Life on the Prairie

Elizabeth 

Middle waters child,

Taught by the Nuns and Black Robes,

Still true to her own. 

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Child of the prairie,

Taught by earth, wind, buffalo,

Proud Osage woman.

 

The short story, “Elizabeth Journey,” received second place at the first Astra Festival of Arts’ writing contest in Independence, Kansas.

Please note this blog posts the first and third weeks of each month.

Prairie Girls

Elizabeth

This is Elizabeth again. My friend Anna and I returned to my village from the school at Osage Mission and helped prepare for the five day marriage ceremony of my cousin, Sarah.  Succotash, squash, fry bread, plums, strawberries, deer and buffalo jerky and other foods were served at Sarah’s wedding feast. We also helped Sarah dress for her wedding. She wore the military tunic given to our tribe by the President in Washington. 

The Osage Native Americans participated in ceremonies before buffalo hunts, too. We did not waste any of the buffalo. It provided our food and our clothing, as well as, our tools and toys for our children. I will tell you more about my life on the prairie later.

 

 

Local Museums

 A favorite museum with elementary students is Woolaroc located outside of Bartlesville, Oklahoma. It provides areas both inside and out for activities. Although it is self-directed with no guide, it affords extra time to read captions under the vast Native American and western paintings and the artifacts housed there. It is possible to travel farther to Tulsa and Oklahoma City to see more excellent displays.

Doing research at museums for our writing projects has been interesting. We have come into contact with curators who have answered questions and provided information that would have taken months to glean from books and records. The collections at St. Paul where Elizabeth’s school was located were very helpful as was the director. Further research took us to Pawhuska, Oklahoma, where we visited the Osage Museum and learned more about the Osage removal to Oklahoma.

 

 

Buffalo

Endangered Buffalo

Buffalo once roamed North America by the millions--30,000,000 by the time white men arrived. The animals were slaughtered on a large scale and placed on the endangered list for many years.

Decimation of the herds occurred for several reasons, and all relate back to white men. When guns were introduced by whites and acquired by Native Americans, the hunting of the buffalo was much easier. Still tribes only harvested animals needed to survive and used the entire animal. Severe droughts over the years depleted the grasslands, and the buffalo food supply dwindled. It was the encroachment of farmers and ranchers pushing the herds further west that spelled doom for the large mammals.

The introduction of the railroad onto the plains provided the reason to destroy the animals. The herds traveled in groups large enough to destroy the rails of the tracks. Large railroad crews needed to be fed so wide scale slaughtering began. Easterners also coveted the warm buffalo robes the animals provided. Lastly, killing off the animals kept Native Americans from their most valuable resource.

Off the endangered list, buffaloes have made a comeback. Now considered to be healthier than most meat, it is sought after by Americans today.

The following websites will provide more information about the American buffalo.

https://www.fws.gov/bisonrange/timeline.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_bison
https://www.defenders.org/bison/basic-facts
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bison_hunting

Succotash

Prairie Recipes

By

Collette

One of the oldest side-dishes served in America for the last 400 years is succotash. Native Americans incorporated the “Three Sisters” into a great dish. There are as many different recipes as there are tribes. The following is similar to what they would have made.

Native American Succotash

3 cups lima beans (or another type of bean)                  2 small squash, chopped

2 large ears corn removed from cob                     ¼ teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons oil or lard                                                2 wild onions, chopped
1 tablespoon butter                                                        salt to taste

Place beans in a large pan; add several cups of water and boil until done (about 30 minutes). Remove corn from cob; run knife down the cob and remove corn “milk.”

Chop squash into bite-size pieces. Place corn “milk,” kernels of corn and chopped onion in a skillet and sauté until onion is tender. Place squash and beans into corn mixture; cover and simmer until done. Add left-over bean water to succotash as needed. Serves six.

 An updated version of succotash would be this summer salad.

