Spearing bass, and some lessons

My people are known as Mississauga Ojibway Indians/First Nations. Our entire culture revolves/revolved around the water. We were highly mobile, compared to our neighbors- the Iroquois. Whether relying on wild rice, ducks, geese, frogs, beaver or fish, the majority of our food came from lakes, rivers and marshes. As with many other eastern woodlands/Great Lakes tribes, we employed a lot of methods for catching fish, including weirs, basket traps, bowfishing, netting and spearing. Though some tribes in the Americas did use hooks and lines, I have not seen any evidence of the Ojibway nations doing so. 

Spearfishing for the most part is highly illegal in present-day Ontario, except for one exception; if you are a First Nation with hunting and fishing rights within the province, or within a certain part of Ontario. My community -the Mississaugas of Rice Lake, also known as Hiawatha First Nation- had no hunting rights for the past century or so. I'm not going to make this into a political discussion, so suffice it to say, back in December that was finally resolved and my community was granted hunting and fishing rights back into our traditional territory. This might explain one of the many reasons that I have not had the chance to post as frequently as I did a year ago. Been hunting, fishing, trapping and gathering as much as I can!

So tonight, my cousin came over and explained that we were idiots for not focusing on spearfishing this past spring. We missed the pickerel run, mostly due to my school schedule, but also to the severe weather we've had in Ontario this spring.. literally 4 ft high waves on Rice Lake during a large portion of the pickerel spawning run (which makes for really crappy spearfishing. We had talked a lot about it over the past month, and finally decided tonight to just go out and try the new spears we made back in March. Josh (the cousin) couldn't find his, so we ended up with just mine. 

My spear is made from a young white pine sapling that is approximately 8ft long, two steel prongs, and lashed together with codline (I believe this is often called Bankline south of the 49th). The prongs were made by me with a miniature forge of firebricks and a gas-torch. I used standard steel rods that were 3/16ths of an inch thick. I bought the rods from Home Depot. The ends were bent at a 90-degree angle while under heat, and then the rods were annealed. Once annealed, I cut very small barbs into the rods, and tape the tips to a fairly fine point. These I plan to make larger later when I get the new forge built next Friday. After that is all done, its' time to harden and then temper the prongs. This is where it gets interesting, as the tips of the prongs must be hard enough to hold a sharp tip, yet soft enough that when you strike a rock (not IF you strike a rock, but WHEN you strike a rock) you don't snap the tips of your prongs. Basically what I like to do is keep the entire prong fairly soft in temper, except for the very tip (which I keep about the same hardness as a knife). So first I bring them up to temperature where the steel is no longer magnetic. Once that is done, I quenched them in old motor oil. Then I scrape the steel clean with wire brushes, so that I can watch the tempering procedure. Using a gas-torch, I dance the flame back and forth, aiming for a light blue tone on the majority of the prong. However, I only aim for a light brassy tone on the last 1/2 inch of prong, towards the tip. 

Once the prongs are tempered, I drill a small hole into the spearshaft (at the thick end) about 3-4 inches in from the end. This hole is about 3/16" in diameter, and fits the bent ends of the prongs snugly. I add a slight channel from the hole to the end of the spearshaft, to help hold the prongs snugly. Once this is done, I shape the end to be a bit more aqua-dynamic, and then fit the prongs in. Afterwards, I lashed codline tightly around the prongs. This technique is what I learned from an old Chippewa Ojibway from Saugeen First Nation (over on Lake Huron). The spear end looks like this;



Alright, so onto the fun part...

We get into my Kawartha canoe, whose nickname is aptly "Tippy". We have no proper lighting, so we use two flashlights. With only one spear, and obviously wanting to control the canoe, I had Josh sit in the bow, while I paddled us at a snail's crawl. Two tips for anyone wanting to try boat-based spearfishing; get good lighting and a real stable canoe. We'll be building an English-style punt this summer out of pine and cedar boards, both for duck season, and for the fall pickerel run. Josh was hoping for pickerel, but I knew we were unlikely to find any. We ended up scouting the water out for at least 45 minutes. After a while of checking along the cattail edge and finding nothing, we turned back and went westerly along the north shore of Rice Lake, heading for the rock and stumps of the shallows. 

