Part 7

=Climbing Bittersweet= (_Celastrus scandens_ L.), “manîdobîmaˈ kwît” [spirit twisted].[136] The Pillager Ojibwe story of this plant is practically the same as that of the Menomini, as given in Museum bulletin Vol. IV, No. 1, pp. 63-64. Bittersweet is fairly abundant around Leech Lake, and is found in dense hardwood forests climbing to tops of trees thirty feet or more in height. When food is unobtainable in the winter, because the snow is too deep and game is scarce, the Ojibwe gather this bark and separate the inner bark to make a thick soup for a meal. While it is not so very palatable, it is sustaining and they may subsist on it for a considerable time, until they are able to get some game, or to go to some relatives and get other foodstuffs. The Ojibwe name refers as does the Menomini name, to the twisted intestines of their cultural hero, Winabojo.

COMPOSITAE (COMPOSITE FAMILY)

=Large-leaved Aster= (_Aster macrophyllus_ L.), “mêgêsiˈ bûg”, [eagle leaf]. The leaves of this aster are eaten when young and tender. The Flambeau Ojibwe declare that they are fine-flavored and good to eat, because they act as medicine at the same time that they are food. Among the Pillager Ojibwe they use the root of this same aster as a soup material, but call it “nêmêgosiˈ bûg” [trout leaf].

=Philadelphia Fleabane= (_Erigeron philadelphicus_ L.), “micao gacan” [odor of split hoof of doe]. The Pillager Ojibwe say that deer and cows eat this plant and that they use it in their smoking tobacco or kinnikinnik mixture.

=Dandelion= (_Taraxacum officinale_ Weber) “wecaˈ waskwûneˈ k” [yellow light]. The Flambeau Ojibwe gather the young leaves in the spring and cook them with pork or venison for greens, using vinegar made from soured maple sap.

CORNACEAE (DOGWOOD FAMILY)

=Panicled Dogwood= (_Cornus paniculata_ L’Her.) “meskwabiˈ mîc” [red bush]. The Flambeau Ojibwe use this bark in their kinnikinnik or native smoking tobacco. Sometimes real tobacco is mixed with it and sometimes not, as real tobacco is expensive. The twig bark is peeled and toasted over coals on a crude drying fork, then further shredded to carry in their tobacco pouches and smoke in their pipes.

CRUCIFERAE (MUSTARD FAMILY)

=Large Toothwort= (_Dentaria maxima_ Nutt.), “mûkwopîniˈk” [bear potato]. The rootstocks of this cress are very abundant in wet, springy ground in the forest. The white man can only identify this plant in the spring of the year when the flower and leaf are found, but the Ojibwe knows the root and where it grows so gathers it when it has matured. It is a favored wild potato, but has a very pungent acrid taste when freshly dug. They heap the mass of cleaned roots upon a blanket and cover it closely to exclude the air for four or five days. During this time the roots ferment and lose the acrid taste, becoming sweet and palatable. The Ojibwe cook them with corn and deer meat, or with beans and deer meat, and say that, besides being a fine food, they are a good medicine for the stomach.

CUCURBITACEAE (GOURD FAMILY)

=Cucumber= (_Cucumis sativus_ L.), “eckaˈdamîn” [its name]. The Ojibwe use their cucumbers raw, but sometimes flavor them with a vinegar “cîwaˈbo” made from souring maple sap. They are further flavored with powdered maple sugar.

=Ojibwe Squash= (_Cucurbita maxima_ Duchesne), “ogwîˈssi maun owaso kwoneˈk” [pumpkin, yellow light]. Their word “ogwissimaun” literally means “tangled hairs”, and refers to the strings inside upon which the seeds are borne. The Flambeau Ojibwe cultivate their own variety of squash, although they say that they got it originally from the Iroquois. They dry rings of squash for winter use.

=Large Pie Pumpkin= (_Cucurbita pepo_ L.), “missaˈ bîgon” [little giant plant]. They have cultivated this original Ojibwe dark yellow pie pumpkin since long before the advent of the white man. They cut it into rings and sun dry it for winter use.