 Succotash Salad

2 cups lima beans                                       2 tomatoes, seeded and chopped

4 tablespoons oil                                        ½ stalk celery, finely chopped
2 cups corn kernels                                     2 tablespoons cider vinegar
1 yellow onion, chopped                                      ½ cup thinly slice basil
1 yellow squash, chopped                          1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 small zucchini, chopped                          1 teaspoon salt
1 garlic clove, minced                                 pepper to taste

Cook beans covered with water for 30 minutes for fresh and 25 minutes for frozen lima beans. Drain; place in large bowl. Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a skillet; add corn, onion and squashes. Sauté until tender; add garlic during last minute of cooking. Place vegetables in bowl with beans, cover and refrigerate for one hour. Add tomatoes, celery, basil and toss with dressing.* Season with salt and pepper. Serves: 10

*Dressing: in a small bowl place vinegar and mustard. Whisking continuously drizzle in remaining 3 tablespoons of oil. Pour over salad and serve.

Indian Legend

The Legend of the Three Sisters

Once upon a time, long ago, the Great Creator decided to give man sisters for company. The eldest sister was named Corn Girl, and she grew tall, straight and wore a green shawl. She had long, flowing yellow hair that blew in the breezes. The second sister was called Bean Girl; she was bright yellow and was always running off into the sunshine. The third was the youngest and could only crawl places. She was Squash Girl and wore bright green.

One day the man caught the eye of Squash Girl, and he carried her away into the night. The other two sisters were sad at the loss. The next day the Native American man discovered Bean Girl and took her with him. That left beautiful Corn Girl all alone and filled with grief. When the man visited the next day, he saw her sadness and took her, too.

This tale is common among all Native American peoples who were agricultural. Sometimes slightly different in the telling, they all speak about the three crops grown together to sustain the tribes. Several kernels of corn (maize) were sprinkled into a twelve inch high mound. Sometimes a rotten piece of fish was placed on top of the seeds and covered with dirt as fertilizer. After the corn was about six inches tall, beans were planted next to the plant followed by squash seeds next to the beans.

Native Americans understood that beans grew better off the ground climbing upon a pole like a corn stalk. Corn also requires lots of nitrogen to grow and beans provided it. The squash covered the ground around the other two plants providing shade and served as a mulch to keep moisture near the roots of all of the plants. All three worked together to produce food needed by Native Americans.

In the Eyes of the Beholder

In the Eyes of the Beholder

by Judy

 

I anxiously opened the engraved wedding invitation and quickly checked the inside envelope. Sure enough, it was addressed to both my husband and me and after our names, were the names of my two young daughters. I had not seen my college roommate since my own wedding a year after we graduated. She had not met my two young girls, and it was long before the days of Facebook and Skype.

“The girls can stay with your mother,” my husband said when I told him of the upcoming wedding.

 

“You want to leave these precious darlings with my mother?” I asked. “Look at that envelope. Clearly my friend wants them to attend her wedding or their names would not be on the envelope. This discussion is ended,” I said. Looking back, I realize I just wanted to impress my good friend with my beautiful daughters. I carefully planned what my daughters and I would wear to the wedding. Of course, there was a shopping trip and new dresses were purchased. I don’t think my husband got a new shirt, but he might have. I don’t remember. Nor do I remember why I thought my former roommate would notice what anyone besides she wore to her wedding.

The day of the wedding dawned clear and beautiful. After carefully dressing the girls and myself in our new wedding finery, I curled their recently shampooed hair and secured it back out of their eyes and faces with colorful barrettes matching their dresses. How pretty the girls looked!

The automobile trip to the wedding was uneventful, and we arrived on time, all of us looking our very best. I was anxious for my roommate to see what a good mother I was, and to see that I had the most beautiful daughters in the world. All went well through the wedding ceremony. My young girls were entranced with the beautiful bride, handsome groom and colorful flowers decorating the church. When the ceremony ended my family and I joined the other wedding guests in the church’s hall for the reception. We patiently waited our turn in the reception line. At last I reached the beautiful bride. I hugged her and turned to introduce her to my daughters.

Yes their dresses were beautiful, and they had pretty little smiles on their faces. They also had each taken the two barrettes out of their hair and stuck them up their nostrils. Of course, one could hardly see the barrettes through all the hair hanging down over their eyes and faces. It wasn’t my proudest mothering moment.

Some years later I visited with my roommate about her wedding day. “Do you remember meeting my little girls at your wedding?” I asked.

“Well, no, I don’t, but wasn’t it a beautiful day and wedding?” she answered.

And I agreed…it was.