>> Production support for "Journey Indiana" is provided by WTIU members.

Thank you!

>> BRANDON: Coming up, discover a native grain nearly lost.

Explore a one-of-a-kind home, and meet a group of folks marching to their own beat.

That's all on this episode of "Journey Indiana."

♪ Welcome to "Journey Indiana."

I'm Brandon Wentz, and we're coming to you from the Model T Museum in Richmond.

The Model T Museum is a shrine to one of the most popular and influential cars of the 20th century.

Visitors can see an array of Model Ts from throughout the two decades the vehicle was in production, and gain a better understanding of how this dynamic automobile put America on wheels.

And we'll learn all about what drives this museum in just a bit, but first, producer Nick Deel takes us to Lake County, where a painstaking plant project is taking root.

♪ Less than a mile from the shores of Lake Michigan, at the Indiana Dunes National Park, you'll find a rare sight.

Here, in marsh swales, tucked between rolling oak savannas, wild rice grows abundantly, just under 100 acres in all.

>> We can't say for sure how long it's been here, but we're pretty sure that it's been here as long as the dunes and swales have been here, thousands of years, yeah.

I mean, obviously the dunes are -- have been sculpted over time by the glaciers.

They've been sculpted over time by the ebb and flow of the lakes.

And so as the lakes receded, they created this dune and swale complex, and in each of these swales we have nice little water bodies, and each of those water bodies are typically associated with some form of a wild rice bed.

>> On this day, a crew led by wildlife biologist Jennifer Kanine is gathering in the late summer heat to harvest some of this ancient grain.

They are employed by the Pokagon Band of the Potawatomi, an Indigenous tribe, based in northern Indiana and southern Michigan.

>> If you can get out into the middle of the swale, that would be great.

>> And they used to be part of the Pokagon tribe's Department of Natural Resources.

So in November of 2022, our department changed their name from the Department of Natural Resources to Kowabdanawa ode ke.

In the Potawatomi language, that means they care for this land.

A lot of times when people refer to natural resources, they refer to extraction.

They refer to take.

They refer to removing things from the environment, and that's not what we're about.

We're -- you know, we're here to enhance and manage and work with the environment to try to make it better for future generations.

>> Collection of the rice is simple.

Grab a bucket, tap the rice head into it, and watch the ripe rice fall in.

But that doesn't mean this is easy work.

>> So you can see that this is definitely, um, very labor intensive when we go out and we hand harvest.

A lot of times, we'll find that the rice on the outsides of the bed ripens before inside the bed, and so we can try to stay out of the super deep mucky water and just harvest around the edge, which makes it a little bit easier for us in time and efficiency for getting the grains that we need.

>> Wild rice was largely removed from the Indiana landscape as more and more wetlands were destroyed to make way for farmland and industry.

The Indiana Dunes National Park is one of the last places in the state where you can find the grain growing naturally.

>> Obviously, we haven't surveyed the entire state.

We surveyed quite a bit and so I know -- I definitely know where there are some locations.

We put feelers out, and we have historical maps of where it used to occur, but this -- we consider this to be one of our gems for where wild rice is in Indiana.

>> The Pokagon Band is able to conduct this work in partnership with the Indiana Dunes National Park through funding from the Bureau of Indian Affairs Great Lakes Restoration Initiative.

Their goal is to catalog and maintain current rice beds, while also working to restore rice in the Pokagon Band's service area in southwestern Michigan and north central Indiana.

>> Kind of almost seems like, what, maybe we should go to another swale?

>> The historical and cultural connections between native tribes and wild rice in this region stretch back for centuries.

In fact, the Potawatomi word for the nutritious starch says it all.

So "mnomen," it's two different words, "mno" and "men."

And "mno" is good, and "men" is berry.

So technically it means in Potawatomi language, good berry.

Wild rice was one of those foods that they found growing here on the water, and it tied them to this location.

And wild rice is a very valuable grain in that it can be -- it can be harvested and then if it's processed correctly, it can be stored for a long period of time.

It's monumental in some cultures.

>> Buckets and hip waders are the tools of choice in these shallow waters.

However, the team's preferred method is also what native tribes would have used, canoes and wooden knockers.

So I reach around and I pull the grains to the boat, and then just give it a gentle tap, and then anything that's ripe falls off.

And we get a little bit of everything when we do this.

We get the rice worms.

We get the rice spiders.

We get lots and lots of leaf hoppers.

All kinds of critters that come along with tapping the tips of the heads of the rice.

