Anishnaube-akii (the land of the Anishnaube) is a broad and vast territory, which at one time spanned most of the Great Lakes, out onto the prairies, and east into Quebec. With such regional diversity, the Anishnaube had two things going on;
First, was a vast variety of food.
Secondly, they had a lot of places to name!
With such a vast territory, the Anishnaube had many titles for rivers, lakes, hills and so-forth. Many of these had something to do with food, whether directly (Tullibee River), or indirectly (where to gather hunting or gathering materials). This is not just found amongst my people, as my good friend Mark pointed out to me that in his region of Alberta, the local river was called the Bow River, because the local nations would travel down it to harvest the proper woods for bows, as well as arrows and baskets (the red osier dogwood of the region was apparently superb). With this being said, I would like to cover a few of my region, which happens to be the ancestral territory of the Missisauga, who are my direct ancestors.
I live on Rice Lake, in Central Ontario. Many people assume the name of Rice Lake would be translated into "Lake of Wild Rice". No brainer, huh? However, the Missisauga people called it Pemedashkotayang, Lake of the Burning Plains. This was due to a vast Black Oak Savannah and Tallgrass Prairie ecosystem spanning much of the lake. The Haudenasaunae People, most likely members of the Mohawk People, had a well established agricultural society based on the southern shore of Rice Lake, and frequently burned back the grasses to encourage the growth of succulent plants, which would in turn encourage the deer and other critters out into the open to be hunted by bow, atlatl, sling and many other hunting devices. So an entire lake was named after an action that was performed to access food sources.
The river closest to my house is the Otonabee. I've heard many theories as to what it may mean, until I just finally looked it up. Ottanabeezibi was the original name of the river, and was translated as follows;
Ottanabee = Tullibee (Coregonus artedi), a type of fish, often called a Chub, Lake Herring, or Northern Cisco. I like the name Tullibee, as it is the only name that does not seem to be argued about.
Zibi = River, a type of body of water that moves with the gravitational... okay maybe I don't need to explain what a river is.
So the Otonabee River, is perfectly translated as the Tullibee River. Makes you wonder how important tullibee was to the Missisauga People, huh? Well, being a member of the Whitefish family, tullibee were extremely important. Their spawning and numbers allowed the Missisauga and other Anishnaube nations the chance to harvest a large amount of fish meat (high in Omega 3 Fatty Acids and many other nutrients). This ability to harvest a big yield of protein with simple devices (basket traps, nets, spears, weirs, etc), granted the Anishnaube the chance to secure their lives for at least a couple of months. This gave them more time to focus on other food gathering subjects, community activities, and the collection of other resources, or repairing of tools.
It also granted them the chance to expand their culture, religion and society. Fishing has been connected with the Woodland Period of North America for a great many years. This is because of a higher yield of artefacts that pertain to fishing (bone harpoons, fish bones in midden piles, old weirs found under certain lakes, etc). Notice how suddenly our cultures began to drift more into agriculture, bows rather than atlatls, and much more advanced technology with a simple change in diet? Fishing was more successful than big game hunting, and often the yield was much more rewarding.
Along with the fish, other things would be caught in the traps, such as snapping turtles and eels. While out seeking fish, waterfowl like ducks and herons could be shot at in opportunistic fashion. While scanning the waters for panfish, young men would often come across freshwater mussells, as well as crawyfish and bullfrogs. While gathering such things such as fish, and shellfish, plant sources such as Water plantain, Arrowhead, and cattail would also be gathered as food sources. Sweet Gale would also be harvested for seasoning.
All with just adding fish to the diet, the Anishnaube people were able to advance their society. They had more time to expand their hunting arsenal, as well as delve deeper into their spiritual world.
Oh, and because I know you are wondering.. Tullibee is freakin' delicious. A very sweet fish meat. Here is an out of season recipe, as I often catch Tullibee in April, which happens to be the Whitefish Moon.
Roasted Tullibee
Need:
-Fire that has died down to hot coals
-Basswood bark strips
-Basswood leaves and/or burdock leaves
Ingredients:
-Gutted tullibee
-1/4 cup of garlic mustard (diced)
-Three wild leeks (diced)
-Two tablespoons of birch sap
1) Mix all ingredients other than the tullibee
2) Stuff into body cavity of tullibee
3) Wrap up in two layers of leaves
4) Bind shut with basswood bark strips
5) Place on coals and bake/roast for about 5-8 minutes
6) Flip and roast on other side for another 5 minutes
7) Open up and enjoy!
Hope you enjoy my personal experiment. If you feel like joining along,
let me know your results, research or anything else in the comments
section. Please feel free to subscribe!
Baamaapii,
Caleb Wazhusk
Caleb
The Man, the Myth, the.. consumer of wild things
Monday, July 23, 2012
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
A couple of berry recipes
This being the middle of the Raspberry Moon, and so many different fruits are now ripening, I figured it would be only logical to throw out a few berry recipes. Some are pre-contact, while the others are post-contact. All of the ingredients are from the wilds, though some (like wild rice and maple sugar) are usually preserved staples from spring or fall. In other words, if you were able to keep some wild rice all through the winter and kept it all the way until right now, then these recipes are fully accurate to a traditional diet.
The recipes listed below are ones I've learned from my relatives, or found tucked away in some old book, or are of my own design. None of them came from the internet. After a few weeks of researching back in the winter on traditional Ojibway diet and our recipes, the internet would make you think that all my ancestors ate was wild rice and frybread (a deep fried bannock, often called scone -pronounced S-kaw-n). Fact of the matter is wheat ain't from North America, let alone Anishnaube territory, and it is extremely poor for your health. Ever wondered why diabetes is rampant amongst Indigenous people? Put the scone down folks, put the scone down.
