Wisconsin 101

Wild Rice and Wetland Conservation

Wild rice grows only in the Great Lakes Region in shallow and calm waters. It requires specific conditions, nutrient-rich muddy soil and stable water levels, in order to properly grow to maturity, to produce the seeds able to be harvested. Damaging the…

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November 17, 2024

Ashland County / Broad History / Odanah / Indigenous Wisconsin / Agriculture / Lac du Flambeau / Food & Cooking / Ethnicity & Identity / Related Stories / Region 1 - North West / Nature & Environment / Region 2 - North East / Vilas County / Ricing Sticks

Ricing (Manoominikewin)

Wild rice was depicted in an Ojibwe prophecy before there was even a name for the grain. When the Ojibwe people began to migrate west, they were prophesied to settle where food grows on water. The westward migration was in part because…

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November 16, 2024

New Object Histories / Agriculture / Ashland County / Indigenous Wisconsin / Broad History / Odanah / Lac du Flambeau / Food & Cooking / Object Histories / Ethnicity & Identity / Region 1 - North West / Region 2 - North East / Vilas County / Ricing Sticks

OBJECT HISTORY: Ricing Sticks (Bawa’iganaakoog)

Bawa’iganaakoog, threshers, or knockers, are all words used to refer to the sticks used for the harvesting of wild rice. Wild rice holds extreme cultural importance to Ojibwe culture for several reasons beyond basic sustenance; not only can it be dried and…

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November 16, 2024

Broad History / Columbia County / Art, Sport & Entertainment / Lodi / Madison / Milwaukee / Milwaukee County / Dane County / Sports & Games / Related Stories / Ethnicity & Identity / Global Connections / Region 7 - South Center / Region 8 - South East / Wooden Curling Stone

Curling’s Growth in Wisconsin

When the Scottish migrated to the United States in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, they brought more with them then just bagpipes; they brought the growth of curling, a winter sport in which the players slide heavy granite blocks across icy terrain…

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June 20, 2024

Broad History / Art, Sport & Entertainment / Columbia County / Lodi / Ethnicity & Identity / Related Stories / Sports & Games / Global Connections / Society & Religion / Region 7 - South Center / Wooden Curling Stone

The Lodi Curling Club: 150 Years of Curling

How do you bring leisure and fun to a newly founded city? Build a curling club of course! At least that’s what James Otis Eaton did just over a decade after the small Wisconsin town of Lodi was officially founded in 1869.…

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June 20, 2024

Broad History / Door County / Related Stories / Nature & Environment / Region 5 - Center East / Transportation & Tourism / Fish Boil Kettle

Tourism in Droves: Door County as a Tourist Destination

In the present day, the Door County tourism industry brings in over $500 million in total economic impact every year, with the summer as peak season. Rising from humble beginnings, and getting some help along the way from innovation, mainly the rise…

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April 10, 2024