>> On top of harvesting, the team also surveys the rice beds, noting things like density, stalk height and root quality.

Extra grains are distributed to areas where growth is thin.

So far, the efforts have paid off.

>> We're actually in our fifth year of doing those baseline surveys.

And so next year, we're going to not do as intensive surveys and start to just oversee the rice beds on a little bit more of a hands off approach because these are very intensitive surveys that we're doing.

And if you've ever been in one of these swales, it's not super fun walking out there in the -- in the knee-deep muck.

>> While the work may not exactly be fun, it is making a difference.

The rice harvested today will be spread in wetlands across the region, giving this good berry a chance to flourish once again.

>> This is a very valuable resource that we have tapped into.

One of the reasons that the Pokagon Band has tapped into that is because Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, national park area are the historic homelands of Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians.

So the tribe here has a tie to -- directly to this location historically.

They've always been here, and so it just makes sense that the tribe is able to work with the park in order to continue to care for the rice that's here in the park.

>> BRANDON: Just watching the painstaking work that they're going through to harvest all of those grains of rice, it really makes you appreciate just how much comes in a single box.

Want to learn more?

Head to the address on the screen.

Earlier, we spoke with the folks here at the Model T Museum to find out why this automobile is still moving us.

>> When we think about the Model T, we think about more than a car.

We think about its place in history and how it changed people's lives and changed the landscape of America.

The Model T Museum is easy to find.

It's right in the heart of Richmond, Indiana.

We're located right off of I-70 between Indiana and Ohio border.

Model T Ford Museum's mission is to preserve the history of the Model T Ford for generations to come.

We're also interested in telling that history in a way that is interactive for people to visit the Model T Museum.

We have over 40 vehicles, and a Pietenpol airplane that has a Model T engine in it.

And folks think when they come to the museum they're only gonna see Model Ts.

That's not entirely true.

We have Model Ts, and then we have modified Model Ts.

So you are not just going to see little black cars sitting around.

>> Model Ts are incredible because they're modifiable to any extent.

If you could envision your car serving a function, you could make the Model T serve that function.

We have several cars in our agency building that shows such a broad world of business and service.

One of my favorites is probably the snowmobile that we have.

It is a home-built wooden body snowmobile that was used by a postman.

You could imagine the snow drifts that he had to overcome, just to get his mail to all of his patrons.

The Model T started production in October of 1908 up in Detroit, Michigan, and ended production in May of 1927.

Ford, towards 1913, innovated and changed the production process so that it could use a moving assembly line so that the chassis could move from person to person, from station to station, decreasing the assembly time from 12 hours to an hour and a half.

>> Henry Ford used the assembly line to his advantage, to make the car affordable for the everyday person.

As you walk around the museum, you will see that the price of the Model T goes down.

And folks are kind of, um, surprised by that.

But that was Henry's whole idea, that the car would start at this price point, but then get cheaper and affordable for people.

The Model T Museum is maintained by the Model T Ford Club of America.

The Model T Ford Club of America was begun back in 1965, and has a very long history.

It was begun as a way to pull together Model T chapters that had began springing up, and to give them a structure, so a way for them to communicate, a way for them to gather; whereby, they could have tours together, have community together.

The Model T Museum came about as an outreach program for our educational arm of the Model T Ford Club of America.

When people visit the Model T Museum, we hope that they walk away with a sense of the history and the impact that the Model T had on the world at that time.

The whole idea behind the museum is to show that the Model T isn't a funny looking little black car.

It really had such a place in history that it changed the world.

>> BRANDON: I think one of the most interesting things to me about this museum is being able to see just how many styles of Model T. You've got something that was delivering pies.

You've got something that people were racing in.

You've got something that people were taking to put out fires.

It was such an iconic vehicle, and it touched all parts of our lives.

Want to learn more?

Head to mtfca.com.

Up next, producer Tyler Lake takes us to Martin County, where avian abodes abound at the home of the birdhouse man.

[ Birds chirping ] [ Laughter ] >> There's a lot of laughter around Bill Larkin's place.

Of course, there's a lot of birdhouses and a lot of other stuff too.

>> Hey, I'm Bill Larkin.

I really don't have a title, but this is kind of evolved into a tourist attraction of which I didn't really plan to do.

And even a recent surgery hasn't kept Bill from greeting tourists and dreaming big, like he's always done.

Well, I was working at Crane, and I had flowers outside.

I had 30,000 annual plants, and I watered them.