Anyways, I got fed up with those pseudo-Traditional recipes, and decided I would list a few good ones right here. Any of the beverages can be sweetened with maple sugar. However I prefer not to, as the more often you sweeten your food and drink, the less you will taste of the true beauty of the food.
1) Heat-made Sumacade
WARNING! Some people are allergic to Staghorn sumac, and moreso, it must be properly identified from Poison sumac, for obvious reasons. If you have any concern regarding the sumac family and your health, I suggest holding off on this recipe until you can have yourself allergy tested for staghorn sumac. Moreso, if you can't figure out the difference between Staghorn sumac (fuzzy bark on branches with big red "cone" of fruit) and Poison sumac (smooth hairless branches, with droops of smooth white berries), and somehow get poison sumac on you, expect to deal with the same problems you would from contact with poison ivy. In that case, may I suggest the post written by my friend Arthur Haines in a previous blog here, that discusses jewelweed?
Items needed:
-Heat source (stove element, pile of coals, etc)
-Cooking pot (steel, aluminum, glass, handmade clay) Make sure the pot you use can sustain its' strength on the heat source.
-Cheesecloth (Optional) Another option is a collander, or if you want to get primitive, a woven grass mast about the size of a dinner plate.
-Jar or Pitcher
Ingredients:
-Two or Three Sumac berry clusters.
-Water
-Maple sugar for sweetening (optional)
Recipe:
-Put the berry clusters into the pot and add enough water to cover the berry clusters to the pot
-Bring to boil and then set off to steep, or for a stronger taste, simmer for five minutes and then steep.
-Strain liquid into pitcher and drink as a hot tea, or chill it to make into a nice citrusy drink.
2) Sun-infused Sumacade (My preference)
Items needed:
-Clean, large-mouth mason jar with lid.
-Cheesecloth
-Cup
Ingredients:
-Enough Sumac berry clusters to fill up 3/4 that jar
-Enough water to fill up the jar entirely
Recipe
-Put berry clusters into jar so that it is 3/4 full
-Add water
-Seal lid
-Place in the sun on a hot day for the entire day
Voila, a pretty good beverage!
3) EXTREME Sumacade (The word extreme always makes the kiddies wanna drink it)
I will not say I invented this recipe, though I have not come across it yet. If you know of anyone else who does it, let me know! This variation has a whole lot more flavours going on. First and foremost is the citrusy tang of the sumac berry clusters. The second is a very smooth, but sour flavouring from wild grapes. Finally, the ultimate in flavour; raspberries. I won't even describe the epic, astoundingly beautiful taste that comes from this recipe. Just try it yourself and bow down to the beauty that is nature, for she just rocked your world.
Items needed:
-Heat source (same as before, folks!)
-Cooking Pot (just as before)
-Cheesecloth or other alternative. My first two times making this, we ended up using bug head-nets. Since then I have always carried a bug head-net in my kit.
-Pitcher
-Cups
Ingredients:
-2 Sumac berry clusters
-1 cup of wild grape fruits (harves
-1 cup of raspberries (common, purple flowering, blackberry, etc)
-1/2 cup of other edible and in-season wild berries (blueberry is good, as is saskatoon)
-Enough water to cover fruits, and then some
-Optional ingredient: ice cubes
Recipe:
-Place fruits in pot and fill with water
-Optional step: Mash fruits. Not really needed, as the heat will burst the fruits, and the final step will mash them anyways.
-Cover and bring to boil
-Boil for five minutes, or simmer for ten
-Let cool
-When still warm, pour liquid and fruits through cheesecloth or head-net and wring the fruit out into pitcher.
I love this beverage, as it is extremely sweet, and all natural. No sweetener is needed. Each fruit you add just increases the flavours. The first time I did this was on a Basic Hunter-Gatherer course in late-September (Leaves Chaning Colour Moon), and we could not get enough of this drink!
4) Raspberry Wild Rice
An amazing recipe I first experienced back in late winter of this year. Since then, I have researched all I could, and found some traditional ingredients to bring this amazing dish into a more traditional diet.
Items needed:
-Oven
-Deep baking tray/dish (a 2 inch depth should suffice)
-Aluminum foil or lid
-Cooking pot
-Stovetop
-Ladle or big spoon
Ingredients needed
-Two or three cups of wild rice
-Three or four cups of water
-1.5 cups of raspberries
-Some cooked moose or venison (last nights' steak is great in this), maybe 1 cup of meat shredded
-Wild seasonings (Garlic mustard, wild garlic, wild leeks, wild ginger, Sweetflag root, toothwort, whatever you may have. Sweetgale nutlets/seeds are really good as a black pepper and sage substitute
Recipe:
-Fill pot with wild rice and an equal amount of water. Bring to boil and simmer for twenty minutes. If water starts to run out, add a bit more. Don't add too much, yet.
-Preheat oven to 350C
-Once that is ready, pour into baking tray.
-Add rest of the water
-Add berries and meat
-Add seasonings
-Stir evenly so all of the ingredients are mixed thoroughly
-Seal and bake for thirty minutes.
-Let cool a bit, and then serve.
This is pretty much the perfect meal in my opinion. With light seasoning of the wild herbs, you can really get a feel for the food. The wild rice is soft and puffy with texture, and the meat offers that heavy need for protein we all crave at one point or another (join us Vegetarians, join us). The berries throw in their potency with this meal, as the bake, and steam all at once. Think of it as a casserole and a stew all in one. Served cold it makes an awesome breakfast of champions.
