Today is the New Moon – or Dead Moon, as we call it here. We decided as a clan that once every Moon cycle around the Dead Moon, we have the opportunity to go to Nad´mad´ewining (the support center) for research & connecting with friends and family via phone, email, etc.
A fully prime leek patch
A number of things have happened since my last update. Our leek camp was quite successful – so successful indeed that we didn´t gather for very long.
Folks from Nad´mad´ewining were processing the leeks through blanching/freezing and drying and we gathered faster than they could process them. Our camp was located in a beautiful hardwood forest with enty of new areas to explore, many wild edibles besides leeks – spring beauties, violets, trilliums, basswood leaves and nettles to name a few – and plenty of high quality firewood right next to cam, which is more of a rarity at our base camp at Mashkodens. Chris set up his own camp close to the year-long students at Nishnajida to instruct them in hide-tanning and guide them to another leek patch, and we all met up again when we returned from our respective camps to Mashkodens.
Dinner at leek camp after a day of harvesting
Most trees are now covered in a lush growth of leaves, and flowers are shooting up everywhere. The weather has changed more to summer-like conditions too, with an unusually high amount of thunderstorms moving through our area. Zagame (Moskito) seems to thrive on these consitions and all the stagnant water that is the rsult of several wet seasons.
A young porcupine
Many young animals are being born now or already growing rapidly, such as the young porcupine porcupine who´s playfully following her mother.
Memories of snow-covered ground – which was the case just a little over a Moon ago – seem more and more distant and surreal amidst this lush greenery and explosion of life. At the same time, the days are getting longer and longer and at the end of each day, as darkness approaches, we´re usually quite tired and ready to enter Dreamtime.
Waterproof stich for the rain pocho with two seams
The finished rain poncho, oiled and pitched
Since the return from our seasonal camps my days have mostly been filled with craftwork: I just completed a rain poncho which consists of several grain-on buckskins with a coating of oil and pitch for more water resistance (and the hides have been dyed in black walnuthusks, hence the dark color). The first test – standing in the rain during a thunderstorm – was quite promising: Only after prolonged exposure did I detect some dampness in the shoulder areas. By that time, regular buckskins would have been soaked thoroughly many times over. The smart thing to do during a thunderstorm would be to seek cover anyways, so I intend to use the poncho mostly for longer periods of drizzle and light rain…
Skin boat with skins draped over for fitting and cutting
Also, I´m sewing together several skins for the skin boat cover, which turns out to be a rather lengthy process.
– Thomas