=Gourds= (_Lagenaria vulgaris_ Ser.), “jicaˈwîgan” [hollow like]. The Ojibwe cultivate the gourds, which they eat when young, before the rind has hardened. They also make use of them for drinking and dipping cups, and for rattles in the medicine lodge. The medicine man, “mîdewag”, keeps the rhythm of his songs by shaking them. They are pierced, kernels of corn or shells inserted, and then corked again for use.

EQUISETACEAE (HORSETAIL FAMILY)

=Field Horsetail= (_Equisetum arvense_ L.), “gîjiˈ bînûsk” [duck food].[137] The Pillager Ojibwe gather this for their domesticated ducks to eat and also to feed their ponies, to make their coats glossy.

ERICACEAE (HEATH FAMILY)

=Bog Rosemary= (_Andromeda glaucophylla_ Link.), “bîneˈ mîkci” [swamp]. Young, tender leaves and tips of this plant are used by the Flambeau Ojibwe to boil for a beverage tea. While they often pick and use it fresh on the hunting trail, they also gather and dry it for later use. It is not a bad substitute for “store tea.”

=Leather Leaf= (_Chamaedaphne calyculata_ [L.] Moench.), “wabackîkiˈ bûg” [rabbit leaf]. This is another beverage tea leaf, prized by the Flambeau Ojibwe. It is used on the trail or dried and saved for future use. The Pillager Ojibwe also use it in the same manner, under the name,—“mackiˈ gobûgons” [little swamp leaf].

=Wintergreen= (_Gaultheria procumbens_ L.), “wînîsiˈ bûgûd” [dirty leaf], shown in plate 75, fig. 2. While the Flambeau Ojibwe use this as a rheumatic medicine, they also use the leaf tea from the youngest, tenderest leaves as a beverage tea, and especially favor it because it “makes them feel good”. They also eat the wintergreen berry which they call “owînîsiˈ mîn”.

=Labrador Tea= (_Ledum groenlandicum_ Oeder.), “waboskîkiˈ bûg” [rabbit leaf], shown in plate 76, fig. 2. The Flambeau Ojibwe use the tender leaves of this plant for a beverage tea, and will even eat the leaves in the tea. It is a well known tea to many northern and Canadian Indians.

=Cranberry= (_Vaccinium oxycoccos_ L.), “mûckiˈ mîn” [swamp berry] shown in plate 67, fig. 2. This is an important wild food of the Flambeau Indians and also of the Pillager Ojibwe, who use a slightly different pronunciation, “mûckîtciˈ mîn” [swamp berry]. The train men that go through that reservation never seem to tire of getting Johnnie Frog to say “cranberry pie” for them in Ojibwe. It sounds so complicated because they really have no word for pie in their language but must say, “swamp berries made into sauce rolled between bread”,—“mûckiˈ gimînûn backiˈ mînasîgûn wiwegidaˈsîgûn”.

=Blueberry= (_Vaccinium pennsylvanicum_ Lam.), “mînûn” [berries]. The Flambeau and the Pillager Ojibwe harvest quantities of blueberries both for themselves and to sell. They dry them in large quantities on raised scaffolds of rush mats, like currants, or raisins, which they somewhat resemble. In the winter, they like to cook them with dried sweet corn, sweetened with maple sugar. They also cook them with wild rice, and venison and make a sweet bread with them. They have different names for different varieties of blueberries. The Low Blueberry (_V. vacillans_ Kalm.) is called “gimîneˈsît” while the low Black Blueberry (_V. nigrum_ [Wood] Britton) is called “makateˈ mîn” [black blueberry]. No specimens of the last two were secured, but the names were common among the Ojibwe.

FAGACEAE (BEECH FAMILY)

=Beech= (_Fagus grandifolia_ Ehrh.) “gaweˈmîc”. All the Ojibwe know and appreciate the sweet nuts of the beech tree. They are never plentiful enough to store for winter, but the Indians like them fresh.