5) Raspberry-leaf tea
Always, always, always use fresh or fully dried leaves for your wild teas!!! Partially dried is not good for the gut, believe me on this one. So either pick them and use them immediately, or dry them and save for later use.
Items:
-Heat source
-cooking pot
Ingredients:
-1/2 cup of raspberry leaves. I suggest common red or common black raspberries.
-3-4 cups of water
Recipe:
-Add leaves and water to cooking pot and bring to boil
-Boil for about three minutes, then set aside to steep for ten
-Optional step: add maple sugar for taste,
Sipped late by a fire, raspberry-leaf tea is a godsend. I dry as many as I can for winter use. Dry a few berries as well and toss them in if you really want to rid yourself of the winter blahs (that, or get outside more to soak up some vitamin D)
Alright folks, there you go. Five recipes involving the fruits of this season. I will add more next week. For now, I need to finish making some nets, and get to work on my arrows for this hunting season!
Hope you enjoy my personal experiment. If you feel like joining along, let me know your results, research or anything else in the comments section. Please feel free to subscribe!
Baamaapii,
Caleb Wazhusk
The recipes listed below are ones I've learned from my relatives, or found tucked away in some old book, or are of my own design. None of them came from the internet. After a few weeks of researching back in the winter on traditional Ojibway diet and our recipes, the internet would make you think that all my ancestors ate was wild rice and frybread (a deep fried bannock, often called scone -pronounced S-kaw-n). Fact of the matter is wheat ain't from North America, let alone Anishnaube territory, and it is extremely poor for your health. Ever wondered why diabetes is rampant amongst Indigenous people? Put the scone down folks, put the scone down.
Anyways, I got fed up with those pseudo-Traditional recipes, and decided I would list a few good ones right here. Any of the beverages can be sweetened with maple sugar. However I prefer not to, as the more often you sweeten your food and drink, the less you will taste of the true beauty of the food.
1) Heat-made Sumacade
WARNING! Some people are allergic to Staghorn sumac, and moreso, it must be properly identified from Poison sumac, for obvious reasons. If you have any concern regarding the sumac family and your health, I suggest holding off on this recipe until you can have yourself allergy tested for staghorn sumac. Moreso, if you can't figure out the difference between Staghorn sumac (fuzzy bark on branches with big red "cone" of fruit) and Poison sumac (smooth hairless branches, with droops of smooth white berries), and somehow get poison sumac on you, expect to deal with the same problems you would from contact with poison ivy. In that case, may I suggest the post written by my friend Arthur Haines in a previous blog here, that discusses jewelweed?
Items needed:
-Heat source (stove element, pile of coals, etc)
-Cooking pot (steel, aluminum, glass, handmade clay) Make sure the pot you use can sustain its' strength on the heat source.
-Cheesecloth (Optional) Another option is a collander, or if you want to get primitive, a woven grass mast about the size of a dinner plate.
-Jar or Pitcher
Ingredients:
-Two or Three Sumac berry clusters.
-Water
-Maple sugar for sweetening (optional)
Recipe:
-Put the berry clusters into the pot and add enough water to cover the berry clusters to the pot
-Bring to boil and then set off to steep, or for a stronger taste, simmer for five minutes and then steep.
-Strain liquid into pitcher and drink as a hot tea, or chill it to make into a nice citrusy drink.
2) Sun-infused Sumacade (My preference)
Items needed:
-Clean, large-mouth mason jar with lid.
-Cheesecloth
-Cup
Ingredients:
-Enough Sumac berry clusters to fill up 3/4 that jar
-Enough water to fill up the jar entirely
Recipe
-Put berry clusters into jar so that it is 3/4 full
-Add water
-Seal lid
-Place in the sun on a hot day for the entire day
Voila, a pretty good beverage!
3) EXTREME Sumacade (The word extreme always makes the kiddies wanna drink it)
I will not say I invented this recipe, though I have not come across it yet. If you know of anyone else who does it, let me know! This variation has a whole lot more flavours going on. First and foremost is the citrusy tang of the sumac berry clusters. The second is a very smooth, but sour flavouring from wild grapes. Finally, the ultimate in flavour; raspberries. I won't even describe the epic, astoundingly beautiful taste that comes from this recipe. Just try it yourself and bow down to the beauty that is nature, for she just rocked your world.
Items needed:
-Heat source (same as before, folks!)
-Cooking Pot (just as before)
-Cheesecloth or other alternative. My first two times making this, we ended up using bug head-nets. Since then I have always carried a bug head-net in my kit.
-Pitcher
-Cups
Ingredients:
-2 Sumac berry clusters
-1 cup of wild grape fruits (harves
-1 cup of raspberries (common, purple flowering, blackberry, etc)
-1/2 cup of other edible and in-season wild berries (blueberry is good, as is saskatoon)
-Enough water to cover fruits, and then some
-Optional ingredient: ice cubes
Recipe:
-Place fruits in pot and fill with water
-Optional step: Mash fruits. Not really needed, as the heat will burst the fruits, and the final step will mash them anyways.
-Cover and bring to boil
-Boil for five minutes, or simmer for ten
-Let cool
-When still warm, pour liquid and fruits through cheesecloth or head-net and wring the fruit out into pitcher.
I love this beverage, as it is extremely sweet, and all natural. No sweetener is needed. Each fruit you add just increases the flavours. The first time I did this was on a Basic Hunter-Gatherer course in late-September (Leaves Chaning Colour Moon), and we could not get enough of this drink!
4) Raspberry Wild Rice
An amazing recipe I first experienced back in late winter of this year. Since then, I have researched all I could, and found some traditional ingredients to bring this amazing dish into a more traditional diet.
