Our latest episode has us talking Cahokia Rice. The name alone likely is a bit confusing as Cahokia is the incredible urban center that predates the United States and was located near today’s St. Louis. But rice isn’t exactly midwestern. So that may raise your curiosity and Cahokia Rice should because it was specially bred to deliver a higher protein content that makes it low glycemic too! 

(An AI-based transcript for this episode is available.)

We talk with farmer Blake Gerard of River Bend Farms about the unique challenges of growing rice, how he came to grow and market an enhanced variety of rice, and some of the ways it’s grown. His operation is very different from many farms as he’s right along the river… so even in a year where many Midwestern farmers have had issues of drought, the water table on his farm kept everything growing. 

We explore the intersection of food and farming and shed light on various environmental pieces that touch rice from filtering muddy river water into crystal clear water, thanks to the soils natural filtration powers. 

Hidden Gem of Midwest Rice Farming

Did you know that rice is grown in Illinois? Most people associate rice production with Southern states like Arkansas and Louisiana, but my recent conversation with Blake Gerard at Cahokia Rice opened my eyes to the unexpected world of rice farming in the Midwest.

Illinois, a state known for its corn and soybean production, might seem like an unlikely place for rice cultivation, especially when compared to bustling cities like Chicago. But as Blake explained, the unique geographical features of this part of Illinois, combined with efficient water management techniques, create the perfect conditions for growing high-quality rice.

Since their fields are right along the Mississippi River, it’s fascinating to see how the River is their biggest asset and yet also presents some big challenges for them. Our farm tour included close looks at the levee and ditch systems used to control water flow on their farm.

Farm Tour Talking Water Control

We hopped in Blake’s Jeep and took a tour of the farm. Hope you enjoy the ride-along.

Water. So often that is a central part of any conversation about farming. Drought is the scourge for most farmers and drought seems to be hitting more frequently. And floods take away so much hard work on many farms, but Blake said having a dry year meant he had his “perfect year” everything went according to plan, including flooding. That’s because flooding rice fields is intentional and the water table along the Mississippi River made it easy this year for him to get water on and off fields when needed. 

Talking to Blake shed light on the challenges faced by rice farmers when it doesn’t rain. While relying on surface water from the river is the primary method for flooding the fields, they also employ a pump on, pump off system, inspired by their friends in Louisiana. This innovative approach allows them to regulate water levels and ensure optimal growing conditions for the rice crops.

As I edited the video, I realized we may have used some words in ways that that are less familiar to folks. With that in mind, I put together a post with definitions of some of the rice farming terms we used.

A Different Kind of Rice

When we think of protein-packed foods, rice might not be the first thing that comes to mind. In fact, some of us think only of carbs. However, Blake is growing a unique variety of rice that has a great source of plant-based protein.

Blake explained that a one-cup serving of cooked rice contains approximately 4-5 grams of protein (which is about double) Another intriguing aspect of rice is its low glycemic index (GI). That low glycemic index means the rice is digested more slowly than most rice, resulting in a gradual release of glucose into the bloodstream. As a result, consuming this rice can help maintain stable blood sugar levels, avoiding dramatic spikes and crashes in energy.

A low glycemic index is sought by athletes of endurance and long-distance events, those marathon runs and cycling. Farmer Blake Gerard says as someone who likes to cycle, mentions the benefits of eating high protein, low glycemic rice brown rice for maintaining stable blood sugar levels definitely helps him.

It’s branded Cahokia Rice as a nod of respect for the native peoples who farmed that area centuries before the Gerard family arrived in the area. Blake points to some of the farming implements sharpened shone that is founf and the company sells direct and through retail, distribution and food service all.

Loving Rice on My Table

Growing up in the South, I always associated rice with daily meals, but it was interesting to learn that a lot of Midwesterners are not as familiar with dishes like red beans and rice. That is unless they have rice in their heritage or love New Orleans like I do! 

But do you eat rice for breakfast on the regular? Add half and half and fresh fruit to your rice? I couldn’t wait to try Blake’s fruit and rice fusion rec but failed to take photos!

When discussing different ways to enjoy rice, Blake mentioned that he loves incorporating fruits like peaches or blueberries into his rice with half-and-half or milk.

This reminded me of my experience with mango sticky rice in Thailand, where the combination of fragrant rice, juicy mango and coconut created an irresistible treat. If you haven’t had it, look for it on menus at your favorite Thai restaurants! 

Rice Fields & Waterfowl Go Hand-in-Hand

If you watched the tour video above, you no doubt heard the mallard ducks and some of the other birds on Blake’s farm and the wildlife refuge that he farms alongside.

He shared an intriguing aspect of rice farming: the importance of waterfowl, especially geese, in creating and maintaining a suitable habitat for rice fields. These birds act as natural tillage tools, mowing down the fields and stirring up the soil. Their presence contributes to soil health and water management for this farm. 