=White Oak= (_Quercus alba_ L.), “mîciˈ mîn” [oak berry]. All Ojibwe encountered told of their former dependence upon acorns for their soup stock. It seems that at least every Algonkian tribe knew and used all species of acorns. They got rid of the bitter tannin taste by soaking the acorns in hot lye. Wood ashes in water, when boiled gave them the lye. A regular woven bark bag held a quantity of acorns and the lye was leached out by washing the whole bagful in several changes of warm water. The acorns were then dried for storage, and when wanted, pounded and ground to a coarse flour which was used to thicken soups or form a sort of mush. Blueberries were often cooked with this mush to give it a good flavor and it was seasoned with maple sugar. White Oak acorns needed no lye treatment.

=Bur Oak= (_Quercus macrocarpa_ Michx.), “mîtîgoˈ mîc” [wooden tree]. Bur Oak acorns are bitter, but yield to the lye treatment to become as edible as the acorns of the White Oak.

=Red Oak= (_Quercus rubra_ L.), “mîtîgoˈ mîc” [wooden tree]. Because Red Oak was so abundant in the Ojibwe territory and so large in size, the acorns were one of their most important starchy foods. They leached the tannic acid flavor with lye and brought them to a par with the sweet acorns of White Oak.

=Black Oak= (_Quercus velutina_ Lam.) “têˈ komîn”. The name is evidently an abbreviation of “mêtîgoˈ mîn”, but probably an intentional one for this tree was always referred to by the abbreviation. Its acorns were equally good as others when the tannin was extracted.

FUNGI

The writer found that none of the Ojibwe eat any of the mushrooms although they have two names for them,—“pîkwaˈ djîc” and “wajackweˈ do” [muskrat]. Probably some remote ancestor had a fatal experience with mushrooms and the news has been handed down. Although the Ojibwe have fanciful stories explaining why they use certain plants, no doubt their knowledge came by a process of trial and error through the centuries and the errors have been duly buried but not entirely forgotten.

GRAMINAE (GRASS FAMILY)

=Corn= (_Zea mays_ L.), “mandaˈ mîn”. Corn is a traditional heritage of the Ojibwe, although none knew a time when they did not have it. Their origin myth is that it was a pinch of flesh taken from the side of their culture hero, Winabojo, by himself and cast upon the ground, to grow and become corn for them. This is the same as acknowledging that they do not know how it came to be here. When mandamin matures, they say that only horses can eat it raw in that condition. They have to soak it in lye water, wash out the lye and then parboil it to prepare it for the table. This is the same as our hominy. Scientists think now that corn originated in Mexico from an accidental crossing of teosinte and gama grass. While the Ojibwe cultivate and grow the approved strains of corn for Wisconsin, they also cling to their own “calico” corn, with all sorts of colors of grains on different cobs. They have two names for sweet corn,—“wîckobiˈ mandaˈmîn” [sweet maize], and “wîckobiˈ sîˈganûg” [turns sweet in cooking]. Their sweet or soft corns are different from those used by the white man. They roast the ears in the husk and make it into hominy as the white man does. They cut the kernels from their sweet corn and dry them for winter use. It is also boiled in a kettle, and when half-cooked, is cut from the cob and dried for winter use.

They had a name for popcorn, but the writer saw none of it while around them.

=Wild Rice= (_Zizania palustris_ L.), “manoˈ mîn” [good berry]. The Ojibwe word is their pronunciation of the Menomini term for wild rice. Most Algonkians have the same word for wild rice and it forms a very important part of their food. The writer has often been present at the Ojibwe rice harvests. The largest operation seen was that of the Ojibwe at Mole Lake in Forest County, Wisconsin. There about twenty families were working at one time and the writer worked at each operation to become familiar with it. Wild rice preparation is the hardest kind of labor, and they earn all they get for it when they sell it. It sells in Milwaukee for $1.05 a pound, but one can buy it from the Indians at $.25 to $.35 a pound. One man reaped 1325 pounds of rice in the harvest time. The Menomini Rice Harvest group in the Public Museum exhibition halls, shows very well most features of the operation.