Items needed:
-Oven
-Deep baking tray/dish (a 2 inch depth should suffice)
-Aluminum foil or lid
-Cooking pot
-Stovetop
-Ladle or big spoon
Ingredients needed
-Two or three cups of wild rice
-Three or four cups of water
-1.5 cups of raspberries
-Some cooked moose or venison (last nights' steak is great in this), maybe 1 cup of meat shredded
-Wild seasonings (Garlic mustard, wild garlic, wild leeks, wild ginger, Sweetflag root, toothwort, whatever you may have. Sweetgale nutlets/seeds are really good as a black pepper and sage substitute
Recipe:
-Fill pot with wild rice and an equal amount of water. Bring to boil and simmer for twenty minutes. If water starts to run out, add a bit more. Don't add too much, yet.
-Preheat oven to 350C
-Once that is ready, pour into baking tray.
-Add rest of the water
-Add berries and meat
-Add seasonings
-Stir evenly so all of the ingredients are mixed thoroughly
-Seal and bake for thirty minutes.
-Let cool a bit, and then serve.
This is pretty much the perfect meal in my opinion. With light seasoning of the wild herbs, you can really get a feel for the food. The wild rice is soft and puffy with texture, and the meat offers that heavy need for protein we all crave at one point or another (join us Vegetarians, join us). The berries throw in their potency with this meal, as the bake, and steam all at once. Think of it as a casserole and a stew all in one. Served cold it makes an awesome breakfast of champions.
5) Raspberry-leaf tea
Always, always, always use fresh or fully dried leaves for your wild teas!!! Partially dried is not good for the gut, believe me on this one. So either pick them and use them immediately, or dry them and save for later use.
Items:
-Heat source
-cooking pot
Ingredients:
-1/2 cup of raspberry leaves. I suggest common red or common black raspberries.
-3-4 cups of water
Recipe:
-Add leaves and water to cooking pot and bring to boil
-Boil for about three minutes, then set aside to steep for ten
-Optional step: add maple sugar for taste,
Sipped late by a fire, raspberry-leaf tea is a godsend. I dry as many as I can for winter use. Dry a few berries as well and toss them in if you really want to rid yourself of the winter blahs (that, or get outside more to soak up some vitamin D)
Alright folks, there you go. Five recipes involving the fruits of this season. I will add more next week. For now, I need to finish making some nets, and get to work on my arrows for this hunting season!
Hope you enjoy my personal experiment. If you feel like joining along, let me know your results, research or anything else in the comments section. Please feel free to subscribe!
Baamaapii,
Caleb Wazhusk
Sunday, July 15, 2012
Another week, another step in the diet.
This past week I was teaching a program on wilderness living skills at Canadian Bushcraft, which gave me time to focus on the diet a bit more and do a little bit of foraging. I brought wild rice with me (an obvious staple), and though I broke the diet here and there (dammit, hamburgers in cast iron over an open fire would tempt you too!) I also had the opportunity to gather and prepare some delicious food.
Harvested:
-Cattail roots and "Cossack Asparagus"
-Sunchoke/Jersualem Artichoke Tubers
-Raspberries and Blackberries
-White Pine cambium (this time of year it had a really sweet taste to it)
-Sweetflag/Ratroot/Wiikae roots
-Wild mint
-Catnip
-Plantain (for a couple of cuts and scrapes)
-Yarrow (for bug repellent)
-Jewelweed (for when the bug repellent failed)
Stuff ready in the Garden:
-Beans
-Cucumber
-Spinach
-Swiss Chard
-Sunchoke
-Dill
-Basil
Preserved
-Smoked bass
-Sundried and smoke dried jerky
Projects accomplished
-New white ash digging stick
-Atlatl dart
-Fired pottery
-New bowdrill kit
-200ft worth of Basswood fibre retted
Other projects underway:
-Fishing net
-Arrows for my 45# Black Ash Recurve bow.
-Other bowstaves Identified and marked for harvesting in the fall
Outside of the projects, harvesting and gardening, I have been busy researching exactly what is the Thirteen Moons Diet. The closest I have come across on written record is the Decolonizing Diet Project from Northern Michigan University Center for Native American Studies, whose blog can be found here. However, this is not a seasonal-oriented diet. Nothing wrong with it, in fact its' a brilliant source of information, especially for those of you who wish to try this and do not have as much access/experience in hunting, fishing or gathering. However I would not be eating duck eggs out of the natural time of year of when I would be finding duck eggs.
The only true difference between what I am doing, and what they have accomplished is the seasonal aspect, which I believe is the key to what I am trying to do. So on their part, they are doing amazing. I will definitely be following along with their research and accomplishments. So all in all, way to go folks, good work!
I will be posting photographs later today, and perhaps a video or two. Dunno if photobucket videos can be uploaded onto Blogger, but we'll find out.
Hope you enjoy my personal experiment. If you feel like joining along, let me know your results, research or anything else in the comments section. Please feel free to subscribe!
Baamaapii,
Caleb Wazhusk
Harvested:
-Cattail roots and "Cossack Asparagus"
-Sunchoke/Jersualem Artichoke Tubers
-Raspberries and Blackberries
-White Pine cambium (this time of year it had a really sweet taste to it)
-Sweetflag/Ratroot/Wiikae roots
-Wild mint
-Catnip
-Plantain (for a couple of cuts and scrapes)
-Yarrow (for bug repellent)
-Jewelweed (for when the bug repellent failed)
Stuff ready in the Garden:
-Beans
-Cucumber
-Spinach
-Swiss Chard
-Sunchoke
-Dill
-Basil
Preserved
-Smoked bass
-Sundried and smoke dried jerky
Projects accomplished
-New white ash digging stick
-Atlatl dart
-Fired pottery
-New bowdrill kit
-200ft worth of Basswood fibre retted
Other projects underway:
-Fishing net
-Arrows for my 45# Black Ash Recurve bow.
