A Gathering Basket- Issue 11

A Gathering Basket FROM THE I-COLLECTIVE A MULTI-MEDIA COOK BOOK Issue 11

You have collected your gathering baskets, digging tools, and kniv down the street in the abandoned lot, in your yard, or maybe the d can be sure that those berries, mushrooms, seeds, onions, greens, o

have been sitting in your memory since last season. The sight, smell memories. Or maybe this is your first time foraging and is the mome portal we’re going to step through as we recognize and reimagine Let’s start this journey with ancestral roadmaps.

You could look at these like the social media, or GPS, of their time. Directions to hunting grounds, people to trade with, star maps, and gathering places and while these may be etched in stone they are also etched in you. Unfortunately the erasure of this knowledge so many Native peoples have experienced is an ongoing project we can watch in real time. The defacing of the Birthing Rock Petroglyphs with the words “white power” in May of last year is one of many current happenings and should serve as a reminder that we have an obligation to both our ancestors and our future generations to actively seek out, and put into practice, these lifeways. It also has the power to remind us that to be born Indigenous is to be born on the frontlines.

ves and headed to your favorite spot to harvest. Maybe this is drive is 3 hours and another hour hiking in but, whatever it is, we or potatoes

l, feel, journey, and taste are a constant tugging at your ancestral ent your ancestors have been waiting for. This reconnection is the e our roots.

So what does that obligation look like for you? Is it learning your traditional foodways or learning one plant? Enrolling in language class or learning one word? We all have different experiences and ways of learning so don’t let that become an issue that holds you back! As they say, a journey begins with one step and this journey is one shared by every Indigenous nation of people around the globe.

From the restoration of the Loko Kuapa (traditional fisheries)

by Paepae o He’eia, one of many Indigenous Hawaiin led

projects across the islands, bringing back their traditional aquaculture and foodways, the Maori creating Hua Parakore, the first Indigenous food verification system, that looks past colonial frameworks and becomes a community process that recognizes one’s actual connection and relationship to the land, and the Maya Achi’ Qachuu Aloom project in Guatemala that has created both a circular economy supporting Mayan farmers and a business which shares the excess out into the global economy.

Remember each of these projects are a response to colonial violence and attempted genocide of both people and place so, we must ask ourselves, what does that look like closer to home? What are some of the circumstances and responses here? This month we’ll be looking at one of these issues that have affected large parts of the Native populace; Relocation. The Indian Relocation Act was, “a 1950s plan to erase Indian Country” with the sole purpose of eradicating the “Indian Problem”. The thought was that if we were assimilated into whiteness they could dissolve the prisoners of war camps, a.k.a. Reservations, and eradicate Indigeneigty while taking all of the land. (It’s worth noting here that Hitler modeled his concentration camps after this american system.) While this program never succeeded it has created a vast diaspora of Native peoples in urban areas.

One of these families is that of Addelina Lucero of Taos Pueblo and when we talk about the journey of reconnection hers is an inspiration, one with many layers and observations of the place her people call home. As founder of Dancing Butterfly Naturals she has committed herself to this so let’s hand the mic over to her and she can tell you more.

Dancing Butterfly NaturalsAn Indigenous Woman Entrepreneur Story I am Tsel’Moya Dah’mah’ee (Dancing Butterfly) aka Addelina Lucero. I am from Taos Pueblo on my father’s side and Yaqui/Chicana/Mexica on my mother’s side. I grew up in the territories of Taos Pueblo New Mexico and Compton/Lynwood, California. My father, Wheilyaw (Joseph Roy) passed away in 1979. At the age of eight, I was moved away from home to California with my mother Juanita and 2 of my 5 siblings. My oldest brother immediately joined the military after graduating high school and my two older sisters attended boarding school in Utah. I grew up an urban Native, pretty disconnected from my home and culture of Taos Pueblo until I was a teenager and was once again reconnected through annual visits back home in the summer thereafter.

My first child was born when I was just 18 years old, my son, Bahcowah’tsee’loo (Robert), my second child, Thumkawp’sul Yah’ma’ee (Jill) was born 10 years later and my youngest, Tsew’pah Tu’ee (Julian Ah-khin) was born 5 years after my daughter. I raised these three mostly alone. But I had dreams and a strong desire to return home to Taos Pueblo. Dreams of my father telling me to come back home and to connect my children to our Kiva ways.

