fireweed

~the Fireweed~

Epilolum angustifolium

- from the evening primrose family-

In Southern Tutchone the fireweed is called Kwan Sur.

Adopted as its official flower by the Yukon on March 27th, 1957, the fireweed can be found every where in the territory.

Fireweed is a staple in a traditional aboriginal diet, used as a fresh or cooked vegetable; enjoyed for the sweet pith; and for the tea brewed from its leaves. The fireweed is an ingredient in an anti-inflammatory poultice; and is used as a tobacco substitute.

Selecting blossoms to make fireweed jelly.

Fireweed jelly is delicious on bannock, pancakes, toast, spooned over yogurt or ice-cream. This year I made only eight small jars of fireweed jelly.

nesting...

A hornet nest hanging from a poplar branch...in my backyard.

In Southern Tutchone,

"at anay" could be used to describe either bees or hornets.

salmon nets...

Ta'an Mun ~ the view towards the old village site from Helen's Fishcamp. The water is high and the approach to the lake is marshy. Autumn weather is set to change the colours of the grass and trees as people begin to prepare for fall time cultural activities which include salmon harvesting.

Preparing the nets is an opportunity for the Elders to pass along skills that are critical for individuals to maintain traditional pursuits.

Southern Tutchone Elder Paddy Jim, from the Champagne and Aishihik First Nations provides instruction on stringing and knotting a net.

The net being prepared is for salmon harvesting, one hundred feet for a lake set, fifty for a traditional boom set in an eddy.

In Southern Tutchone a net is called

"che-mel",

a rope or string is called

"tlel".

August 7th, 2010 at Ta'an Mun, the original Southern Tutchone name for Lake LeBarge.

coffee

Stronger coffee to get up and going for the weekend ~ Raven's Brew Coffee ... Deadman's blend...

"to be served in bed -raises the dead."

named for a shoal along Baranoff Island in Peril Strait in the Alexander Archipelago of Southeast Alaska.

"For graveyard shifts"

eagle mask

This mask honoring the Eagle Clan is from my personal collection and is currently displayed in my office.

Created by Southern Tutchone artist

Glen D. Bunbury

of the Ta'an Kwach'an in the Yukon.

In the Southern Tutchone language a mask is "a ni".

along the clay cliffs

Images from a walk along the clay cliffs above Whitehorse proper in June of 2007.

This old spruce provides a bald eagle with a perfect roost.

In the Southern Tutchone language,

the bald eagle is "chunday", a spruce tree is "ts'u".

Preening and fluffing.

Settling in.

Wind weathered and stunted aspens growing from an exposed root along the clay cliffs.

soapberries

Ni ghru

is the Southern Tutchone name for this plant and it's berries; the Tlingit call it

Xakwl'ee.

Sheperdia Canadensis or soapberries is a staple in a traditional diet. The berries, dried, could last indefinitely. Rich with vitamin C, the juices boiled with water is used as a stomach cleansing tonic; as an antiseptic wash; and reduced to produce a refreshing and healthy juice. Sweetened and frothed to a meringue consistency soapberries is a favourite dessert. Unless you grew up with soapberries as part of your diet it is an acquired taste; the seeds are many and impart the bitterness many people trying soapberries for the first time dislike.