to become a community ing. of homesteads with an emphasis Particularly thrilling is the ac- on education and cooperative in­count of what the community of dustry. He writes: Colquitt County in south Georgia - "It appears to me that there did to lift itself out of a depres- are many young families who sion. Farmers and County Agent wou�d. like to live in such com­planned and carried through murnties. They would like to diver:5ified (rather than one-crop) live � the coun!ry, h_ave a gar­farmmg; bankers furnished loans den, live near like-mmded peo­and business men provided mar- ple, help educate their children kets; all this in a cooperative and in radical schools, etc. But they w�ll-planned effort. Set up for are unable to break with the umts of 30 acres, production in- system because of financial rea­creased from $10-million to S184- sons. They seem to need to stay million in a few years. · in a city, and hold down a job * * * in order to make a living. A recently published and high­ly interesting book, Famine 1975, America's Decision, Who · Will Survive?, by William and Paul Paddock, bears out Dan P. Van Gorder's thesis regarding lack of surpluses. Gleanings, cont'd ton that 70 % of our people live on 1 % of the land - a tragic waste of lives and land. In De­cember six cabinet members will sponsor a symposium on "Com­munities of Tomorrow - How Urban? How Rural?" U. S. has 3,628,150 square miles, and in the year 2000 will have some 300,000,000 people. Half a mil­lion people continue to leave rural areas for the cities each year, resulting in "human isola­tion in the midst of almost in­credible human congestion," said Freeman. Sounds like Borsodi in 1 928 and ever since, particularly on pages 260-271 of Education and Living (1948). We sent a copy to Sec. Freeman. * * * The July Organic Gardening had an illustrated article about the Howard Dull family, Ar­canum, Ohio, who changed to .OU�&nlrmmi .in.. .l&Jil, .lh'YY. have now produced 70 bushels of wheat to the acre, consider­ably more than neighboring farmers get by hea·vy and ex­pensive applications of commer­cial .fertilizers. An Accident: Grapple Sauce By Jane Preston Butler, Pa. Some of our best food combi­nations have been accidental, and good recipes originate from using "what we have." Those of us who have our own gardens, and do not patronize the outlets for foods raised with agricul­tural poisons, are thrown upon our own resources and must make use of what we have avail­able, as did our pioneer grand­mothers. But we usually come up with some interesting inventions to pass along to our more con­ventional friends. In the fall, I have grapes and apples in plenty. When making applesauce last fall, I wondered how it would taste if l added a handful of grapes. I cooked them together and then put the mix­ture through a Foley food mill. .A..fter reheating, I put it in jars and sealed them. Tasting the combination, I found it good, and in the next batch l added a few more grapes. This was even better. Each time. more grapes went into the kettle until the end product was a deep red­purple color. No sugar was needed as the grapes supplied sufficient sweetening .  Perhaps many others have dis­covered this delicious combina­tion of fall fruits, but I have asked over 30 active gardeners and housewives and none had heard of it. So I venture to pass it along, with the hope that oth­ers will enoy it as much as we have. "Therefore we need to have our own cooperative economy which would allow families to earn money or trade for goods while living in rural communi­ties. The chief obstacle to this is a chronic lack of a way to mar­ket or trade locally produced products. "What is needed, in my opin­ion, is a catalog of c0-0p farm and industry products that has a large selection and a large na­tional circulation. For contribu­tors we have intentional com­munities all over the country, PPC co-ops in Mississippi, and possibly some Indian tribes. Tol­stoy Farm could advertise half a dozen handicraft items, and some organic foods next year. Fifty or a hundred such groups could put together an impressive catalog. Each contributor could also send information about the people, the place and the organi­zation where the items are pro­duced. I would suggest the print­ing costs be paid by the contribu­tors from the sales. I believe there are many per­sons who would buy from such a catalogue, as evidenced by Koi­nonia's success with pecans. It should also promote trade be­tween the co-ops. If so, it will give many more people a chance . to JtrOD� OU\ J>L\b:.'v .at -rae�. "I have written- to -School of Living because Heathcote is a potential member and because you have a photCl'-offset press, which is essential. Conceivably the printing of the catalogue would provide some income for people at Heathcote. I urge you to take the matter under serious consideration; let me know what you think." - Huw Williams Tolstoy Farm, Davenport, Wash. Borsodi's Books For Christmas Gifts A really sad moment comes when we must tell a person who orders Ralph Borsodi's This Ugly Civilization or Flight From The City that these books