This was where we found luck. After missing twenty or more Large-mouthed bass, Josh had one close by. WHACK! And that was when the struggle began. Believe me on this, if you think a fish can put up a fight on a hook and line, you have not seen a 5lb bass get hit by an Ojibway with a spear! He held her to the bottom until she stopped struggling for the most part. Every muscle in his upper body was straining -to keep the fish on the spear AND to keep his butt in the canoe! Finally he flipped her in. 

Next lesson; kill any fish you spear immediately. We decided to not "bother" with that, though something told us both that we should. That was when we saw an 8lb mother of all bass cruise right for the spear tip... and that was when the bass Josh caught decided to spasm and slam into the hull of the canoe repeatedly. The 8er was gone in a flash, and it took us another 30 minutes to see any fish. This is why we decapitated the one Josh caught. No more splashing attempts.. We were turning back to head home (it was well past 1am at this point, and we started around 11pm), when Josh saw one that was less than a pound. "Don't bother Cousin, I don't think you can get one that small with that spea-WHACK!" Annnd that was when Josh learned that even a tiny fish on a spear can put up a helluva fight. Once he flipped her into the boat, I severed the spine immediately, so that we'd have no repeats. Josh got close to another half a dozen, but they always eluded his shots. I tried a few times, but gave up, as its' difficult to aim from the back of the canoe! When it hit 2am, we knew it was time to pack it in. The night air was just above freezing tonight, even though the water was warm. I was soaked, and my butt was asleep. Josh's ankles were burning from crouching to balance the canoe with every shot he took.

So here are our results! 



Not too bad!

We'll be building a better boat, and setting up a proper lighting system on it. As well, we'll be making some Australian-style fishing spears, with paralyzer-style prongs. I'll also be setting up my bow with a reel in a few days, as the carp are everywhere! 

Anyways, I'm tired, and we've got at least one successful night of spearfishing in this spring. Glad to be back on the forums, hope y'all enjoy the read!

An incomplete non-animal food list of the Ojibway People

This is an incomplete list of non-animal based food sources used amongst the Indigenous people known collectively as the Ojibway/Ojibwa/Ojibwe/Chippewa, or as we prefer to be called, Anishnaubeg. I have divded it into two sections; Plant, and Fungi. Though lichens are not exactly a fungi, I have included them in the Fungi section, as they are more related than plants.

This is incomplete, as my research has not lead to other plants definitively being use. As well, though there are many many more plants that could be listed as edible on this list (plantain, dandelion, etc), they were not native in pre-columban times. You may notice that the Fungi list is short. This is due to two reasons;

a) I do not have a strong experience with fungi. I learn what I can, but the list is short, because my experience is small.

b) many of the fungi in North America were used more for their medicinal and "magical" properties rather than their edible properties. For example, Miskwedo, a medicine used by our Midewiwin and other medicine people, has been identified as the Fly Agaric Mushroom (Amanita muscaria). This was a very potent medicine, used to receive visions (aka a Halucinogen). The Amanita family is full of very very deadly mushrooms, and should be studied with due caution.

I will include scientific names. Each of these food sources should be researched heavily prior to consuming, as certain ones are toxic unless prepared properly (such as acorns or Jack-in-the-Pulpit), or are toxic unless harvested in the right season (such as Mayapple). Though I do love the taste of mayapples, I cannot stress this enough: The fully ripe fruit is the only safe part. The unripe fruit was used by my ancestors to commit suicide. So be wary of all new food sources until studied fully. Anything with "*" beside it should be researched heavily prior to consumption.