-Other bowstaves Identified and marked for harvesting in the fall
Outside of the projects, harvesting and gardening, I have been busy researching exactly what is the Thirteen Moons Diet. The closest I have come across on written record is the Decolonizing Diet Project from Northern Michigan University Center for Native American Studies, whose blog can be found here. However, this is not a seasonal-oriented diet. Nothing wrong with it, in fact its' a brilliant source of information, especially for those of you who wish to try this and do not have as much access/experience in hunting, fishing or gathering. However I would not be eating duck eggs out of the natural time of year of when I would be finding duck eggs.
The only true difference between what I am doing, and what they have accomplished is the seasonal aspect, which I believe is the key to what I am trying to do. So on their part, they are doing amazing. I will definitely be following along with their research and accomplishments. So all in all, way to go folks, good work!
I will be posting photographs later today, and perhaps a video or two. Dunno if photobucket videos can be uploaded onto Blogger, but we'll find out.
Hope you enjoy my personal experiment. If you feel like joining along, let me know your results, research or anything else in the comments section. Please feel free to subscribe!
Baamaapii,
Caleb Wazhusk
Friday, July 6, 2012
Guest Blogger: Arthur Haines, on the science of Jewelweed.
When I was growing up and learning traditional wilderness skills, I kept being told I had to check out MPSS, or Maine Primitive Skills School. When I finally figured out Google, I typed in those four words, and suddenly I was seeing people doing the skills that I loved to do, and making a living at it. These guys weren't just talking about living with traditional skills in their lives, but they were doing it. It was really the inspiration that started my career as an instructor.
Over the years I have followed along with their videos on Youtube, and other subjects, and two people kept coming to light. The first was Mike Douglas, the founder of the school, and the other was a gentleman named Arthur Haines. I have gotten to know both of them over the internet, and I can tell you, these guys deserve a great deal of respect for what they have preserved for future generations. whose runs the Delta Institute of Natural History, where he works diligently to reverse Human Domestication. On his very cool Youtube channel I have watched Arthur discuss exactly what I said earlier in my Introductions blog regarding the Paleo-Diet and the inaccuracies. To be honest, Arthur's clear and educated explanations were one of the main reasons I decided to return to the Thirteen Moons Calendar as a diet guide. Arthur came upon my blog, and was interested in helping shed some light into the subject I discussed in my blog about the Seasonal Food of the Raspberry Moon, regarding Jewelweed's use against poison ivy. So, without further adieu, here is a very interesting, eye-opening article regarding the science behind how Jewelweed can be used to combat poison ivy, by Arthur D. Haines.
"Species of poison-ivy, poison-sumac, and poison-oak are members of the genus Toxicodendron, which means “poison tree”. These woody plants have received this name because they contain an irritating organic compound called urishiol. Urishiol causes the familiar, itchy rash after contact with the leaves and stems of these plants. It is believed to bind to specific receptor sites on the skin. Of note is that urishiol is alcohol soluble (i.e., it is difficult to wash it off the skin with water alone; soap or some kind of soap-like substance is needed).
Enter touch-me-not (Impatiens spp.). These plants with showy, bee-pollinated flowers are also called jewelweed because the leaves take on a silvery sheen when placed underwater. Touch-me-nots are also well-known for their fruits—a capsule that explosively dehisces when touched to project its seeds some distance from the parent plant. This trait has given rise to the Passamaquoddy name apuckolotukkuwewossok, which means “little one that flips upside-down”, a reference to the fruit.
Touch-me-nots contain a red pigment in their vegetation called lawsone. Lawsone is particularly effective at helping to treat recent contact with poison-ivy, because this phytochemical binds to the same receptor sites as urishiol. Beneficially for us, lawsone is more aggressive at binding to these sites on our skin and doesn’t cause an allergic reaction. Therefore, if the crushed stems (which yield the sap) of touch-me-not are applied to areas that have had recent contact with poison-ivy, the lawsone protects us from getting the rash. Two items to note: (1) touch-me-not is best used to prevent the rash from ever occurring, as it has a protective effect for our skin and (2) the most potent parts of the plants are those with obvious red coloration (these are usually near the base of the plants and along the stem where leaves and branches are produced).
Once you have a rash caused by poison-ivy, the effectiveness of touch-me-not is reduced, because it is best used to protect us from ever getting the rash (I’ve been hours after contact with poison-ivy and still prevented the rash from occurring using touch-me-not). It may be best at this point to switch to some type of astringent remedy. Astringents are plants that contain compounds that cause contraction of tissue, which is useful for alleviating inflammation. By reducing the swelling caused by the rash, the itchiness is reduced. Plants containing astringent compounds include sweet-fern (Comptonia peregrina), northern red oak (Quercus rubra), and staghorn sumac (Rhus hirta). By making a strong tea from the inner bark and/or branchlets and applying a cloth soaked with this tea, one can help reduce the discomfort caused by the rash."
The seasonal food of the Raspberry Moon
This time of year is known among my people (The Missisauga Anishnaube/Ojibway) as the Raspberry Moon. In my language, Raspberry Moon is translated as Miskomin Giizoonh (Giizis in other dialects). This is because the raspberries are beginning to ripen. North of here, among the Manitoulin Island and Lake Superior Anishnaube, it is called Miinan Giizis, or the Blueberry Moon. We don't have many blueberries growing wild in this region, and our raspberries ripen before theirs' do, so regional differences must always apply. This will be an ongoing subject that I frequently bring up during each Moon.