As I wrapped up my conversation with Blake at River Bend Cahokia Farms, I couldn’t help but feel captivated by the intertwined story of improvement and adaptation that revolves around rice farming in Illinois. From exploring the unexpected location for rice production to discovering innovative approaches in water management, the richness of this episode truly emphasizes how farming is always evolving. 

Find Cahokia Rice Online

As mentioned above, Cahokia Rice is available online at CahokiaRice.com. You can find them on Instagram @CahokiaRice, on the Cahokia Rice Facebook page and Cahokia Rice’s YouTube Channel.

Castmagic is the AI tool (link to Castmagic & give me a referral fee that doesn’t impact your cost) that helps with some of the content shared here and on social channels. It helps me do more faster since I don’t stare at a blank screen. 

The post Cahokia Rice and the River: Intertwined Story of Improvement & Adaptation appeared first on Grounded by the Farm.

Since we are talking with rice farmer Matthew Sligar this week, we wanted to make sure you knew how to make good use of some of that rice you have in the kitchen!

Don’t forget, as Matthew explained in the podcast episode on rice, you want to be sure you are using the right kind of rice for the dish you are making.

Using Medium Grain Rice

Sushi has become a bit of a family tradition for us. My sister lived in Japan for several years and with all the loved ones we have there as well as Japanese friends and family in the U.S., it provides us a great touchstone. Besides, we’ll take almost any excuse to eat great food.

Love this video where Matthew and his wife Clara took time to learn to make sushi and thought some of you may be interested in giving this a go.

Long-Grain Rice Recipes

More of the recipes I have typically use long-grain rice…. it’s used in casseroles, salads, as a side and more. Growing up, my family would just put a little butter on it… maybe some salt & pepper. But here are some ideas for getting that rice out of the canister.

Red Beans & Rice

My go-to recipe is red beans and rice…. I make that pretty often and just love it! It’s also a favorite for several friends and family members– in fact a 5-year-old friend is a total fan! I started making it years ago with a crock pot red beans and rice recipe a friend’s wife shared — just a few ingredients in a crock pot. Some Hillshire Farms sausage, red beans and sauces (A1, Worcestshire, and Heinz 57) in one pot and cook rice in another. A friend helped me convert it to the instant pot too, and I think instant pot red beans and rice is even better!

Slow Cooker Beef Stew & Rice

Sarah is the farmhouse blogger at Farmwife Crafts and she has a slow cooker beef stew recipe that is served over rice making it more for a plate than a bowl! I love that as a farm family she starts by explaining stew meat, where it comes from on cattle, what you may substitute and more. She also talks you through cooking it in the oven verses the slow cooker!

Porcupine Meatballs

Not gonna lie, when Nicole from Tales of a Kansas Farm Mom shared this recipe in my thread asking about farm recipes including rice, I shook my head. But rice is both part of the porcupine meatballs but you serve them over rice too!

One Skillet Chicken Rotel & Rice

If you have seen our other recipes, you probably were already wondering what Jent from Farmwife Feeds would be adding to the list. The wait is worth it with this one skillet chicken rotel & rice!  I love one pot meals, especially these days when it seems like cooking and washing dishes never stops! And if you have rice, cheese and tomatoes with some sort of protein I am there for it. She also has an instant pot recipe for chicken, rice & peas I’m going to check out.

Best Ever Turkey Layered Hotdish (Casserole)

I giggle just typing in hotdish as I can remember wondering what that was, but it is a casserole. (Although Midwestern friends like Val Wagner who feed big families swear hotdish is so much more appetizing than casserole.) I can’t lie though, I love a good casserole and in my experience, rice contributes to a lot of the really good ones! Lara with My Other More Exciting Self has this best ever turkey layered hotdish that will have you checking your local grocery meat counter for turkey breast you can cube up.

More Great Recipes from Farm Families

We hope you have been enjoying some of the recipes farm families have shared for you to make up yummy dishes with mushrooms, wheat, avocados and we have more coming!

The post Rice Recipes that Will Fill You Up and Make you Smile appeared first on Grounded by the Farm.

This post includes an affiliate link for the book. Using and purchasing through that link may generate income for this site. 

As I prepared for the interview with Matthew Sligar of Rice Farming TV about growing rice, I was pulling together questions I had, questions from friends and then I had a new source of discussion topics — the children’s book Matthew recently published. The book, Daddy’s Got Dirt: A California Rice Story  (available directly from the author & from Amazon) provides a story from the viewpoint of Matthew’s daughter. It’s presented in rhyming verse with great illustrations that is perfect for children who have an interest in food or farming.

To get a good feel for the book, I not only read it, but had a young friend read it aloud for her family & me last week. As someone who loves to share the story of how our food is grown, I enjoyed it and so did the family I shared it with.

