Some of the foods tied to Thanksgiving are still grown and gathered by the people who have tended them for centuries, and keeping them going takes real work. One growing method nearly vanished from Native communities in the Midwest by the 1930s, and this year’s wild rice season ran into drought and hail. National Native American Heritage Month recognizes the resilience of Indigenous peoples, and Native communities are still showing it, from rice beds to bison herds.

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