Plant
*Acorns from Black, Red and White oaks (Nutmeat)
American chestnut (Nutmeat)
Arrowhead (Tuber)
Aspen (Cambium)
Beans (Fruit)
Bearberry (Fruit and leaves)
Birch (bark, cambium and sap)
Blackberry (fruit and leaves)
Blueberry (fruit and leaves)
Box elder (Cambium and sap)
Cactus, prickly-pear (pads)
Cattail (rhizomes, shoots, unripe seedhead, pollen)
Cherry, black (fruit) 
*Chokecherries (fruit)
*Cowparsnip
*Cowslip
Cranberry, highbush
Dropseed grasses (many varieties of Tallgrass prairie and Black oak savanna grass seeds have been found cooked and consumed, as well as the shoots)
*Elderberries (Ripe fruit)
Fern, Ostrich (fiddleheads)
Gooseberry (fruit)
Hawthorne (fruit becomes its' own preservant)
Hickory (nutmeat)
Horsemint (leaves)
*Jack-in-the-pulpit (tuber)
Juniper (fruit)
Labrador tea (leaves)
Lamb's quarters (leaves)
Leeks (Tubers, leaves and blossoms)
Lily, Trout and Wood (Tubers)
Lily, White water (Tubers)
Lily, Yellow Pond (Tubers)
*Locust (blossoms)
Maize (kernals)
Maple (Cambium and sap)
*Mayappe (Ripe fruit)
*Milkweed, common and swamp (shoots and pods)
Mint (Leaves)
Mulberry (Fruit)
Partridgeberry (Fruit)
Pumpkin (Fruit)
Raspberry, Purple-flowering, red common (Fruit)
*Solomon's seal, False (shoots)
*Solomon's seal, true (roots)
Strawberry, woods (fruit and leaves)
Strawberry-blite (whole plant, but especially the fruit-like flower)
Sunchoke, aka Jerusalum artichoke (tubers)
Squash (fruit)
Sweetgale (seeds/nutlet)
Sweet-fern (leaves)
Sweetflag (rhizome)
Thistle, Canada (inner stalk)
Wild Rice (seeds)
Yucca (flowers)

Fungi 
Chaga 
Morrels
Moss, Reindeer 
Old Man's Beard
Turkey-tail
Tripe, Rock
Puffball, Giant

Wild Rice, the superfood of the Ojibway

Now in my last blog, I discussed the importance of wild rice in the seasonal aspect. However in this blog, I want to break down the nutrition and value you can get from Zizania/wild rice/manomiin.

But first, I suggest you watch this video, done by Daniel Vitalis and my good friend Arthur Haines!

 

The next few links are from the USDA regarding the full reports on both raw and cooked wild rice, and the nutrition you can receive from this grain, that is gluten free and has such a dense amount of beneficial nutrience!

The Raw Wild Rice Report

The Cooked Wild Rice Report

This should really give you some good insight as to why Manomin is so valuable!

Alright, that's all for now folks. I will have a new blog out soon with some wild rice recipes!!

 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 Ricing Moon, a small slice of history, plus other available resources.

As I stood in awe after watching a flock of nearly one hundred Canada geese fly over me on my way to the university today, I realized it was a new moon. They reminded me it was their time now. Time of the Ricing Moon!

August in my language is called Manominiika Giizoonh, and in other dialects Manoomiiniikaa Giizis, and in others it simply is called Manomin Giizis. The shorter one translates into The Wild Rice Moon. However the other titles refer to the action of harvesting the wild rice. Simply translated, August is the Ricing Moon. Wild rice (Manomin, Zizania aquatica, etc) was and still is an extremely imporant food staple for the Anishnaubeg, and really for all humans. Being very rich in protein, dietary fibre and even lysine. For those of us trying to avoid glutens, rest easy as manomin has none. Along with thiamin, iron, riboflavin, niacin, manganese and countless other important dietary resources, manomin is also very low in fat. It was/is for the Anishnaubeg what the Three Sisters (Maize, Beans and Squash) were/are for the Haudenasaunae (Iroquois, Six Nations). 

Manomin actually comes from two root words that do not actually translate into "Wild Rice". "Min" usually is the word used to describe a fruit, seed or other foodsource from a plant. "Mano", comes from "Manoo", which in turn originated as "Mnidoo", which many people call "Manitou" or "Spirit". So translated, Manomin actually means Spirit Fruit, or in more poetic terms, "Seed/Fruit the Spirits gave us". In the Seven Fires Prophecy, the Anishnaube were told that the third stopping place (Third Fire) would be identified by food growing on the water. When the Anishnaube arrived in this part of the country, they found acres upon acres of wild rice sticking out of the mud and up into the waters of the shallow lakes and large marshes. Food grew upon the water and the Anishnaube prospered for millenia.