have long been out of print. This may soon have to be said for his two-vol­ume Education and Living. Only a small supply is on hand - and we urge every School of Living family to make sure they have a copy on their shelves. Both vol­umes can still be obtained for $3.50. Other Borsodi books still avail­able include: Challenge of Asia (1956), $3.00; Education of the Whole Man (1963), $6.00; Defi­nition of Definition (1967), pa­per, $2.00. (Property and Trusterty and Introduction to Major Problems of Living are in the hands of publishers.) Send orders to School of Liv­ing, Brookville, Ohio 45309. Heathcote Notes By Edith Gosnell Coordinator Life at Heathcote during Sep­tember has been changing, busy and really fascinating and re­warding. Marilyn Dorsey (with vers1ty. The ::5tanmsn ram.uy- � from Washington, D. C., have ,....._ been here several weekends, and Jim Standish has resigned his job (they want to fix up the chicken house and be part of the community, preparatory to a later move to Canada). Evan Lefever has moved from the Anackers to the Center, to be part of the community also. And Dave Wayfield, Betty and Susan are in the trailer. We had our first community meeting last Sunday and hope to buy food and other necessities together. My Jim has started work in Balti­more, and now that Betty, Jim, Michael, Evan -and Bill Anacker all work in Baltimore, we should be able to organize a car pool from here. Two other families, Marilyn, Michael and possibly Evan will join us for a trek to New Eng­land this weekend to visit David and Carol Hatch in Vermont. With more people around we will get more done, and things will be running smoothly in short order. Herbs, cont'd thrombosis, telling how Yellow (Sweet) Clover helped to remedy that 6ituation; another identify­ing a "cure" of boils with Bur­dock root; others praising Elder flowers for lowering high blood pressure or a mixture of Mint or Fennel and Catnip for stomach disorders. (For further informa­tion re the uses of such herbs, one may read my book, Kitchen Medicines.)* In recent years, there's been much ado about hardening of the arteries. The warnings of the health-minded Jeremiahs must be heeded: eat none or very lit- . tle of man-made foods or highly cholesterolized foods or else� arteriosclerosis. True, herbs help remedy that dread disease, yet one may best keep the arteries unclogged by eating much of fresh, uncooked vegetables and fruits (in fact, four times as much as the protein intake). Two "wonder" sub­stances that help to prevent ruml�rurui ot t\m �m� w� . __ -. the inositol and choline found abundantly in green-leaved foods of uncooked Spinach and Beet greens, et al., and Dandelion. Exactly! That Dandy Lion of all herbs. But I hope you're not the typical flower-gardener who hates the very mention of this and other uninvited guests such as Burdock, Chickweed, Yellow Dock, etc. Generally their leaves are included in our evening sal­ads or steamed vegetable plate. (They're never boiled.) Please note that Dandy's leaves boast of six times as much Vitamin A as Lettuce. twice as much calcium. phosphorus and iron, and is quit� rich in Vitamin C and the B com­plex factors. The late summer leaves of Dandelion not only enter into herb teas but with the flower stalks make an herb beer (wine) which, in turn, yields a strong herb vinegar. Its therapeutic properties are well known: bitter tonic and stomachic, diuretic and aperient. The roots and late leaves are much used for gall bladder, kid­ney and liver complaints. Also, a remedy for boils, skin and blood disorders: boil a table­spoonful of the dried, ground roots of Dandelion, Burdock and Yellow Dock in a quart of water for one-half hour, allow to cool and strain, and drink one-half cupful three or four times a day (and very little to eat). Thus, for all organic prob­lems, remember the derivation of this herb's generic name of Ta­raxacum: Taraxos - disorder -and Akos - remedy. To all organic gardeners: to prepare a soil fertilizer, strew finely ground, dried leaves of Dandelion, Yellow D ock, Btu-­dock, Lambsquarters, and Net­tles over the beds at all times. In the late fall, blanket with lea"\."es of trees and flat stones .  LMr . Harris will answer your questions regarding herbs. Send sell-addressed, stam-pect envelol)e in care oi Natura Publicati.ons at address below .\ City ----- ---- - State __ _ Zi p Code _ __ _ \:.At Lane·s End we combine pears and apples, and call it Papple Sauce or Pearple Sauce, depending on whether apples or pears predominate.1 us during the summer) started college, but has decided to re­turn, and become a permanent member of our family . Michael Howden i.s busy winteri.zing the carriage house , besides teaching his classes at J ohns Hopkins U ni-'' �3 from Natu:ra Pu.blications. '23'1 May St., Worcester , �ass . 

North of the Mississippi - Wild Rice was $2.25 for 4 oz. Box in an Ohio Supermarket on Oct. 21

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North of the Mississippi - Wild Rice was $2.25 for 4 oz. Box in an Ohio Supermarket on Oct. 21

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