Northern Exposure...Summer Beaver: Monday May 26th......

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Monday May 26th......

So not really much to report today thought you might like to see our one and only police truck. He is back from holiday and here to maintain law and order. Well I know we had a call to the Nurses Station because I saw him outside restoring order. Yep that is right the nurses who work here did not know how to connect the bbq tank to the bbq so called the police......I had been on my nightly walk and saw this wise use of the tax dollars.

At the clinic we had a usual day. Nothing to crazy to report. I started to notice though I have been getting calls from locals. Asking one question or another. Guess they must be testing out the new nurse.....

I saw a number of patients that I had to use an interpreter with. That is interesting....lets just say you cant break any speed records for a visit.

Oh there is my dog again, likes to follow me around.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...: Nice catch and I bit you can not play that ugly stick like mine
VIC; May 28, 2008 at 6:10 AM
Anonymous said...: I love that dog i wish you could bring it home! miss you xox BooBoo; May 29, 2008 at 10:53 PM
Anonymous said...: Cindy - sent you an e-mail under our e-mail address - let us know if you got it! Dave & Kelly; June 5, 2008 at 5:10 PM

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Pemmican, one of the ladies had made this for the feast.......

Pemmican was a staple of the Plains people’s diet with the name originating from the Cree word, “pimikan”, or ‘manufactured grease’. Pemmican was made from buffalo meat, although antelope, deer, elk and moose were also used. It was a mixture of dried meat pounded to a powder, a quantity of rendered fat, Saskatoon berries or choke cherries, and sometimes peppermint leaves. The whole mixture was stored in parfleches, or skin bags, where it could be stored indefinitely. Pemmican was portable and highly nutritious with 1 kilogram equaling 5 kilograms of fresh meat. It was one of the most important contributions native people made to the survival of the Europeans through the harsh Canadian winters.

How to Make Pemmican
To make pemmican the Indians began by cutting meat into thin slices or strips and drying it either in the sun or over a fire. After the meat was dried, it was spread out on a stone-headed mauls and then pounded. This pounded meat was called "beat meat" by the natives. "Beat meat" was then mixed with melted fat and marrow. One early European observer noted that 40 pounds (18kg) of fat were added to 50 pounds (22.6kg) of beat meat. Sometimes a paste made of fruits or berries were added to this mixture.
Pemmican was stored in folded rawhide containers called parfleches. They were flat which made them easy to store and transport. Parfleches were greased along their seams to keep out air and moisture. Pemmican could therefore be kept fresh for years. Three-quarters of a pound (.34kg) of pemmican a day was a sufficient ration of food, although a hard-working traveler might eat between 1 and 2 pounds a day.
"... to make this essential food, the women would cut buffalo meat into very thin strips and hang them on hooks or a rack over a slow, smoky fire. The fire was used mainly to keep flies off the fresh meat. After a day or two the fire was discontinued and the meat was allowed to dry in the sun and wind. Three or four times a day the women would crack the meat open to allow the outsides of the strips to dry. After the drying process, which took about a week, the meat was broken into small pieces and put inside a flour sack. The women then pounded the meat into powder. This powder was mixed with dried berries, and melted buffalo fat was used to bind the substance together into balls. The pemmican balls were then placed into bags made of green (untanned) buffalo hid, and sewn up tightly. A bag of pemmican, made properly, could be cached in the ground for several years and still remain usable.
Rubaboo is the name for a stew made of pemmican and any wild vegetables at hand. Boiled in a pot of water, the chunks of pemmican would fall apart. Additions - the likes of onion, turnip, asparagus, parsley, sage, bullrush root, cattail heads, dandelion root, wild parsnip, wild carrot, mushrooms, pine nuts, daylily roots, or wild rice, would turn it into an appetizing stew.

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