Indian Givers And Redbud Trees

 

 Richard and I went to a Wildlife Festival yesterday in Rockdale County.  There was a demonstration by Native Americans (Cherokees and Creeks in this area) and it was fascinating.  There are two books that I would recommend to you and they are "Indian Givers" by Jack Weatherford and "Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee" by Dee Brown.  Both are excellent.  I read them years ago but still remember them with great fondness.  This first photo with the arrowheads and stones caught my eye and I snapped this photo. Just since I have been home and have been looking at it all, I see that those are feathers that have been arranged so artistically in the middle.  What hoofed creature's leg is that to the right, is it a deer?  What was that used for, I wonder?  Could it have been used as a hoe?

 This is a demonstration of the fire used for cooking food and for drinking water.   The fire is reduced to the white hot ashes and then food is placed into the ashes. Those are red potatoes at the front of the fire.  Later, they put corn (still in its husk) on there and yellow squash sliced in half placed upon the hot stones.  The Native Americans would also take a squash gourd and clean it very well and then would use that to collect water from the streams.  They would then take the very hot stones from the fire and place them into the gourd filled with water and would thereby purify the water.  And that is a deerskin on the left and that is where we Americans get our other name for a dollar, a buck!

This photo shows the hollowed out gourd and the stones to the left.  I love the scuppernongs (like muscadines, only green)  in the handmade basket and the yellow squash are to the upper right.  I asked about the lichen and below that, the husk from corn.  Lichen can be eaten!  I was assured that it does not taste that good but that if it is cleaned it is perfectly edible and could sustain you if you needed food in the wild.  The cornhusk was used by Native Americans  as a diuretic, it was soaked in water and they would drink the cornhusky water.  Not sure, what kind of nuts they have here.  You could bet that my Dad would know! (And please, do NOT go into the wild and eat something on my say-so! I am from small-town Georgia and am just passing along to you what was shown to me at this festival.  I promise you that all the country knowledge that my Dad might have in common with Native Americans is his knowledge alone, and not mine!)

 

GB just asked me about the pink trees that I was posing beside in my one year blog anniversary post.  They are Eastern Redbud trees and they are native to this area.  They are the very first trees to bloom and they are always a very welcome sight.  The blooms from an Eastern Redbud tree were also eaten by the Native Americans and that makes total sense to me since they bloom in mid March and would be one of the few blooming plants at that time of year.

 

Beautiful owls from the Wildlife Festival...from AWARE and also, from a Bird of Prey Show...but that will have to be for another post.    Just you wait, you will be amazed by their beauty.