In the summer of 2009, I was accepted to attend the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. I moved myself and my two youngest children in the fall of 2019 to attend the university as a student in the Native American Studies program. My two children attended with me, here we became closer and connected to the family and lifeways back home in Taos on the weekends. Plugging into the culture of Taos Pueblo wasn’t easy. There was so much to know, so much to learn and so much that people expected of us. But the desire was there and we set out to do it. My children and I all became “initiated” into our tribe and began to participate by dancing, growing food, harvesting and processing traditional plants and foods, praying and attending gatherings for our people.

Coming back home to New Mexico and Taos as an adult was a culture shock. For the first time I saw the contrast of Pueblo, Dine’ and Apache lands and culture at odds with the Spanish colonial occupation. The seemingly welcome “multicultural

experience” played by most in a quiet fashion as everyone goes on with their day to day activities. Driving from Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo to Taos, there was a statue of Oñate, who was a Spanish conquistador who established the colony of New Mexico for Spain and became its first governor in 1598. In October 1598, Onate demanded supplies from the Acoma Pueblo. The pueblo, needing provisions to survive the coming winter, refused, and in the ensuing conflict 11 Spaniards, including Oñate’s nephew, were killed. Oñate ordered the pueblo destroyed in what became known as the Acoma Massacre; 800 to 1,000 Pueblos died in the siege. The survivors, approximately 500, were put on trial, and Oñate rendered the sentence: All men and women older than 12 would be enslaved for 20 years, and Spanish soldiers were instructed to chop off one foot of every man over 25 years old.

Thinking deeply about this statute and what it represented being just a few miles from Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo. Protected with cameras and a high wall was a stark reminder that we Native people of these lands are living side-byside with our colonizers. Forced to walk silently past these violent and pervasive statues, street names, parks, buildings, etc. Nowhere else in this country that I have traveled to have I seen a state that is suspended in such chaos and overt violence and laughter at the Native people of those lands, than here in New Mexico. I realized that I could not physically do much but I did realize that I had the power to educate. To educate my children about our true history and to help them connect to these lands, to the water, the air, their culture, and spiritual ways.

We learned together that through growing our traditional crops of corn, squash and red beans that we were decolonizing and disconnecting from the chaos and violence of colonial violence all around us and connecting to our strong ancestral heritage. My children were learning their strength in their culture and that their path is a powerful one.

The connection to these lifeways could not be more precious. Realizing my connection to plant relatives was a powerful gift. Connection to our foodways and being able to plant, save seed and feed my family and others. Now this is what I share with my customers through the products I create for Dancing Butterfly Naturals. Using plant relatives, I create oils and other ingredients (flour, powders, tinctures, teas) that I later use in the Yucca Root Shampoo & Rinse, Chokecherry Jam Lotion, Tobacco Flowers Soap, Prickly Pear Fruit Sugar Scrub, Free Radical Face Serum, Blue Corn Atole’ Face Mask, Sweetgrass Lip Balm or my Pain Salves. Educating with foodways through food cooking demonstrations and processing is another way that I exercise my connection to our traditional Indigenous economy. Creating pathways to support my family, feed them and share knowledge through education is what being an Indigenous woman entrepreneur is all about.

Basic Yucca Root Shampoo Recipe 1 tablespoon Yucca Root Powder 1 cup of Flower Tea ¼ cup Aloe Vera Juice

Click photo for video recipe!

Yucca root powder is made from the root of a yucca plant and can be purchased in local herb shops or online. I make my yucca root powder from the Yucca Glauca, which is a perennial evergreen plant, adapted to dryland growth and high elevation conditions. It is also known as small soapweed, narrowleaf yucca, plains yucca, and beargrass. In the early summer ivory flowers bloom at the tips of its long, fibrous, stalks; these are edible and are really delicious! Other yucca root uses include: pulverized roots mixed with water to drink for stomach ache, poulticed root on inflammations and to stop bleeding, soapy juice from root used on rash of poison ivy, soak hair in root solution to kill lice or cure dandruff and baldness.

Process: Harvest yucca root by gently digging out the root of a larger plant, about 2 feet tall. Wearing gloves, pull the spines away from you while pulling up the roots. For this small batch, only remove one to two of the roots and return the rest of the roots to the earth and cover. Wash the roots and peel the top skin with a knife (like a potato). Crush the roots into a poultice (should look like a flattened loofa), then lay this out to dry in the sun. I suggest covering it with a screen or a cheese cloth so it breathes. Do this for 1 week.

Then crush again until the root powders. Spread out and let dry again for another several days. You may have to crush more until the powder is pretty fine. Then sift and store in a dry container or bag. This will be a super potent and effective powder!