Various families have definite parts of the lake for their share, while others travel to small lakes and stay there until the harvest is complete. They set up a family camp, while the grain is still in the milk stage and wait for it to ripen. When this time arrives, having made experimental collections to determine it, they make a ceremonial gathering. Three to a canoe, two women and a man go to the rice beds and gather sufficient rice for a preliminary feast. With a hooked stick, held in a crescent by a string, the women pull the rice over the canoe and beat off the kernels with a stick, into the canoe bed. Sometimes, when the Indians do not want to waste any of the rice, they will go into the beds before it is ripe and tie several heads together to ripen in that manner. The first collection is prepared complete, with songs to their deities and a ceremonial feast is observed. After that all hands fall to in earnest and gather unremittingly until all the rice is harvested.

When the canoe is partly loaded, they pole back to camp, to prepare it. Wild rice grows in a mucky soil which may be quite deep. Ten foot poles, with a wide fork to secure a hold on the grass, are used to propel the canoe through the rice. On the return trip when loaded, the women trample the rice to break off the spiny beards or awns. The next step is roasting or parching. A wash tub is tilted against a large back log and a fire maintained under it. To keep the rice from burning, one must use a forty inch paddle and stir constantly for about three hours. The roasting destroys any weevils that might be present, gives the rice a pleasant flavor, loosens the husks or glumes and hardens the rice so it may be kept indefinitely.

In earlier times, a hole was dug into the ground and carefully lined with buckskin. Nowadays a candy bucket is sunk into the hole. This is the threshing floor. A man with new moccasins steps in to trample and thresh it.[138] He has a couple of poles, slanting near the hole, and supported on a tree with which he balances, while trampling the rice. He gives a circular, twisting pressure to the rice with his feet to grind off the husks. Then the chaff is winnowed away by a woman as shown in the present series, Vol. IV, plate 29, fig. 2. A large shallow birchbark tray is shaken up and down by the woman as she stands in a breeze. If there is no wind, the chaff accumulates on top and is pushed over the edge from time to time. After the winnowing, the rice is washed to clean it of foreign matter and of the smoky flavor of parching. It is then dried and ready to use or store. Wild rice swells more than cultivated rice in cooking. It is often moistened with six times its bulk in water. The kernels are about six times as long as thick and in cooking the ends curl backward to meet in the center, thus differing from _Oryza sativa_, the white man’s rice. The proper way to cook it Indian fashion is with deer broth and season with maple sugar. Wild rice cooked with wild fowl takes away the muddy or wild taste and is highly prized by those whites who know its qualities.

HYDROPHYLLACEAE (WATERLEAF FAMILY)

=Virginia Waterleaf= (_Hydrophyllum virginianum_ L.), “nebîneˈnanikweˈîag”[139] [having hair on only one side]. The Pillager Ojibwe use the root as a feed for ponies to make them fatten rapidly.

JUGLANDACEAE (WALNUT FAMILY)

=Shell-bark Hickory= (_Carya ovata_ [Mill.] K. Koch.), “bagaˈ nakoˈ bagan”. Hickory trees are scarce in the north, but the Ojibwe appreciate the edible nuts.

=Butternut= (_Juglans cinerea_ L.), “bagaˈ nag”. Butternut is plentiful in the north and in most Ojibwe territory, while the Black Walnut is not to be found. They use the nuts for food and the hulls for dye.

LABIATAE (MINT FAMILY)

=Wild Mint= (_Mentha arvensis_ L. var. _canadensis_ [L.] Briquet.) “andegoˈ bîgons” [little crow leaf].[140] The Pillager Ojibwe use the foliage to make a beverage tea.

=Catnip= (_Nepeta cataria_ L.), “tciˈ nameˈwûck” [big sturgeon leaf]. Catnip leaves are used by the Flambeau Ojibwe in making a beverage tea.

LEGUMINOSAE (PULSE FAMILY)

=Hog Peanut= (_Amphicarpa pitcheri_ T. & G.), “bûgwaˈ dj mîskodiˈ sîmîn” [unusual red bean]. The Pillager Ojibwe cook the beans and are very fond of the unusual flavor imparted to their cooking in this way. They also cook the roots, although they are really too small to be considered of much importance.

