Sunrise among the flowering trees, the morning we left Mashkodens for Leek Camp
The last quarter-moon has been quite an adventure! It began with Matt arriving, after a long hitchhiking trip, to join Nick and me for the Sucker-fishing camp. Except there was no Sucker-fishing camp.. the water was still too cold! So instead, we went to Plan B: Zhigagowan Camp! Zhigagowan is the Ojibwe word for the Wild
Leek, or Ramp as they call the plant in the south. The city of Chicago was named for it!
We loaded up some gear in the car, took all that we could carry (including a small jar of Nick’s Maple Syrup which he harvested this winter!), and headed off. We were excited to have Matt with us, an old friend, with his vibrant energy, humor, and experience. We were also accompanied by George, a volunteer who ended up stating with us for 5-6 days. The walk was long, and quite pleasant. The leaves were just -just starting to unfurl from the trees, bathing us in gentle green glow. The sun was shining, the birds were singing, the flowers were blooming.. you get the picture! We talked and joked; bathed in a river we passed, and arrived at the site in the early evening. While Matt was comfortably rocking his amazing bark-tanned pack-bag, Nick and I were immersed in thoughts about how to better adjust our temperamental pack-frames for such long journeys.
Making our way to Leek Camp
Taking a break, and partaking in Nick's wildcrafted Maple Syrup.. umm!
Trilliums, gracing our eyes as we enter the Sweet (Maple) Forest whence the Leeks dwell
The first night or two most of us slept without anything over our heads, on beds of Zhingob (Balsam Fir) boughs. As conditions changed, we added tarps and mosquito-netting, and set up a tarp over the hearth area (more on this later). And then, after a bunch of communicating about the way we want to go about things, the gathering began! We started close to camp, and as the Suns passed, spread further and further. The Zhigagowans had just come in to their full strength – everything lined up perfectly! After taking time to connect with the plants and thank them on the heart-level, we took no more than a third of the plants from each patch, making sure to exclude any other plants (potentially poisonous ones) that might have been growing there. As you see form the pictures, we had others join us, for an overnight. Ron Jenine and four kids, Paul, Wren. It was great to have everyone’s energy for the gathering, for the joking and playing. To share our hearth-space with them, and show them our traditions. Nick and I continued, with Matt joining us, to work on our communication and help each other recognize and change victimized behaviors and attitudes.
Nick making the first fire in camp
Matt, Nick, visitors around the dinner hearth
With our efforts and everyone else’s help we gathered many many bags of leeks. We dried a little for ourselves, and with the aid of a bit of elbow-grease stuffed the rest into ziplock bags (air squeezed out), which were subsequently picked up by our support crew in the evenings, and put into the school’s freezer.
Matt and George gathering
Matt, Alex, kids packing Leeks
Another bag packed. Can you deal with that?!
Matt being Matt.
Stella giving us a hand.
Alyosha with his drying set-up. Ripped-up Leeks in a fishing net and on a tarp.
The drying and the gathering began to be impeded by rain that came in the form of mighty thunderstorms during our last few Suns there. We stayed mostly dry with the aid of well-secured tarps, and a hot hardwood fire which drew us in as the skies exploded with thunder and moisture.. it was quite beautiful, as was the hurried leafing-out of all plants.
Sun and Rain makes for a greening forest!
The forest became more moist, yet that did not deter us from the gathering, or from the exploring and forest-running that we started to get in to, as a group and individually. One morning Nick saw a Makwa (Bear) rooting around, and soon we were all there trailing her, looking for the poops, disturbed logs, tracks, and matted vegetation. In addition to exploring, a little bit of time went into other thing – we gathered some other craft material, and worked a little bit on personal projects – Matt scraped on his bow, Nick and I worked on arrows, I finished my buffalo-buckskin sandals, and there was lots of sewing and patching of clothes. We continues to cook primitively with the exception of the now-pot-cooked- Minomin (Wild Rice) (with Leeks – Zhigagowans, naturally), as our wooden lidded bowl was left back at camp. Grazing on various other greens (Basswood, Dandelion, Ox-Eyed Daisy, Violet, Spring Beauty – just to name a few) supplemented our diet.
And then.. came.. the.. Zagame – Mosquitoes…!!! Over-night they multiplied a thousand-fold. The ladies were hungry. The times of flolicking in the dry sunshiny Leek patches now seemed like a pleasant, distant dream. Clouds of them would disperse from our feet as we walked and gathered, and then descend on us in a ravenous frenzy. Greasing with fat and using certain plants and smoke to stave them off did not help a great deal. This, combined with the increasing yellowing and wilting of the ephemeral Zhigagowans helped us to quickly to come to consensus to break camp and head back. The walk back was full of all kinds of weather events – mosquitoe clouds, wind, sun, and a thunderstorm. The conversations, dreaming of the future, and the joking around made it fun, as usual.
Mosquito Camp! Smoke helps.. kind of..
All in all we gathered around 600 lbs of Zhigagowans… yeah! Enough to make a significant contribution to the school’s food supplies. I am imagining many dinner pots carrying the subtle flavor of our own maple-forest Leeks, harking back to this special time…
Now we are back, deciding on our next steps. The temperatures of the creeks still indicate that the Sucker-run is a few days off, if it is to happen at all. Matt and Nick are contemplating going and setting up a line-fishing camp somewhere, while I am getting in to wrapping things up at the school in order to head out to visit my parents, friends, and potentially explore the American Southwest. Reflecting, I feel incredibly grateful for the experience, for the folks I was with, human and otherwise. Inspired to continue to grow in my relationships with myself, food, people.. and to share the journey. Perhaps once we Mashkodenians decide what’s happening, I’ll post an update.
Happy Summer Everyone!
Alyosha