Many fruits are in this part of the country. I am currently looking out a window and see that the Mayapples Podophyyllum peltatum are ripening up. They ought to be just about ready at the end of Miskomin Giizoonh. Often called American Mandrake, or Elephant's Ear, the Mayapple is extremely toxic, up until the very moment of ripeness. Then it seems to have the taste of a Golden Delicious apple, but with something else added to the flavour.
Strawberry-blite Chenopodium capitatum are just about perfect this time of year. The "fruit" (actually the flower of the plant) of this member of the Goosefoot family has a flavour to me that stands alone. It somewhat tastes like strawberry, raspberry and mint blended into one, but yet it seems to be so unique that my tastebuds go crazy trying to figure it out. It is by far one of my favourite foods in the woodlands. The rest of the plant makes a good potherb, that I often add to stirfries or stews. Some call it Strawberry Spinach, as the fruit-like flowers resemble Ode'min (strawberry), and the rest of the plant tastes very similar to spinach.
Many members of the Raspberry (Rubus) family are going to be ready during this Moon, this is obviously a logical reason for this time of year to be called Miskomin Giizoonh. Wild Red Raspberry Rubus idaecus, common blackberry Rubus occidentalis and even my personal favourite, the Purple-flowering Raspberry Rubus odoratus will all be ripening at different times. The wild red is already ripe, and this weeked I will be working on a Staghorn sumac Rhus typhina bark basket to collect it and its' respective relatives. The common blackberry will begin to ripen next week, and be ready by the third week. The Purple-flowering is still in bloom, but at the end of the Raspberry Moon will provide the largest of the three fruits.
So does this mean just berries are available? Of course not! There are two more weeks left before the bark of many trees will cling ferociously to the wood once again. So if you want to make baskets, gather soon!
Sweetflag Acorus calamus will be ready at the end of this moon, and we will talk more about her and her uses in next moon's blogs.
The medicinal plant Jewelweed Impatiens spp. is at its' peak now. Though useful throughout the summer, this is when the most sap can be found in our local plants. This stuff is nicknamed the Aloe of the North, for its' soothing effect on bugbites. I have treated poison ivy with it, though so far science has stated that the Jewelweed plant has no genuine effect.
Salsify Tragopogon sp. is in my opinion best harvested now.
The fruit of the Staghorn sumac (whose bark I will be gathering tomorrow), is just going red now. A sun tea with a very tart, but sweet and citrusy flavour can be made now, though I prefer to wait until the first frost sweetens it up a tad. However it is edible once it turns red. I have heard many outdoors instructors state that the reason Staghorn sumac is called Staghorn, is because that is the title of the fruit. That is incorrect. Look at the branches, and then look at the antlers of a deer. You will notice the branches are very similar looking, and the soft fuzzy hairs of the branches is so similar to when a buck is in velvet. This is the true reason for the name. Gather the leaves now, and you can make a strong dye or mordant for dying fabrics.
This is of course an incomplete list, but then again, I have three more weeks to go! I will include photographs in my next blog post.
Nest blog I will give some recipes for using these foods, but one thing I want to make very clear before we end is this; The Raspberry Moon is a time of great yields of fruit. We would glut ourselves' on the berries and wild plants this time of year, but we would also disperse the seeds, to assist the lifecycle of the plants. Just as importantly, we preserved the majority of the fruits we gathered, through dehydrating (a method I will explain in further detail in the next blog). This may have been a time of plenty, a time to feast. But we remembered the famine of the winter. Around here, February has a special name. It is Bakade Giizis, or The Hunger Moon.
Hope you enjoy my personal experiment. If you feel like joining along, let me know your results, research or anything else in the comments section. Please feel free to subscribe!
Baamaapii,
Caleb Wazhusk
Many fruits are in this part of the country. I am currently looking out a window and see that the Mayapples Podophyyllum peltatum are ripening up. They ought to be just about ready at the end of Miskomin Giizoonh. Often called American Mandrake, or Elephant's Ear, the Mayapple is extremely toxic, up until the very moment of ripeness. Then it seems to have the taste of a Golden Delicious apple, but with something else added to the flavour.
Strawberry-blite Chenopodium capitatum are just about perfect this time of year. The "fruit" (actually the flower of the plant) of this member of the Goosefoot family has a flavour to me that stands alone. It somewhat tastes like strawberry, raspberry and mint blended into one, but yet it seems to be so unique that my tastebuds go crazy trying to figure it out. It is by far one of my favourite foods in the woodlands. The rest of the plant makes a good potherb, that I often add to stirfries or stews. Some call it Strawberry Spinach, as the fruit-like flowers resemble Ode'min (strawberry), and the rest of the plant tastes very similar to spinach.
Many members of the Raspberry (Rubus) family are going to be ready during this Moon, this is obviously a logical reason for this time of year to be called Miskomin Giizoonh. Wild Red Raspberry Rubus idaecus, common blackberry Rubus occidentalis and even my personal favourite, the Purple-flowering Raspberry Rubus odoratus will all be ripening at different times. The wild red is already ripe, and this weeked I will be working on a Staghorn sumac Rhus typhina bark basket to collect it and its' respective relatives. The common blackberry will begin to ripen next week, and be ready by the third week. The Purple-flowering is still in bloom, but at the end of the Raspberry Moon will provide the largest of the three fruits.
So does this mean just berries are available? Of course not! There are two more weeks left before the bark of many trees will cling ferociously to the wood once again. So if you want to make baskets, gather soon!
Sweetflag Acorus calamus will be ready at the end of this moon, and we will talk more about her and her uses in next moon's blogs.
