Northern Exposure...Summer Beaver: Tracks in the earth........????

Saturday, May 31, 2008

Tracks in the earth........????

Today is Saturday and I have a new roommate in the appartment. He is a Dentist, and is from Montreal here for the week. Dreary day all day rainy and overcast. Tried to go for a walk but scared myself so came home. I heard a rustling in the bush so of course immediatley think of a bear so headed home....what a chicken eh? The pictures I took tonight on my walk I started into the woods and these are the tracks I saw looked kinda big not sure if a bear so that is why it spooked me.
Do you think I am crazy or what .....dog tracks? I guess they have lynx and mountain lion and stuff and then the bears.
Have had some calls this am. One lady cut herself with a knife filleting wallaye but unfortuanely did not have to suture.....(sicko). Guess the fish are plentifull here as well and everyone out in full force. Hope I can find someone to take me out love to fish.......hate to eat them though. Apparently this reserve is less traditional then Summer Beaver and that is what it seems to me as well.

Not sure if I had told you before but water is a big issue in the North. You can't drink the water at most reserves and this has been true with both that I have been at. Had a fella in with gastro last night who told me that they are dumping their sewage into the lake this time of year and he thinks that it is affecting the fish. He went fishing and had fish for dinner and then was violently ill. He is very upset about this but said he can't speak up to the band leads as he would be treated badly if he opened his mouth. Apparently some say funding has been there but not sure where the dollars are spent. So kinda political. Not sure if that is what caused his gastro because everyone is eating fish this time of year and he is the first case. Talk soon and Get Well Soon Hun!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...: Hey You
Not a lot of omments on the Blog guess everyone is busy on the weekends.
If I was a betting man I would say its Bear tracks, but then again i have never hunted or tracked a bear. I would be careful because what ever made tem is BIG.

Not much Happening down here, overcast weekend boring without you.

Be safe talk soon...Luv Rob; June 1, 2008 at 11:24 AM

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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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