=Creamy Vetchling= (_Lathyrus ochroleucus_ Hook.), “bûgwaˈdj pînik” [unusual potato]. The Pillager Ojibwe use the root of this plant as a sort of Indian potato, and store it in deep pits in the garden, as they do their regular potatoes.

=Navy Bean= (_Phaseolus vulgaris_ L.), “wabeniˈmînesa” [little white berry]. The Ojibwe claim to have always had the sort of beans that the white man uses and while their original Navy Bean is not exactly like that of the white man, still it is near enough to be confused with it.

=Lima Bean= (_Phaseolus lunatus macrocarpus_),“wabeniˈ mîna” [big white berry]. The Ojibwe also claim to have originally had the Lima Bean, but that is doubtful.

=Cranberry Pole Bean= (_Phaseolus vulgaris_ L.), “mêskodiˈ mînûn” [red heart berry]. The Red Cranberry Pole Bean is the original source of all our best commercial pole beans. The Indians cultivated it in aboriginal times. They use it alone or in many peculiar combinations.

LICHENS

Tree Lichen (_Sticta glomulifera_), “jîngwakons wakun” [little white pine and row of eggs] or “jîngwaˈkwak” [pine egg]. On the bark at the base of an old White Pine, will be found lichens growing from the ground to a height of perhaps three feet. The Ojibwe gather these and boil them until they coagulate or “come together” like scrambled eggs. They say that they taste like eggs “wawîn”, but they call them “wakûn”, which is a term applied to the roe or eggs of a fish. It is a favorite dish and a very ancient one.

LILIACEAE (LILY FAMILY)

=Wild Onion= (_Allium cernuum_ Roth.), “cîgagaˈ wûnj” [skunk plant]. Both Pillager and Flambeau Ojibwe like the Wild Onion and Wild Leek in the spring as an article of food.

=Wild Leek= (_Allium tricoccum_ Ait.), “bûgwaˈ djijîcaˈ gowûnj” [unusual onion] “jîcago” really means skunk, and from this word Chicago was named. This is the larger wild onion and is known as Winabojo’s onion, or the one he pointed out for food. It is gathered in the spring when it is round and plumper than in the fall. It is also gathered and dried for future use. The Wild Leek is somewhat bitter, while the smaller wild onion is sweet.

=False Spikenard= (_Smilacina racemosa_ [L.] Desf.), “agoñgosiˈ wîdjiˈ bîk” [chipmunk root]. The Pillager Ojibwe use this root added to oats to make a pony grow fat. The Flambeau Ojibwe also prepare and eat the False Spikenard root. It is soaked in lye water and parboiled to get rid of the lye, then cooked like potatoes.

NYMPHAEACEAE (WATER LILY FAMILY)

=Sweet White Water Lily= (_Castalia odorata_ [Ait.] Woodville & Wood), “odîteˈabûg wabîˈgwûn” [flat heart-shaped leaf, white flowered]. The Flambeau Ojibwe eat the buds of this water lily before they open.

=Yellow Lotus= (_Nelumbo lutea_ (Willd.) Pers.), “wesawasaˈ kwuneˈk odîteˈabûg” [yellow light, flat heart-shaped leaf].[141] Most of the Wisconsin Ojibwe know about this favored wild potato; and also use the hard chestnut-like seeds to roast and make into a sweet meal. They cut off the terminal shoots, at either end of the underground creeping rootstock and the remainder is their potato. These shoots are similar in shape and size to a banana, and form the starchy storage reservoirs for future growth. They have pores inside, but have more substance to them than the stems. They are cut crosswise and strung upon basswood strings, to hang from the rafters for winter use. They are soaked when needed and then cooked with venison, corn or beans.

OLEACEAE (OLIVE FAMILY)

=Red Ash= (_Fraxinus pennsylvanica_ Marsh.) “aˈgîmak” [snow-shoe wood]. The cambium layer of the ash is scraped down in long, fluffy layers and cooked. It is called “sagîmaˈ kwûn”, which incorporates the name of the ash with “wûn” or eggs. They say it tastes like eggs. Many other trees are given the same sort of treatment for food purposes.