The Basics of Daddy’s Got Dirt

Daddy’s Got Dirt is a book that brings words and pictures together in a way that lets us have an intimate peek of a rice farm in California. The story is told by a daughter who learns about the soil, seeds and more from her dad and is passing along their story.

Planting and harvest seasons are time when long hours are spent at work growing rice, and the book shows images of what the various tasks are. It provides more of the story than just saying we need to plant as you see what is done to prepare for that I couldn’t help but think the story would resonate with a wide range of children and families as you have big tractors moving dirt or harvesting crops one minute and see the connections families have with farm dogs and wildlife the next.

A Bonus I Can Get Behind

Our family loves coloring, drawing, etc. and to see that there is a free downloadable coloring book that comes along with Daddy’s Got Dirt gave me a big smile. And yes, I had to download it and break out my box of 64! Fun to take a break but more importantly, I’m sure a lot of people (like me) learn more by interacting with things.

Coloring the pages gives you a chance to slow down and think about even talk about the various components of the image.  I wish I’d printed copies before I went to visit friends cause coloring is so much fun with friends. And I can totally see myself printing a page or two when I go read to a classroom in the future.

Growing Rice Is A Unique Job, but Touches So Many

American families eat a good bit of rice. In fact, according to Think Rice, we average eating 26 pounds per person each year although that differs among cultures, geographies, etc. As Matthew and I discussed in the podcast, I think my family helps pull the average up since we are Southern and have Asian family members too.

But rice is only grown in half a dozen states or so, that means a lot of us enjoy the food but probably haven’t had much experience in how it is grown. This book is a way to see how it’s grown as is Matthew’s Rice Farming TV channel on YouTube. (you can watch this year’s rice crop from week to week too.)

Details on Daddy’s Got Dirt

Here’s are a few of the details on the book Daddy’s Got Dirt you may want to know:

• 40 pages
• Hardcover
• Full color
• Beautifully illustrated by Daniel Vincent
• $19.95 plus shipping (available directly from the author & from Amazon)

Don’t forget to listen to the podcast episode with rice farmer Matthew Sligar too!

The post Learning About Growing Rice from a Children’s Book appeared first on Grounded by the Farm.

While I didn’t meet a rice farmer til I was an adult, I have a lot of them to thank for a lifetime of enjoying rice! I’ve had the chance to meet and talk with rice farmers across the U.S. and in several countries in Asia. I love hearing about how it’s grown. So sitting down for a conversation with Matthew Sligar who farms in Northern California is something I relish. We’ve had the chance to visit on his farm several times but for this podcast episode, we were two thousand miles apart.

What kind of rice is grown in California?

Matthew and other rice farmers in California (the northern Sacramento Valley) grow medium grain rice, he explains that it is the sticky rice that is such an integral part of many Asian foods including sushi! The long-grain rice that is used in some other foods is usually grown in Texas, Arkansas, Missouri, Louisiana and Mississippi.

Since for many of us, we think about brown and white rice as the types of rice we put on the plate, Matthew walked through the process of milling with us. The milling process is where they take the rough rice that farmers grown and remove the hulls and determine whether the bran will remain making it brown rice or the bran is polished off making it white rice. He walks through the process in this video.

Getting His Creative On

As you can see in the video above, Matthew has a creative side that combines with helping people better understand where their food comes from.

I found him online several years ago because a video he did offering trick or treaters a single grain of rice rather than the expected candies. And while most of his videos are more directly related to the way food is produced, this rice farmer always makes the videos interesting with his witty sense of humor and video style including fast edits. His YouTube channel is called Rice Farming TV and he produces videos weekly! You can follow the 2020 rice crop in this playlist too.

And this year, he also has published a children’s book about what happens on his farm! The book Daddy’s Got Dirt:  A California Rice Story is great for young kids with rhymes and images. You can read Grounded by the Farm’s review of Daddy’s Got Dirt here too!

Show Notes

Blog post that provides photos & more:   https://groundedbythefarm.com/rice-farmer/  

Where to find Matthew Sligar online:

• RiceFarming TV on YouTube 
• RiceFarmingTV.com

Rice recipes from some farmers who love to cook

Where to find Grounded by the Farm online:

• groundedbythefarm.com
• YouTube Grounded by the Farm
• Instagram GroundedbytheFarm_
• Facebook https://www.facebook.com/groundedbythefarmpage/

Matthew’s videos we mentioned:

• Offering trick or treaters a grain of rice 
• Explaining what it’s like to be a Rice Krispy Treat farmer 

• Making sushi 
• The difference in brown and white rice 

• Planting Rice! Tractors Working on the Farm Day 1 
• The full 2020 crop year playlist 

• 2019 harvest on the farm— a story of breakdowns 
• 2019 rice harvest is Brazil 

The post A Rice Farmer Who Loves Farming, Food & YouTube — Meet Matthew Sligar appeared first on Grounded by the Farm.