The medicinal plant Jewelweed Impatiens spp. is at its' peak now. Though useful throughout the summer, this is when the most sap can be found in our local plants. This stuff is nicknamed the Aloe of the North, for its' soothing effect on bugbites. I have treated poison ivy with it, though so far science has stated that the Jewelweed plant has no genuine effect.
Salsify Tragopogon sp. is in my opinion best harvested now.
The fruit of the Staghorn sumac (whose bark I will be gathering tomorrow), is just going red now. A sun tea with a very tart, but sweet and citrusy flavour can be made now, though I prefer to wait until the first frost sweetens it up a tad. However it is edible once it turns red. I have heard many outdoors instructors state that the reason Staghorn sumac is called Staghorn, is because that is the title of the fruit. That is incorrect. Look at the branches, and then look at the antlers of a deer. You will notice the branches are very similar looking, and the soft fuzzy hairs of the branches is so similar to when a buck is in velvet. This is the true reason for the name. Gather the leaves now, and you can make a strong dye or mordant for dying fabrics.
This is of course an incomplete list, but then again, I have three more weeks to go! I will include photographs in my next blog post.
Nest blog I will give some recipes for using these foods, but one thing I want to make very clear before we end is this; The Raspberry Moon is a time of great yields of fruit. We would glut ourselves' on the berries and wild plants this time of year, but we would also disperse the seeds, to assist the lifecycle of the plants. Just as importantly, we preserved the majority of the fruits we gathered, through dehydrating (a method I will explain in further detail in the next blog). This may have been a time of plenty, a time to feast. But we remembered the famine of the winter. Around here, February has a special name. It is Bakade Giizis, or The Hunger Moon.
Hope you enjoy my personal experiment. If you feel like joining along, let me know your results, research or anything else in the comments section. Please feel free to subscribe!
Baamaapii,
Caleb Wazhusk
Thursday, July 5, 2012
Link to a friend's website
I made a new friend tonight due to this blog. Her name is Karen Stephenson, a very knowledgeable freelance writer with a love of wild edible plants.
Check her website out here.
And for those of you who are curious...
Incomplete list of Wild edibles that are ripe, or ripening up right now in the Rice Lake area;
-Common Raspberry
-Staghorn Sumac
-Mayapple
-Black Locust blossoms
Check her website out here.
And for those of you who are curious...
Incomplete list of Wild edibles that are ripe, or ripening up right now in the Rice Lake area;
-Common Raspberry
-Staghorn Sumac
-Mayapple
-Black Locust blossoms
Living the Thirteen Moons; Introduction
Aanii, Boozhoo. Caleb Wazhusk n'diznikauz.
Hello, Greetings. My name is Caleb Muskrat.
I am a Missisauga Anishnaube-nini (Missisauga Ojibway Man) from Hiawatha First Nation. I work as a wilderness skills instructor, as well as an Aboriginal-Archeological Liaison for the Williams Treaty First Nations. I have been accepted at Trent University for the Foundations of Indigenous Learning, and will be pursuing a B.Sc. in Archeology, and if I play my cards right, a Masters in the same subject. I also will be following along with Dan Longboat's programs, which focus on Traditional Indigenous Education and Health, plus Sustainable Agriculture. My passion is for the knowledge of my ancestors, and with that came a big lifestyle change as of New Years of this year.
At the beginning of 2012, I began a diet called the PaleoDiet, which helped me to lose more than forty-five pounds of body fat, and that -plus walking- has gained me twenty-odd pounds of muscle mass. I sleep better now than I ever have, and my joint pain is next to nothing (other than my back, which I am sure will never go away for us humans). However, the PaleoDiet has one problem in my eyes. It is not realistic to my ancestors' way of life, on either continent. You see, the PaleoDiet was made by people who were neither archeologists, nor ethnobotanists (let alone Paleo-Ethnobotanists), The developers of the diet were not mndful to the fact that legumes, grains and members of the nightshade family were consumed all over the world long before the advent of agriculture.
So, with that problem, I decided to take the PaleoDiet, and mix it with more ancient knowledge. As a member of the Anishnaube People, we have what is called the Thirteen Moons Calendar. The story goes that Nanaboozhoo noticed that a turtle had thirteen plates on her shell, and in that moment, decided that there would be thirteen months, or moons. Now, with modern western culture, there are only twelve months. But our calendar goes by moon phases. In each moon phase, the month is measured by twenty-eight days.
There are three hundred and sixty-five days within a year, so does a thirteen month/moon calendar, with twenty-eight days per month really work?
Actually yes. Twenty-eight days goes into three hundred and sixty-five days, Thirteen times.. like this..
365 divided by 28 = 13
Math, it is never wrong.. at least my computer's calculator isn't.
Now, what would the names of these months be? Obviously my people did not name them after Greek deities, or even after their own spiritual beings (Mnidoo or Manitou depending on your dialect). So what would they name their months? Being a people who lived off of the land, and in tune with their environment, the months/moons were titled after what was most available during those seasons, or what was most common in activity or in food. What's that? A calendar based around food? Why yes!
Now, the Anishnaube people have a very broad range, and of course, each area would have different things available in regard to food. And I want to make it clear, not everywhere was each month/moon titled the same. For example; July here in the Rice Lake region is called Miskomin Giizis (or in some dialects, Giizoonh). Miskomin is the name for Raspberry (Misko = Red, min= fruit/berry), and Giizis/Giizoonh refers to Moon. So July is in this region, the Raspberry Moon. However, in Manitoulin Island, July is often called Miinan Giizis/Giizoonh, which is the Blueberry Moon. Why the difference? Because here we have a huge variety of the raspberry family, and throughout this month/moon, they all ripen. Common Raspberry, Purple-flowering Raspberry, Common blackberry, etc etc. We don't have blueberries here, whereas in Manitoulin Island, they do. Seasonal and regional differences will happen.