PINACEAE (PINE FAMILY)

=White Pine= (_Pinus strobus_ L.), “jîngwaˈ k”. In the spring the Ojibwe use the young staminate catkins of the pine to cook for food. It is stewed with meat. One might think this would taste rather like pitch, but they assured the writer that it was sweet and had no pitchy flavor.

=Hemlock= (_Tsuga canadensis_ [L.] Carr.), “gagagiˈ wîc”. The Flambeau Ojibwe use the leaves of Hemlock to make a beverage tea. This sort of tea is oftentimes used by the Indian Medicine man to carry his medicaments and disguise the fact that the patient is taking medicine.

POLYPODIACEAE (FERN FAMILY)

=Brake= (_Pteris aquilina_ L.), “ana ˈganûck” [general fern name]. The Flambeau Ojibwe are fond of young fern sprouts as a soup material. The young fern tips, with coiled fronds, are about like asparagus tips, only not stringy with fibrovascular bundles like asparagus. The tips are thrown into hot water for an hour to rid them of ants, then put into soup stock and thickened with flour. The flavor resembles wild rice. Hunters are very careful to live wholly upon this when stalking does in the spring. The doe feeds upon the fronds and the hunter does also, so that his breath does not betray his presence. He claims to be able to approach within twenty feet without disturbing the deer, from which distance he can easily make a fatal shot with his bow and arrow. After killing the deer, the hunter will eat whatever strikes his fancy.

RANUNCULACEAE (CROWFOOT FAMILY)

=Marsh Marigold= (_Caltha palustris_ L.), “o ˈgîteˈ bûg”. The Flambeau Ojibwe use the leaves as a green to cook with pork in the springtime.

ROSACEAE (ROSE FAMILY)

=Smooth Juneberry= (_Amelanchier laevis_ Wiegand), “gozîgagoˈ mînûn” [thorny berry]. According to John Whitefeather, Flambeau Ojibwe, this is the name of the Juneberry, while Charley Burns on the same reservation called it “bîsegaˈ gwomîn”. Both knew it only as a food, although some tribes use the bark as a medicine. Juneberries were also dried for winter use, the Indians often preferring them to blueberries. The Pillager Ojibwe also use them as a food and use the bark as a medicine.

=Red Haw Apple= (_Crataegus_ sp.), “mînesagaˈ wûnj”. The Pillager Ojibwe use the haw apples as a food in the fall of the year.

=Wild Strawberry= (_Fragaria virginiana_ Duchesne), “odeˈ imîn” [heart berry]. Both Flambeau and Pillager Ojibwe have the same name for the Wild Strawberry, and call it the heart berry from its shape and color. They are very fond of it in season and make preserves of it for winter use.

=Wild Plum= (_Prunus nigra_ Ait.), “bûgeˈ sanatîg”. The Pillager Ojibwe find quantities of the Wild Plum in thickets and gather it for food and for preserves.

=Pin Cherry= (_Prunus pennsylvanica_ L.f.), “baeˈ wimînûn”. The Pin Cherry is abundant around the Flambeau Reservation and the Ojibwe are fond of it. It is an education in itself to see a group of Ojibwe women working on mats with a supply of fruit laden branches beside them. With one hand they will start a stream of berries into the mouth and the stream of cherry stones ejected from the other corner of the mouth seems ceaseless. The Pillager Ojibwe also have the tree and use it in the same manner.

=Sand Cherry= (_Prunus pumila_ L.), “sewaˈkomîn”. The Flambeau Ojibwe find plenty of this species on sandy openings in the forest, and gather the fruit for food.

=Wild Cherry= (_Prunus serotina_ Ehrh.), “okweˈ mîn” [worm from egg of a fly]. The Flambeau Ojibwe prefer this cherry to all other wild cherries, and dry it for winter use. Some of them also make whiskey from the ripe cherries.

=Choke Cherry= (_Prunus virginiana_ L.), “saweˈ mîn”. Although the fruit of this cherry is sufficiently acrid to be unsatisfactory to the whites as a food, the Pillager Ojibwe like it, especially after the fruit has been frosted.