We would spend several weeks, to a month in the ricing fields. First the people would divide up the wild rice areas between the families equally. These families would often stake out their respected areas with family markers to help make sure no one made a mistake and gathered more than others. In a canoe, the person in the bow (the front for you land-lubbers) would sit reverse and using two cedar rods would bend over a patch of the rice with one rod and then tap that rod with the other rod. This way the wild rice stalks would not be damaged from direct percussion. As well, several seeds would often cling tenaciously to the stalks from this technique. Rather than try to shake those ones loose, the harvester would merely let go of the stalks, which would often end up catapulting these remaining seeds off into the water, to be seeded for next year. This is the most efficient form of aquaponic farming I have ever seen, and its' thousands of years old!

Often my people, the Mississauga Anishnaube would take our surplus and trade to the Haudenasaunae on the southernmost shore of Rice Lake. We would trade our surplus for their surplus parched maize, dried beans and fresh squash. This was a varied diet for both nations, and through this friendship, we continued the ancient rites of the One Spoon, One Dish Wampum Belt- a very very old contractual treaty between all Nations in Ontario and beyond regarding the using of resources and food supplies which was honoured by all Nations up until the French Indian Wars.

However this moon -like many others- is called by several names within the Anishnaubeg. The other common title is Basikwa'o Giizoonh, or Flying Moon, or Moon with much Flight. This refers to what I mentioned at the beginning of this blog; birds taking flight all over the land. The Canada geese, mallard ducks, swans, herons and cranes are all warming up and getting their young ready for the long migration. By the middle of the month, many of the northern birds will have arrived in our part of the country. By Gashkanido Giizoonh (November, Freezing Moon) very few will remain, and by Mnidoo Giizoonh (Spirit Moon, December) only the winter birds will remain.

This shows a very important feature of the Ricing Moon. The people would all be spending their days in the marshes and shallow lakes, gathering hundreds of pounds of manomin, and watching the birds fly by. This was the time of year the goose and duck hunts would begin. Large nets, bolas, and even arrows with Flu-flu fletching would be cast out to capture the birds. Snares placed along the shores of the islands would entrap the birds as they waded to shore for a night's rest, or returned to the waters in the morning. The feathers would be removed (down used to warm bodies, flight feathers ued as fletching on arrows), and the meat would be smoked and preserved. Fat would collected and used in cooking/basting.

This was a time of great feasting, but it was also a time to prepare for the long haul through the winter. The ricing camps represented life. Warfare would cease during the French Indian Wars, just so the Anishnaube could go home and harvest enough manomin to provide for their families. Life was found in ricing and goose hunting. This was a time of great living for the Anishnaubeg. Everything was shared. The people would survive another winter.

Other foods available right now?

-Mayapples are now ripe in many parts of Ontario and beyond
-Wild Grapes are ripening all over the place
-Wild grass and sedge seeds are getting ready, as are the seeds of the Broadleaf plantain
-Walnuts are dropping left-right-and-center. The husks are in my opinion more useful than the nutmeat, as it can be used as a dye, a source of tanning leather, a fish poison, a remedy for poison ivy and bug bites, and even in some forms as an anti-parasitic compound to dispell worms and other bugs from the digestive system.
-Many more that I will be going over as the month progresses!

I will be harvesting wild rice later this month, and as September rolls around, I will be preparing for mornings of hunting down goose and duck.

On August 18th-19th I will be at the Lang Pioneer Village War of 1812 Re-enactment, participating in the re-enactment as one of my ancestors. The Missisaugas of Rice Lake were involved in a great skirmish, and this year we are being honoured for the first time in over 200 years for our contribution to that war. Come on out and see the show!

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

Regional names and their meanings, plus a recipe!

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

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