So, what exactly is Living by the Thirteen Moons? Well, it is exactly what my Anishnaube ancestors did. Each moon provides different foods, or different important activities. As a person who focuses a great deal of his life on traditional skills, and traditional teachings, it is a no brainer for me to try to emulate this.
I am a firm believer in your genetics having a big say in what you should or should not eat. The Indigenous people of Canada have a rate of diabetes three times higher than the rest of the population of this country. Our heart disease rates are also sky-high. Now compare how we used to eat, to the current diet of many First Nations communities. Health professionals, anthropologists and common sense is all saying this folks, it is not just my opinion.
So what will this blog page be? It will be me, each month (or week) writing about what I am doing to return my body to the traditional diet of my ancestors. No wheat, no dairy, no refined foods. I will also be talking about some traditional skills involved in the thirteen moons, such as; food preserving the old way, and making gathering tools (baskets, digging sticks, etc,) or hunting implements (bow, arrows, fishing spear, etc) for the harvesting of those wild foods.
Hope you enjoy my personal experiment. If you feel like joining along, let me know your results, research or anything else in the comments section.
Baamaapii,
Caleb Wazhusk
Hello, Greetings. My name is Caleb Muskrat.
I am a Missisauga Anishnaube-nini (Missisauga Ojibway Man) from Hiawatha First Nation. I work as a wilderness skills instructor, as well as an Aboriginal-Archeological Liaison for the Williams Treaty First Nations. I have been accepted at Trent University for the Foundations of Indigenous Learning, and will be pursuing a B.Sc. in Archeology, and if I play my cards right, a Masters in the same subject. I also will be following along with Dan Longboat's programs, which focus on Traditional Indigenous Education and Health, plus Sustainable Agriculture. My passion is for the knowledge of my ancestors, and with that came a big lifestyle change as of New Years of this year.
At the beginning of 2012, I began a diet called the PaleoDiet, which helped me to lose more than forty-five pounds of body fat, and that -plus walking- has gained me twenty-odd pounds of muscle mass. I sleep better now than I ever have, and my joint pain is next to nothing (other than my back, which I am sure will never go away for us humans). However, the PaleoDiet has one problem in my eyes. It is not realistic to my ancestors' way of life, on either continent. You see, the PaleoDiet was made by people who were neither archeologists, nor ethnobotanists (let alone Paleo-Ethnobotanists), The developers of the diet were not mndful to the fact that legumes, grains and members of the nightshade family were consumed all over the world long before the advent of agriculture.
So, with that problem, I decided to take the PaleoDiet, and mix it with more ancient knowledge. As a member of the Anishnaube People, we have what is called the Thirteen Moons Calendar. The story goes that Nanaboozhoo noticed that a turtle had thirteen plates on her shell, and in that moment, decided that there would be thirteen months, or moons. Now, with modern western culture, there are only twelve months. But our calendar goes by moon phases. In each moon phase, the month is measured by twenty-eight days.
There are three hundred and sixty-five days within a year, so does a thirteen month/moon calendar, with twenty-eight days per month really work?
Actually yes. Twenty-eight days goes into three hundred and sixty-five days, Thirteen times.. like this..
365 divided by 28 = 13
Math, it is never wrong.. at least my computer's calculator isn't.
Now, what would the names of these months be? Obviously my people did not name them after Greek deities, or even after their own spiritual beings (Mnidoo or Manitou depending on your dialect). So what would they name their months? Being a people who lived off of the land, and in tune with their environment, the months/moons were titled after what was most available during those seasons, or what was most common in activity or in food. What's that? A calendar based around food? Why yes!
Now, the Anishnaube people have a very broad range, and of course, each area would have different things available in regard to food. And I want to make it clear, not everywhere was each month/moon titled the same. For example; July here in the Rice Lake region is called Miskomin Giizis (or in some dialects, Giizoonh). Miskomin is the name for Raspberry (Misko = Red, min= fruit/berry), and Giizis/Giizoonh refers to Moon. So July is in this region, the Raspberry Moon. However, in Manitoulin Island, July is often called Miinan Giizis/Giizoonh, which is the Blueberry Moon. Why the difference? Because here we have a huge variety of the raspberry family, and throughout this month/moon, they all ripen. Common Raspberry, Purple-flowering Raspberry, Common blackberry, etc etc. We don't have blueberries here, whereas in Manitoulin Island, they do. Seasonal and regional differences will happen.
So, what exactly is Living by the Thirteen Moons? Well, it is exactly what my Anishnaube ancestors did. Each moon provides different foods, or different important activities. As a person who focuses a great deal of his life on traditional skills, and traditional teachings, it is a no brainer for me to try to emulate this.
I am a firm believer in your genetics having a big say in what you should or should not eat. The Indigenous people of Canada have a rate of diabetes three times higher than the rest of the population of this country. Our heart disease rates are also sky-high. Now compare how we used to eat, to the current diet of many First Nations communities. Health professionals, anthropologists and common sense is all saying this folks, it is not just my opinion.
So what will this blog page be? It will be me, each month (or week) writing about what I am doing to return my body to the traditional diet of my ancestors. No wheat, no dairy, no refined foods. I will also be talking about some traditional skills involved in the thirteen moons, such as; food preserving the old way, and making gathering tools (baskets, digging sticks, etc,) or hunting implements (bow, arrows, fishing spear, etc) for the harvesting of those wild foods.
Hope you enjoy my personal experiment. If you feel like joining along, let me know your results, research or anything else in the comments section.
Baamaapii,
Caleb Wazhusk
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