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Our Lecture series continues with “Manoomin: The Story of Wild Rice in Michigan”

Author Barb Barton presents her award-winning book about the rich tradition of wild rice in Michigan and its importance to the Anishinaabek people who live here.

Manoomin: The Story of Wild Rice in Michigan focuses on the biology, history, and culture surrounding the State of Michigan’s native grain and the efforts to restore and protect it across the landscape. The story travels through time from the days before European colonization and winds its way forward in and out of the logging and industrialization eras. It weaves between the worlds of the Anishinaabek and the colonizers, contrasting their different perspectives and divergent relationships with Manoomin. Barton discusses historic wild rice beds that once existed in Michigan, why many disappeared, and the efforts of tribal and nontribal people with a common goal of restoring and protecting Manoomin across the landscape.

“Barton brings us the untold story of one of Michigan’s iconic natural resources—its cultural and historical importance, its mistreatment and demise, and the seeds of hope for its future recovery. She writes with deep reverence and careful scholarship, in a warm style that makes me want to paddle the backwaters of Michigan’s rivers and lakes, searching for lost stands of this amazing grass.” —Samuel Thayer, author of The Forager’s Harvest: A Guide to Identifying, Harvesting, and Preparing Edible Wild Plants, Nature’s Garden: A Guide to Identifying, Harvesting, and Preparing Edible Wild Plants, and Incredible Wild Edibles: 36 Plants That Can Change Your Life

Please join us at the Great Lakes Maritime Heritage Center on Thursday, July 11th as Barb shares more on this topic and her book.
This is a free event that is open to all.
The doors open at 6:30pm and the lecture begins at 7pm.
The following morning, on Friday, July 12th, attend coffee and donuts with the author at 10am at the Alpena Public Library.  Barb will be there to continue the discussion and answer questions.

*all dates are subject to change

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