Text 6190, 98 rader
Skriven 2006-10-04 21:36:00 av JIM WELLER (1:123/140)
     Kommentar till en text av RUTH HANSCHKA
Ärende: How much wood ...
=========================
 -=> Quoting Ruth Hanschka to Burton Ford <=-

 -> bf->   the chuck won't bother anyone again.
 -> bf->   He did not cook it, I know.

 RH> Future compost? My woodchuck came back, but he didn't go into the
 RH> garden; he seemed more interested in something growing in the lawn.

Both of you must remember that he is your brother and you should savour
his broth with respect or suffer the consequences. This was posted
recently on my Native Cooking list....

Osiyo Mim,

Bear is what my friends call me. My mother's people come from the Ozark
Mountains/Arkansas Cherokee. My linage is the Blue Clan/Bear People.
I am a Metis; my wife is Cree. We live in NW/Pennsylvania.

The woodchuck stew is really a strange thing but an easy thing to
understand. The whistle pig/Woodchuck likes gardens and stealing fruit
and vegetables is his trade; he dig holes and builds large underground
lodges for his people. The entry holes to these lodges present a big
problem. In the fields where horses and cattle graze an animal can be
injured by stepping into the lodge hole. In the vegetable garden his
ability to make war is legendary. So he is no friend to the farmer, but
he has his place and trade in Grandfather scheme. When I was young an
important task give me by my Ududu - (grandfather) and aunts was
guarding the garden. It was important because the food we grew would
feed us all through the hungry months of winter this task was important
and gave me a place in the family. One morning in midsummer while hoeing
the garden I discovered a large mound of earth where there had been none
and a hole on the other side. I ran calling for Ududu he met me half way
and ask what was wrong. Breathlessly I explained that there was a hole
in the garden. Hole asks Ududu? We walked to the garden. When he saw the
hole he exclaimed Usdi Alisoqualvdi it is a whistle pig lodge. He has
settled and built a lodge on your land will you make war? This was a
question I was not prepared to answer. Make war on who? I ask. The
wistlepig people Ududu answered. It is now as an adult I know that this
was one of my first life lesson tests. I was scared and confused and ask
what should be done Ududu. You could make war upon the whistle pig but
remember his people might come and take revenge upon our people making
war for many years, if you hunt the whistle pig, you must use all that
you take and show great respect to the whistle pig so his people will
know you respect them. How can I make such a decision? I ask. After
lunch my cousins and Ududu sat around the back porch steps and debated
the fate of the whistle pig. Some wanted to kill the whistle pig
outright and others wanted to just let him stay where he was. Ududu
listened and said nothing he let us debate for a long time he watched
each of us and listened to our words until the sun was low in the West.
Then he stood up and said. There has been much said here many ideas and
plans some good some bad. Is there none among you that can find an
answer? The whistle pig will eat the food that gives us life, and
deprive us of land for our cattle.  But this is his land as well as ours
we must share with the whistle pig. So your answer is to be found in the
Great Circle of Life. We will hunt the animal and welcome him as food
for our people. This might seem to some as a long and dragged out thing
for a simple varmint problem but the life lesson gained from this simple
problem taught all of us an important lesson one that we could not have
learned another way. The Circle of Life is the base of all things and
our food is the axis on which the wheel turns. The mechanics of the hunt
are unimportant but since you ask, he was dispatched the next afternoon
with a 22 cal. rifle.

This led to the woodchuck stew; I will say we  were lucky because this
was a young woodchuck. We boys skinned and cleaned the whistle pig. If
memory serves me right it was a medium sized whistle pig about 3lbs. We
all sat at the table and Ududu offered thanks to Father we had
groundhog/whistle pig stew. It was good. The meat has a strong wild
taste but the animal was young and the meat is tender. The reason it is
a favorite meal of mine is not because it groundhog/whistle pig. But
because it invokes the lessons of my Ududu and aunts and reminds me that
eating is part of the Great Circle of Life. It also makes me feel a
little better when one of the little varmints enters my garden and I
have to get rid of him.

How I cook it: In a large 6 qt soup pot I place 4 qt of water 1 Tb salt
Boil the cleaned woodchuck carcass for 1 1/2 hours. Chop up a large
onion, cut up half a dozen carrots, 1 large turnip and 4 or 5 potatoes,
4 cups of soup stock, beef, vegetable or chicken. Salt. Pepper. 1 tsp
Sage. I like to add  1/4 tsp Adobo or Chili powder. Remove the meat from
the pot and clean the meat from bones. Into a large cast iron Dutch
oven, add meat, vegetables and seasoning and 1 Tb Worcestershire Sauce.
Place in oven at 350 degrees and cook for about 45 min. Then remove meat
and vegetables from Dutch oven. Make a rue with butter and flour, add 4
cups of stock, beef is best, make a gravy and add the meat and
vegetables. Serve with wild rice and corn bread.

Wado

Cheers

Jim, in Yellowknife



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