Centre for Rupert's Land Studies
University of Winnipeg - 515 Portage Ave Winnipeg, MB, Canada

Hey.... join us! February 6 at 4pm CT! Some people have the perception that prairies are boring. After all, there are no tall mountains rising up to an azure b...lue sky. There are no ocean waves crashing on to a sandy shore. There certainly aren’t many dark, green, woodland canopies overhead. Prairies are different. Prairies are calm. Prairies are peaceful. When you stand on the prairie, you’re standing in an ocean of golden green grasses so tall they brush your eyelashes, with gentle breezes that roll over the landscape making literal waves of big bluestem, wildrye, wheatgrass, and a rainbow of wildflowers and buzzing insects. It’s pure magic. That said... amazing plants are everywhere - in every habitat - all around us. Maske Tipiziwin Tolman and I were talking about how Bounty is the Rule of Nature and we agreed that we both grew up surrounded by that bounty ... although in very different ecosystems. Wouldn’t it be awesome if we all learned to recognize the bounty around us, and more importantly, wouldn’t it be amazing if everyone learned to respect it? Maske Floris Ptesá Huká and I were also talking about the bounty that plants provide...but we were also discussing the possibility that the plant nations must feel so exhausted right now. We have been putting a lot of pressure on plant medicines and relying on them constantly over the last year. My herbalist/medicine making friends and myself tried to stock up on a lot of plants last growing season, but it still wasn’t enough to meet the incredible demand of this pandemic. While I have complete trust and faith in my friends and family to harvest these plant relatives sustainably and in a good way, Floris and I noted the fact that there are many beginner plant people who may not know or understand how sensitive some plants are and they may not understand that each plant has preferences in the ways we interact with them. I believe this speaks to the incredible importance of building a relationship with plants and working to internalize the sacredness and sentience of plants. Are we willing to put the needs of the plant nations ahead of our own needs? Are we willing to change the way we operate...the way we work with plants? Are we willing to use more common plants in order to protect the ones that are more sensitive and rare? Are white herbalists willing to stop harvesting Indigenous plants and leave them for Indigenous people? Do we talk to plants? Do we pray with them? Tipiziwin, Floris, and myself are going to discuss these questions and more over Zoom on February at 4pm. We will also be inviting some of our friends to join in. We will probably also discuss garden planning, restoration of Native plants, and all kinds of fun and interesting things. Please join us! February 6, 2021 at 4 PM CT! https://uttc.zoom.us/j/9479770770

Hudson's Bay Company-related items from the collection of Preston Miller at Four-Winds in St. Ignatius, Montana.

We would like to congratulate Laura Peers on her new book and share her post here: Picked up a very heavy box at the post office just before Christmas with my author copies and I am so, so happy to see this book in print after a collaborative research process of several years. Really stimulating essays on capots and quilled hide coats, the settler appropriation of tobogganing, Peter Rindisbacher and 19thC print culture, Wendat wampum, dew claw bags, northern Plains dolls, an...d Indigenous items made in TB sanatoria, along with a good solid essay on collaborative material culture research. And of course so nice to see the coat I call Mr Magnificent doing his billboard thing on the cover, enabling me to call attention to and build on the important work of Sherry Farrell Racette in my essay. Thank you Beverly Lemire, Anne Whitelaw, Jonathan Lainey, Cynthia Cooper, Julie-Ann Mercer, Laurie Bertram, Sarah Carter, Katie Pollock, Judy Half, Susan Berry and Sara Komarnisky for such a fabulous project! See more

Still on holidays? Looking for something to do? Why not join Dr. Amelia Fay in a virtual tour of the Manitoba Museums HBC Collection. Register on the Manitoba Museum's website. See you there! https://manitobamuseum.ca//holidays-home-behind-the-scene/

From our friend Linda Black Elk in North Dakota.

Prairie Turnips, called Kaka-gomîn (Ojibwe), Otisihkan (Cree), or Lii Navoo (Michif), were usually gathered by women in the early summer. The plant has a purpl...e flower and a tasty, white, starchy root. It grows on high places on the prairie (e.g. hills, bluffs, and ridges) and can be dug for using a slender stick that is sharpened and somewhat flattened on one end. The ‘turnip’ could be eaten raw or boiled into delicious soups. If needed they could be dried and braided for storage. In this case they would be later boiled whole or pounded into a sort of flour which could thicken soups and stews during the winter months.