Flower tea: I use 1 tspn of each (dried)- Yerba de La Negrita, Yerba Buena, local Lavender (don’t want the French stuff), Mountain Rose Petals, Cota Tea, Chamomile (local, if possible), other wildflowers as available. Boil with 1.5 cups of water and strain to use in shampoo.

After flower tea has cooled to room temperature add in yucca root powder and mix thoroughly into flower tea. Add in other ingredients and hand whisk slowly until thoroughly mixed. You can use it immediately or store in a cool dry place or refrigerator. Will last up to 30 days in a cool dry place and up to 3 months in the refrigerator.

Now that we have seen what is possible let’s imagine that we’re out in the woods gathering! With that being said, what are some amazing and easy plant relatives to learn about? If we’re talking about mushrooms look towards puffballs and morels, for berries the chokecherry, currant, and strawberries are easy enough, and when it comes to greens we have dandelion, goosefoot, amaranth, and stinging nettles.

In this remember that knowledge comes in many forms. There are endless amounts of books available on foraging and the vastness of online groups and foraging clubs is also limitless so don’t stress if there’s nobody around to teach you but, we’re certain that somebody in your community is maintaining this knowledge. There are also plenty of Indigenous botanists and plant people on social media that are great at answering questions and helping!

So remember when we said nettles a minute ago? This is a plant that has itself written into many cultural stories and also has the claim to fame of having 2.4 grams of protein and 42% of your daily calcium, 15% higher than an 8 ounce glass of milk, per cup! Now while there are a few different nettle types we’re going to focus on the stinging nettle (Urtica dioica) since it seems to find its way into so many drinks and dishes like our second recipe offering. We can definitely say that while it is easy to identify the harvesting itself is something completely different as the word “stinging” implies.

While many people harvest this plant with bare hands for the medicinal properties that it imparts, we are going to suggest to our readers that gloves are your best friend! The sting is more closely associated with getting shocked and having it linger, for the next 6 hours to a day, so definitely beware, although we would suggest touching one so you get to know this relative.

You can harvest it by cutting the stem below the leaves, something more for fiber artists to do, but we suggest just harvesting the leaves.

To process them just drop the leaves in a bowl of warm water and let sit for 10-15 minutes, until the water turns a rusty orange color, and then drain them. As a next step you can blanch them in boiling water for a upto 5 minutes and then drop them in an ice bath. After that you can put them out to dry for later use, freeze them, or our suggestion which is MAKE THIS RECIPE!

Nettle Pesto Recipe Ingredients:

Equipme

3 cloves of garlic 2 big tablespoons of chopped walnuts or pine nuts Mushroom powder (porcini?) or fresh grated parmesan, to taste ½ Cup to ⅔ Cup of blanched nettles Salt, to taste Olive oil

Knife Bowl Cutting Baking s Bender

Instructions: 1. If using frozen nettles, allow to thaw. If using dehydrated/dried nettles, boil water and pour over a bowl of dried nettles. Once the nettle is reconstituted, drain water from nettles. Set aside.

2. Toast raw walnuts in the oven at 250 F for 30 minutes or until you can smell the walnuts. Toasting allows for the nuts to bring forth a richer flavor than when raw. Keepy an eye on them as you don’t want them to over cook or burn.

3. If needed, cut up nettles further. To make them easier to blend.

4. Mince garlic, and chop walnuts once they finish toasting.

5. Add nettles, garlic, walnuts, mushroom powder or parmesan cheese, and 3 tablespoons of olive oil to the blender. Begin to blend.

6. As the ingredients are blending together, add olive oil to help emulsify/ bring the mixture together.

7. Make sure to taste test as you make it - adjust garlic, salt, parmesan/ mushroom powder, nettles as needed.

8. Blend until desired taste and look is achieved.

9. You can store this in the refrigerator or freezer.

ent:

board sheet

Click photo for video recipe!

*We want to mention here that the protocols for harvesting vary vastly from tribe to tribe ie; the Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band of Pottawatami taught us that harvesting in the rain is forbidden and as guests at Tulalip we were taught that harvesting after a certain time in the afternoon was taboo so please consult your relatives and elders!

GRATITUDES:

Tsel’Moya Dah’Mah’ee (Dancing Butterfly) aka Addelina Lucero Britt Reed Savannah LeCornu

A Gathering Basket Staff:

Written Content Curator, Image Curator, Creative Director, Video Curator, Program Director,

M. Karlos Baca Britt Reed Trennie Burch Quentin Glabus Kristina Stanley

THIS PUBLICATION IS MADE POSSIBLE BY THE FOLLOWING SUPPORTERS AND SPONSORS: