All About Acorns

Here in New Hampshire at the Mt. Kearsarge Indian Museum, the acorns in the Medicine Woods are under a foot of snow.  But earlier in the fall the sound of acorns dropping from the oak trees was almost continuous, and the forest floor was carpeted with hundred of acorns.  Anyone venturing into the Medicine Woods in October would have been well advised to wear a hard hat.


In late September and early October the animals of the Woods were busy gathering these protein-rich nuts and stashing them away for use later in the winter.  These creatures know that acorns are a valuable source of important nutrients.  Across Turtle Island native people also recognized this fact, and acorns were an important staple of their diet.  Now research shows that acorns contain many healthful compounds, especially antioxidants. Acorns are an important source of phytochemicals, chemical substances found in plants that can help prevent diseases and cell damage.  Regular consumption of foods rich in phytochemicals is associated with reduced risks of chronic diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular disease, stroke, Alzheimer's disease, cataract and age-related functional decline.  (See "Health Benefits of Phytochemicals in Functional Foods"  Cornell University, 2002.)  In addition to their phytochemical content, acorns are a source of protein (about 8 percent) and fats (37 percent.)  They are also high in calcium and other minerals.

The first Native Americans to add acorns to their diet were not aware that the nuts they were gathering contained antioxidants and phytochemicals.  However, the lives of native people were closely linked to the earth and its inhabitants, which led them to develop a great body of knowledge of the natural world.  Thousands of years of experience taught native people which foods provided the best nourishment and energy that their active lives required.

At the Mt. Kearsarge Indian Museum we have learned that the average native family in the Northeast Woodlands would need approximately 600 pounds of acorns to provide enough food for the long, cold winter months.  Given that the average acorn weighs 0.01 lbs, 600 lbs. of acorns amounts to approximately 60,000 acorns!

Before the nutmeat of acorns can be eaten, the nuts must be treated to remove tannic acid, which gives them a bitter taste.  Removing the tannins greatly improves the flavor of acorns, but there are more important reasons to flush tannins from acorns. Tannic acid can interfere with the body’s ability to metabolize protein.  Eating untreated acorns could ultimately result in starvation, even in an individual eating an otherwise healthy diet.

Animals in the wild have developed several ways to reduce the amount of tannic acid in the acorns they eat.  Animals that cache acorns, like jays and squirrels, may wait to eat them until enough groundwater has percolated through them to leach out the tannins.  Other animals buffer the effect of tannic acid by eating other foods in combination with the acorns. Some insects, birds, and mammals can metabolize tannins with few of the ill effects that could cause kidney damage in humans.

How do Native Americans remove the tannins from acorns?  After the acorns have been harvested they are spread out on a blanket and set out in a dry, sunny place for several days. The sunlight creates enough heat inside the acorn to kill any insect eggs or larvae that might be living there.  It also prevents the acorns from becoming moldy before they are shelled.

When the acorns are thoroughly dry they are cracked open and the nutmeat is picked from the shells.  Now the tannins can be removed.  Some people preferred to place the nutmeat in a basket set in clean, fast-flowing water.  After a day or two the tannic acid would be flushed away.  Others prefer to remove the tannins by boiling the nutmeat in a large pot.  When the water has turned brown it is poured off and replaced with fresh hot water.  This process is repeated several times until the water remains clear.  This job generally takes two or three hours.  When the boiling process has been completed, the acorns will have turned dark brown and will no longer taste bitter.  Eaten from the pot, the acorns have a flavor similar to that of boiled chestnuts.

Now the nutmeats must be dried again.  When they have become dry they can be roasted or chopped and eaten.  However, it is more common to grind the dry nutmeats into fine flour.  This flour can be used to make acorn bread.

Another method is to grind the nutmeat while it is still wet until it has become a moist paste.  This acorn paste is ready to be added to the acorn bread recipe.

Acorn meal is naturally sweet, which adds flavor to the bread.  Bread made entirely of acorn flour is very dense.  Some cooks added cattail flour, which helped keep the bread from crumbling.  A piece of acorn bread provided a nourishing meal for someone on a long trip or a hunting expedition.

The fact that the native people of the Northeast Woodlands were accomplished foresters is often overlooked.  They adopted effective and sophisticated ways to manage their acorn crops.  Lighting ground fires increased the production of acorns and made them easier to collect.  The fires killed the larvae of the acorn moths and acorn weevils, which could consume more than 95% of an oak tree’s crop.

The fires freed nutrients bound in dead leaves and other plant debris and released them into the soil.  The fire also reduced bushy growth on the forest floor, which made it acorn gathering easier.

Most North American oak trees can tolerate light fires, especially when yearly burning has consumed dead wood and other flammable materials that would otherwise accumulate around the trunks of the trees. Consistent burning removed other less fire tolerant trees from the area and created more space in which new oak trees could grow.

Oak trees bear more acorns when other oak trees do not crowd them.  The controlled burns tended to remove oak saplings and diseased trees, opening the forest canopy to allow more sunlight and water to reach the healthy trees.  The result was an open oak savanna, with trees ideally spaced to maximize acorn production.

There are many recipes for acorn bread available online or in books.  Here are a few that look interesting:

•  Acorns and Acorn Bread by Dan Fisher  http://www.jackmtn.com/acornbread.html
• Vintage and Native American Acorn Bread  http://www.grouprecipes.com/21418/vintage-and-native-american-acorn-bread.html
• Recipe for Acorn Bread from the California State Parks Online Resource for Students and Teachers  http://ports.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=25519

Bon appetit!

The MKIM Sign in December

The Influence of the Iroquois Confederacy on the U.S. Constitution

It has long been held that the structure of the Iroquois Confederacy inspired the development of U.S. government, especially the writing of the Constitution.  The Iroquois Confederacy consisted of Six Nations: the Seneca, Cayuga, Onongada, Oneida, Mohawk and the Tuscarora.

The government of the Confederacy was bound together by an oral constitution.  The law was written on wampum belts, conceived by Deganwidah, known as The Great Peacemaker and his spokesman Hiawatha. The original five member nations ratified this constitution near present-day Victor, New York, with the sixth nation (the Tuscarora) being added in ca. 1720.

It was once thought the Iroquois Confederacy started in the 16th century, but a more recent estimate dates the confederacy and its constitution to between 1090 and 1150 CE.

On June 11, 1776 while the question of independence for the thirteen original colonies was being debated, Iroquois chiefs were invited into the meeting hall of the Continental Congress. There a speech was delivered, in which they were addressed as "Brothers" and told of the delegates' wish that the "friendship" between them would "continue as long as the sun shall shine" and the "waters run." The speech also expressed the hope that the new Americans and the Iroquois act "as one people, and have but one heart." After this speech, an Onondaga chief requested permission to give John Hancock an Indian name. The Congress graciously consented, and so Hancock was renamed "Karanduawn, or the Great Tree." With the Iroquois chiefs inside the halls of Congress on the eve of American Independence, the impact of Iroquois ideas on the founders is unmistakable.

Perhaps the best way to understand the relationship between the constitution of the Iroquois Confederacy, know as the "Great Law of Peace" and the Constitution of the United States is to study the "Great Law" itself.  It is interested to note one major difference between the two documents.  The Great Law specifically grants rights to women, while the U.S. Constitution is silent on the issue.

You can read the Great Law of Peace in our next blog entry.

Twine Baskets Workshop, Dec. 4

WE REGRET TO ANNOUNCE THAT THE NATIVE AMERICAN LIVING ARTS PROGRAM ON TWINE BASKETS WITH JULIA MARDEN THAT WAS SCHEDULED FOR SATURDAY, DEC. 4 HAS BEEN CANCELED.

Native American Contributions

As this month is Native American Heritage Month, we thought it would be a good time to look at the significant contributions Native Americans have made to the U.S. and the world.

We will begin by looking at items invented by native people that have since been adopted for use by the general population.

The Totem Pole 
West Coast First Peoples consider that the first totem pole was a gift from Raven. It was named kalakuyuwish, "the pole that holds up the sky." The totem poles were often used as family crests denoting the tribe's descent from an animal such as the bear, raven, wolf, salmon, or killer whale.

There are several kinds of totem pole:

• memorial, or heraldic, poles, put up when a house changes hands to commemorate the past owner and to identify the present one,
• grave markers,
• house posts, which support the roof,
• portal poles, which have a hole through which a person enters the house,
• welcoming poles, placed at the edge of a body of water to identify the owner of the waterfront,
• mortuary poles, in which the remains of the deceased are placed,
• ridicule poles, on which an important individual who had failed in some way had his likeness carved upside down.

To non-natives, totem poles do not have the same significance attached to them. However, they are frequently used to evoke the Pacific Northwest and the spirit of the people who were its first inhabitants.

Toboggan
Toboggan comes from the Algonquian word odabaggan. The toboggan is an invention of the Eastern First Peoples. Indian hunters first built toboggans made of bark to carry game over the snow. The Inuit used to make toboggans of whalebone. Otherwise a toboggan is made of strips of hickory, ash, or maple, with the front ends curved back.

Tipis
Tipis were invented by the Plains First Peoples. Using materials at hand, the buffalo hunters of the Plains created a sturdy dwelling that could stand up against severe prairie winds and yet could be dismantled at a moment's notice to follow the moving buffalo herds.

Kayak
The kayak was invented by the people of the Northwest and Arctic regions. The skin-covered kayaks of the Arctic people are excellent examples of a technology developed over centuries of experimental refinement and everyday use.

Open boats were of little use in the stormy, cold waters of the North Pacific. When the boats were taken out to sea the crashing waves quickly filled them with frigid water, creating conditions that seriously endangered the life of the boat's occupant.

Much experimentation led to the practice of covering the open boats with seal or other animal skins.  Then fishing could be done in relative comfort, and with less danger to the life of the fisherman.

The word "kayak" means "man's boat" or "hunter's boat".  Each kayak was custom built by the man who used it (with assistance from his wife, who sewed the skins).  The kayak builder's boat was closely fitted to his size for maximum maneuverability. A special skin jacket, called the tuilik, was then laced to the kayak, creating a waterproof seal. This enabled the "eskimo roll" to become the preferred method of quickly regaining posture after the kayak had been rolled upside down in the water.  Few of these fishermen could swim, and the waters are too cold for a swimmer to survive for long.

The modern version of a tuilik is a spraydeck made of waterproof synthetic material stretchy enough to fit tightly around the cockpit rim and body of the kayaker, which can be released rapidly from the cockpit to permit easy exit.

As with the tipi builders, the kayak builder used materials found in his environment to create a craft fitted to his own body. The length of a kayak was typically three times the span of owner's outstretched arms. The width at the cockpit was the width of his hips plus two fists (and sometimes less). The typical depth was his fist plus the outstretched thumb (held in hitch hiker fashion). The typical kayak was roughly 17 feet long, 20–22 inches wide and 7 inches deep. This measurement system puzzled early European explorers who tried building their own kayaks because each kayak they found was a little different.

Birch Bark Canoe
The birch bark canoe was invented by the Eastern First Peoples. The word 'canoe' originiated from the word 'kenu' - meaning dugout. However, unlike the bulky pine dugout canoe, the birch bark canoe is a maneuverable lightweight craft.  The skin of the canoe is birch bark.  After the bark was carefully peeled from the tree, it was turned inside out so the dark brown inner face of the bark, called the cambium, was revealed.  With the white bark facing the inside of the boat, the bark was fastened to the frame of the canoe.  As the cambium is waterproof, it makes a perfect lightweight skin for a boat that can be easily portaged and easily repaired. 

Snowshoes
Snowshoes were invented by the Eastern First Peoples. Hunting in the deep snow of the Northeast without snow shoes was cold, exhausting work. By creating wide, long shoes that could distribute a person's weight over a great area, native people found that they could walk virtually on top of the snow. Various designs evolved to suit different snow conditions. 

Lacrosse
The game of lacrosse, now a popular middle school and high school sport, was invented by the Native American tribes living around the St. Lawrence River in New York and Ontario.  The game was subsequently spread by the Huron and the Iroquois. The original name for the game came from the name of the ball that was used, baggataway.  Later, French missionaries called the game lacrosse, because the shape of the player's stick reminded them of a bishop's staff, or crosse.

According to the Iroquois, lacrosse is pleasing to the Creator. It is also a rite sacred to the Thunders, the seven honored elders (Grandfathers) who move across the sky from west to east cleansing the earth with winds and rains.

The Cherokees called the sport "the little brother of war" because it was considered excellent military training.

Moccasins
Moccasins originated with the Eastern North American tribes. Traditionally, the word referred to a shoe with a puckered u-shaped 'vamp' over the instep. The name of the Great Lakes Ojibway tribe means 'people of the puckered moccasin'.

The southern New England Narragansett word for the shoe is 'Mocussinass' or 'Mockussinchass'. 

There certainly are many more examples of Native American inventions that were later adopted and adapted by non-natives. If you know of any that you would like to see included in this list, please submit a comment below.

Native American Heritage Month

November is Native American Heritage Month.  We found this website Native American Public Telecommunications, where there is a list of programs currently being aired that deal with the lives of native people in the U.S.  On the site there are links to your local Public Television stations, where you can find out when these programs will be aired.

If you are able to watch any of these programs, please share your reactions here or on our Facebook page.

Harvest Moon Festival, 2010

Sunday, October 3 several hundred people gathered at Mt. Kearsarge Indian Museum under a brilliant sun in the crisp October air for the annual Harvest Moon Festival.
     Vendors had their tents set up at convenient spots around the grounds of the museum, selling Native-made or Native-inspired merchandise.  Visitors enjoyed delicious Native American food prepared by Museum Trustee and Chef Deluxe Grace Fraser.Several craftspeople were on hand to demonstrate and teach participants different skills: Elizabeth Perry, with her traditional twine bags; Micheline and her finely decorated gourds; and Hilde Barnes with sweet grass and quill earrings, created with an artist's eye and a crafter's attention to detail. Children were able to make their own Corn Husk Doll and Rudy Bourget and John Hohenadel of "White Mountain Primitives" gave visitors a chance to learn hands-on survival skills. 
     The highlight of the day for many was the opening and dedication of the the Mt. Kearsarge Indian Museum's Arboretum and Activity Center.  With his characteristic creativity, energy and generosity Museum co-founder Bud Thompson worked throughout the summer, overseeing the creation of an arboretum where 32 trees or shrubs are planted.  Each of these plants was used by Native Americans as a source of food, medicine and the materials from which everything from rope to canoes were made. 
     Award winning author Kent Nerburn returned to Mt. Kearsarge Indian Museum to dedicate the arboretum.  After the dedication visitors were invited to tour the Arboretum with a guide book written by former MKIM Trustee, Karen Sullivan.   Mountain Spirit Drum concluded the day with singing and drumming.
     Kent Nerburn's dedication speech is reprinted here:
  
     "When Bud and Nancy set out to create the Mount Kearsarge Indian Museum, one of their friends asked, 'What will set your museum apart from other similar museums?' 

     It was Nancy who provided the answer -- the museum would not end when people walked out the door, but would continue into the surrounding woods and hillsides.

     Over the years, Bud and Nancy have built upon this commitment by creating the educational and meditative experience that is the Medicine Woods Nature Trail.  By walking this trail, visitors have the opportunity not only to expand their understanding of native plants and culture, they have a chance to contemplate the significance of the creations they have just seen and experienced inside the walls of the museum building itself.

     This, alone, is justification enough for creating the Medicine Woods.  But in creating the Medicine Woods and Nature Trail, Bud and Nancy did more than just make their museum unique, they tied it ever more closely into the heart of Native American belief – a love and reverence for nature.

     Ohiyesa, the Dakota Sioux thinker who is one of my personal heroes, said, We have always preferred to believe that the spirit of God is not breathed into humans alone, but that the whole created universe shares in the immortal perfection of its maker. 

