My mom usually had the honor of going ricing with Dad when the season rolled around, but when I got old enough the honor was bestowed on me! Dad didn’t really care for me to go with as I am colorblind, and I could usually get him in the greenest rice? He had to tell me where the ripest rice was! Even with that handicap we managed to do OK! 

Everybody would check to see what the price was each day and then sell it when they thought it was a fair price. One day we had sold ours behind the sport shop and bank and Dad was visiting with people he knew. There were around 100 people there! As he was visiting, 2 fellows came there and one asked Dad, “What are they paying for rice today?”

Dad told them and they looked at each other and took off and returned with 4 big bags. One of the buyers asked them how fresh the rice was, and they said they had picked it yesterday and this morning!

When they were paid and left, someone in the crowd said, “YOU CAN’T TRUST THOSE GUYS THEY MAY HAVE HAD IT A LONG TIME!”

There were a few chuckles in the crowd. Not long after that another person spoke up and said, “HEY THOSE GUYS WEREN’T LYING! I JUST SAW ONE OF THEIR BAGS MOVE! THAT IS FRESH RICE!”

Then the whole crowd lit up with laughter and one of the buyers took the bag off the truck! He dumped it out on a tarp and in the middle was an old coat wrapped around one nice sized snapping turtle!! One of their other bags had a rock in it! That brought on every bag after that getting checked!

I always had visions of what I was going to buy with my share of the money, but before I got to spend any, we would make a trip to Duluth, and I had to spend it on school clothes and supplies. What a waste!