For the last year, it got up to seven to eight hours a day, seven days a week, and I thought at the end of the year, you ain't gonna have flowers no more.

>> So Bill, being nothing if not ambitious, had another idea.

I had over 300 hanging baskets, and I would put -- the top board was flat.

So I decided to put something up there.

I tried to buy birdhouses, and they would just fall apart.

So I went to some place, and they said, well, we sell lumber.

Why don't you build some?

I built a few, like six.

They were crooked.

I finally got better and better at it, to where after I filled out the outside, it got up to about 4,000 almost.

People were wanting them, so I kept building them and giving them away.

>> That sense of generosity and over-the-top ambition just seems to be the way Bill does things.

>> I have been nuts all my life.

Before I moved here, I didn't do -- I didn't even know what a birdhouse was hardly, but I got into collecting stuffed animals, washing them and giving them away.

And I would do two -- at least 2,000 a year.

So I'm just crazy.

I retired in 2003.

36 years at Crane, writing computer programs.

>> And after a lifetime behind a desk, Bill doesn't have much use for a computer.

>> When I retired, my son came here and he says, dad, I want a new laptop.

I'm leaving the old one here for you.

And he came back a couple months later.

He said, you haven't even plugged it in.

I says, I have no intention of plugging it in.

I don't want to even type anymore.

>> Not that he has time to sit around on the computer anyway.

>> I had about 4,000 outside, and I probably gave away maybe 2,000 of those big ones.

These little ones I probably give away between 4,000 and 5,000 each year, and that's been the last five years.

So it's a huge number.

>> Those big numbers aren't just for the birdhouses.

Bill's place is a big draw in southern Indiana.

>> Well, the biggest group I've ever had in my life was last summer when a Jeep rally came here.

It was 256 Jeeps.

>> And folks keep coming back to get more birdhouses, see what's new, and to show someone else the wonders of Bill's birdhouse paradise.

>> I have at least two or maybe three big tour buses each year, and they always want to come back.

>> And they won't have any trouble finding the place.

Type in birdhouse man, and Google knows exactly where you are trying to go.

[ Laughter ] I could not believe that!

When people told me, you know -- they'd call and what are the directions?

Where is your address?

Now you can just Google birdhouse man.

You don't have to put in my name, address or anything.

And it will bring you block by block here.

>> And it's not just the tourists that keep Bill company out here.

>> Come May through June, it is almost deafening in the morning with all the chirping.

>> Bill has more birdhouses than most people could imagine.

But there are a couple he likes to show anyone who drops by.

>> This one is made on a 3D printer, which I did not know anything about a 3D printer.

This family was from Michigan.

They came last spring, and in the fall, this thing just arrived in a box with a little note.

We really enjoyed your place.

This is the best that I could remember what your house looked like.

>> But it was his daughter and grandson that made his favorite birdhouse of all.

It's got pictures of my oldest grandson when he was 4 years old.

The boy is now 19.

>> That makes it clear.

Bill's wonderland has been around a long time, but it may not stay that way.

Bill's thinking of packing it in soon.

>> Well, I'm not sure how long I'm gonna be here.

My son's been wanting me to move and get out of this place, because I can't really take care of the outside at all.

>> So make sure you find your way to this birdhouse paradise before Bill packs up and heads south for the winter.

>> BRANDON: Seeing all of these beautiful birdhouses take over his home and become a roadside attraction, seeing the size of them and the amount of space it takes up, it makes me glad that the only thing that I build are dice, and those take up much less room.

We're sad to say that Bill passed away shortly after we shot that story, but his memory lives on through the many birdhouses he gave away and the many lives he touched.

Up next, producer John Timm takes us to Hamilton County, to meet a dancing club with the right angle.

♪ >> Up through the middle.

All eights spin at the top.

Grab hands, single file.

Promenade.

Ladies backtrack.

>> I'm Margaret Bell, and I am the President of Do-Si-Squares, and also am the lesson coordinator for our lessons.

♪ >> I ballroom dance, and my husband was not very good at ballroom dancing.

So we decided we'd try square dancing.

♪ >> We took lessons with Do-Si-Squares, and my husband and I both learned to square dance.

And then right after that, after we graduated, then we joined the club.

Then we decided to get active in the club and do something.

And so I started heading up square dance lessons, and then I became president a year ago.

>> Hand to hand twice.

>> We meet the first Saturday of each month, except for three months out of the year.

>> Double pass through.

Track two.