     Whenever in the course of our day, we might come upon a scene that is strikingly beautiful or sublime – the black thundercloud with the rainbow’s growing arch above the mountains, a white waterfall in the heart of a green gorge, a vast prairie tinged with the blood-red of sunset – we pause for an instant in the attitude of worship.

     We recognize the spirit in all creation, and believe that we draw spiritual power from it."

     By extending the museum beyond the walls of the building, Bud and Nancy have embraced this Native American belief.  They have acknowledged the presence of spirit in all creation, and have offered us the opportunity to contemplate that presence in whatever manner we see fit.

     Now Bud and Nancy have decided to take this honoring of nature a step further.   They have chosen to expand the outdoor section of their museum to create an arboretum and activity area as a lasting legacy to the Native belief in the healing, teaching, and spiritually restorative power of the natural world around us. 

     This was not a simple task.  They needed the assistance – moral, physical, financial, and spiritual -- of many people.  And due to the generosity of many of you here, they got that assistance.  But, at the heart of the effort, they needed someone who could help galvanize and guide their vision.  In Bud’s words, they needed someone who was 'an artist, a dreamer, a lover of nature.'

     And, to the great benefit of the museum, and those who will visit it now and in the future, they found such a person.

     They found a friend, a guide, an inspiration -- someone who was moved by the feel of rich, moist earth, the sight of birds in the sky, and the beauty of flowers blooming on the New Hampshire hillsides.  Someone who loved to learn and teach by telling stories, who would both work and organize to achieve a goal, who believed in the sanctity and power of service to others.  They found Betsy Janeway, dedicated and selfless worker for the museum, New Hampshire, and the values and history of Native American people.

     Betsy is not an ordinary person, as all who know her are well aware.  There is hardly an aspect of New Hampshire civic life that has not felt her impact.  The Audubon society, the Concord Bird and Wildlife Club, the New Hampshire Spinners and Dyers, and the Northeast Organic Farming Association, to name just a few, have been the beneficiaries of her energy and expertise.  She has served in leadership capacities with the Webster Conservation Commission; Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays; and, of course, the Mount Kearsarge Museum, where she has been both chair and vice chair.   It is probably also safe to say that her influence has extended far beyond the many organizations and causes she has served.  As the wife of the soon to be retired State Senator, Harold Janeway, we can well imagine that her gentle fingerprints are on many of the accomplishments for which he over the years has had to take the credit or blame.

     But to Bud and Nancy, she has always been simply Betsy, the tireless worker and visionary whose assistance and inspiration have kept the Mount Kearsarge Indian Museum moving always in the direction of its dreams.  Wishing to honor the many contributions she has made to that dream, they decided to dedicate the Arboretum to her.  They knew that she understood the power of the land as teacher, nurturer, giver of knowledge, healing, and spiritual rest.  It would be a fitting gesture, they believed, to dedicate the arboretum to someone who embodies all these virtues in her own personal character.

     And so we stand today, before what in many ways is the culmination of Bud and Nancy’s dream.  Though the museum will always be evolving and growing, the arboretum represents the ultimate homage to the Native value of honoring the land.  Now that arboretum will forever be associated with one person.

     From this day forward, it will be known as “The Mt. Kearsarge Indian Museum Arboretum & Activity Center dedicated to Betsy Janeway  -- Trustee, Supporter, Naturalist, Artist and loyal friend".  It will stand as a legacy to a woman who has committed her life to understanding, serving, and protecting the land, and will serve as a living embodiment of the single most important lesson that Native traditions have to offer – one that Betsy has understood and promoted throughout her life – that we are a part of nature, not apart from it. 

     Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the

The Mt. Kearsarge Indian Museum Arboretum & Activity Center

dedicated to Betsy Janeway

Trustee, Supporter, Naturalist, Artist and loyal friend"

     Pictures from the festival, generously provided by Jamie Murray of Meadow Pond Photography and Jeff Daigle, can been seen on the Mt. Kearsarge Indian Museum's Facebook photo page.  To find the page, click the link at the top of the column just to the right of this article.
     While you're visiting MKIM's Facebook page, please become a fan.  Invite your friends to see the photos and become fans as well!