About a month ago, my partner Chris told me about Moruga Hill Rice (Orzya glaberrima). He had heard about it on NPR, and the story blew his mind. This West African variety of bearded upland rice was grown widely by enslaved Africans on the coast of the Carolinas and as far west as Chris's birthplace of Mississippi as a familiar taste of home in an unchosen land, and as a variety that needed no irrigation or "swamps", meaning fewer mosquitos and disease. In exchange for fighting with the British against those who enslaved them during the War of 1812, many Gullah Geechee people on the sea islands of the Carolinas were relocated (with their seeds and their freedom) to Trinidad where they continue to call themselves Merikans and grow this rice today. Trinidadian ethnobotanist Francis Morean grew up planting this rice with his mother and grandmother, and is working to expand interest in and stewardship of this grain beyond the 40 families who continue to grow it on the island. Recently, my friend and fellow seed keeper Aleya Fraser of Black Dirt Farm on the eastern shore of Maryland went back home to Trinidad and met with Francis Morean and hill rice growers! Aleya sent some seed to Chris, who asked me to also grow them as a backup. Before I planted these seeds today, filled with respect and prayer, I listened to the words of one of these growers - John Elliot - and followed his instructions (via @francismorean). I also soaked the seeds in my mouth, as I've been doing, and two things became very clear: 1. These seeds are powerful, they have seen both joy and pain, and they are not my seeds - though I'm glad to play a role in growing them and 2. The 'beards' inched the seeds deep into my mouth and I wasn't sure I got them all back out for a while - I felt some may have permanently embedded themselves in me. I'll think twice about doing that next time! But I'll probably do it anyways. #hillrice #morugahillrice #oryzaglaberrima #uplandrice #merikan #gullahgeecheecuisine #aleyafraser #seedkeeping #mypartnerchris (at Newtown Square, Pennsylvania)