>> Woo woo!

>> Square dancing, there's basic and mainstream, and that's just the beginner level.

And the caller will start out with just simple, basic steps that you can do right away.

>> Spin the line, reverse.

Flood a wheel, and go get boy.

>> And then after you kinda get used to those movements, then he'll add a few more extra movements in it.

And I don't remember now how many steps are in -- I'm thinking like 50 something.

>> Allemande left, do si do, touch a quarter, walk and dodge.

Something else that you will hear now in the modern western square dance is swing through.

>> They will call to a song.

>> Swing your girl around and promenade.

>> So the caller just kind of looks at the crowd and decides what he's going to pick or choose that the dancers will be moving to.

>> We'll promenade, or do whatever you want.

I was listening to him.

>> They start out in the same square.

They end in the same square, and they are supposed to end with the same partner they started with in the same position they started in.

>> Swing through.

>> It's not just getting up and making sounds.

It's not just getting up and calling out the figures to a call.

♪ ♪ >> Square dancing has eight people in a square.

Round dancing, you just dance two people, and they do it in a circle around the floor.

>> Circle away two two-steps.

>> That's why it gets the name round dancing, because they are going around in a circle.

>> Side step two.

Twirl vine two.

>> But otherwise, it's very similar because they are being told what to do.

>> Twirl vine three.

Two phase close.

>> They refer to the round dance person as a cuer.

>> Back-to-back.

Face-to-face.

>> First, I was a square dancer.

Then I was a round dancer, and I just decided I wanted to cue.

>> Forward lock forward.

Forward lock forward.

>> We tell the round dancers what to do, just like the caller tells the square dancers what to do.

But they are only dancing with their partner.

>> Back to ball turn.

>> They are doing ballroom, but the ballroom steps are pre-choreographed, but they do all kinds of rhythms.

Rhumba, cha-cha, two-step, waltz, jive.

Those are the most popular.

There's other rhythms, but those are the most popular.

But they are doing ballroom movements that they have learned how to do because I'm telling them what to do.

>> Left turning box a half, face the center.

>> My very favorite thing to do is square dancing.

♪ If I'm honest, I'm a round dance cuer, but my favorite is square dancing.

But I enjoy the round dance cuing and teaching very much.

♪ >> Square dancing is fun!

It's enjoyable.

It's inexpensive.

It would be a good family entertainment.

>> It's just a social event where you can come in and have fun and enjoy yourselves.

And you get to know the people.

You are not just you and your partner all night, or you and another couple all night.

You get to interact with sometimes up to 2, 300 people.

♪ >> I tell you, really it's right.

You don't really realize how much joy you get out of it.

And how many friends you meet while you are out dancing.

♪ >> The main thing that I say is, it's the socialization.

It's just a fun activity.

The people I know are more outgoing and friendly than you will meet in a lot of activities.

>> Thank you!

>> BRANDON: I find it really fascinating that in addition to square dancing, she's also teaching them ballroom dancing through the instructions that she's giving during the square dance.

Want to learn more?

Just head to dosisquares.org.

And as always, we'd like to encourage you to stay connected with us.

Just head over to JourneyIndiana.org.

There you can see full episodes, connect with us on Facebook, YouTube and Instagram and suggest stories from your neck of the woods.

We also have a map feature that allows you to see where we've been and to plan your own Indiana adventures.

All right.

Well, now that we have finished up here at the museum, I've got to go catch my ride.

So we're here with one of the many Model Ts at the museum.

What was this one specifically used for?

>> This specific purpose for this vehicle was a hack.

Hack is a term for vehicle for hire.

So black metal.

It came from Ford, just like the chassis that you guys saw earlier, and the wood was purposefully built by one of the different aftermarket body manufacturers.

>> BRANDON: All right.

And looking down here, I recognize all these things, but I imagine they may not work exactly as I expect.

So how do you drive this?

>> So the pedal on the left, this is actually your clutch.

So first we'll go off, we'll put it in gear.

Right where my foot is, this is neutral.

All the way down, low gear.

Up and off is high gear.

On the right, this is your brake.

So all the way down brake is on the right.

And clutch, basically your go, is on the left.

And the middle, the middle pedal, this is your reverse.

>> BRANDON: Oh, okay.

Well, with that, are you ready to take us for a little ride?

>> I can't wait!

>> BRANDON: We'll see you next time on "Journey Indiana."

♪ >> Production support for "Journey Indiana" is provided by WTIU members.

Thank you!