The Birchbark House is book one of a four series set of books about a young, Ojibwe girl called Omakayas:
This first book is separated into four sections – the four seasons of the year. Each chapter we read we find much to talk about and learn about. In addition there are many parts of the story we are able to attempt to replicate. This post will cover all the activities we did from the second section of the book:
Making some Ojibwe Sage Tobacco
At the beginning of the Autumn chapters Deydey is smoking with his friends. We had heard about sage tobacco being smoked during meetings and also used as offerings before crossing lakes or for bumper rice crops. So we decided to make some of our own:
Once this is dried we will be crushing it and making a tobacco pouch to put it in, as well as trying our hand at pipe making!
Playing a Game of White Man’s Chess
White man’s chess is mentioned a couple of times and as the guys play quite a bit of chess I thought I would capture it and call it Ojibwe work!
Drying Berries and Corn for Storage
This is where things got fun for all of us. This scene was seen frequently this week with the children doing all sorts of projects in the kitchen:
The first was preparing food for storage over the winter months. One way they did this was to dry the food. Drying both berries and corn was specifically described. The corn was dried in a pot over a low fire with constant stirring. The berries were placed in the sun until dried. We had no sun so we popped the berries in the oven on a low heat. The corn we did stir. And stir. And stir. We all took turns and we all got bored. So we all copped out and popped that in the oven with the berries:
One observant child happen to mention that both berries and corn looked incinerated rather than simply dried and on further inspection she was right. Obviously if we had to survive in winter on all our food prepared and dried for storage we wouldn’t fare well for long.
Making some Parfleches for Food Storage
Frankly? These were superfluous to requirement as our dried food was inedible. That said it was for our Ojibwe doll family and they were made of plastic so I doubted they would notice. So we went ahead with our plans. Parfleches are containers for storing the dried food. We made some leather ones and also some birch bark cones for the maple sugar. The ones below are the leather ones:
Making Bannock bread (Ojibwe fried bread) with Berry Dip
I had been looking forward to making Ojibwe fried bread since the moment I had seen a mouth-watering pin with a picture of it on. We decided to put the berries that had escaped incineration to good use and we made a berry dip.
I can’t even begin to tell you just how good both the bread and the dip were. Think fresh doughnuts, so fresh they are still hot. Oh, it was gastronomical heaven!
Maple Sugar in Cones
And finally we made maple sugar. This was quick, simple and again tasted divine. T boiled up a whole bottle of pure maple syrup, whilst the rest of us made cones from birch bark printed paper:
You see that whole bowl of maple sugar? Yes, well somehow over the afternoon it all disappeared. Now I’m not saying I was entirely innocent but those five ‘who lil’ ol’ me?’ faces which peered up at me when I asked where it gone also were not quite as innocent as they would have me believe. I did not eat a whole bowl of maple sugar all by myself. I didn’t. Honest. So they must have. And that’s all I’m saying on the matter.
Nokomis’ Blessing on the Food
Nokomis recites a blessing on their stores of food which I had the children copy:
Posts relating to the Native American study we have done this week:
- Ojibwe Art Study: Floral Designs
- Ojibwe Oral Tradition
- Ojibwe Doll Dress Up
- Introducing the Ojibwe Tribe
Next week I will be posting about our curriculum choices for after Christmas, to allow us time to finish some Ojibwe projects we are in the middle of. I hope you all have a lovely weekend, filled with lots of love and lots of laughter!
Linking up appreciatively here
Wow, how do you fit it all in?? It would take us months to do all you guys did in one week! Wonderful stuff, too. No fluff here. 🙂
I guess with five children taking part it probably looks more than it is. Writing wise I am making a huge effort to get them writing every day so T can gradually get stronger in anticipation of his exam next year.
What a wonderful week! The fried bread makes me think of beignets. Yum!
They were really good, although not so good on the waist line….
Love this as I’ve been looking for fun activities to incorporate in our Native American history study. I’m visiting from Weekly Wrapup
I’m glad some of the ideas can be useful for you!
I like your studies and your children have done great again! For me the kitchen is the best place to be creative, most of my ideas occur there. Have a nice and peaceful weekend!
Thank you Karin. Although it is a little chaotic I love it when everyone squeezes into our tiny kitchen to create together!
I love how your dive right into the unit study…food and all! nice job!
Thanks Melissa!
Wow! What an amazing study! I just got caught up on all you’ve posted while we were away. The fry bread and berry dip looks so good.
We fried them instead of baking them! Not healthy but my goodness they were tasty!
Wow! I agree with Phyllis. It would end up taking us a month to do all that you guys do in a week!! I would blame it on my kids being a couple of years younger, but I think we’re just slow paced….Love the look of the bannock bread. That looks like quite a treat!
Oh, it was soooo good. The children want us to have them every Saturday night during our family film!
Really loving this series. I quite want to make maple sugar cones now.
They were our surprise of the week. No way did we think they would taste that good. They didn’t last very long in our house!
I seriously LOVE the way you educate your children so much Claire! They do such fun, engaging, hands on things that they will never forget. I love the Parfleches. They turned out gorgeously!! Happy weekend.
Aw, thank you Karen, you are so lovely!
This is such a beautiful education!
Thank you!
I just love it! 🙂
Thank you Chrystal!
Of course it wasn’t you who nibbled the maple sugar just like it wasn’t me who ate all the cake off cuts on Friday when I made his Minecraft birthday cake. Tee hee.
This is a fascinating post on a fascinating subject. Did you strip the birch yourselves to make the birch bark parchment? I’m curious as our local ranger told Theo about birch bark and I’m wondering if we could make our own. Please let me know;)
I always look forward to reading your posts – inspiring stuff.
#homeedlinkup
No I didn’t! I copped out by printing some birch bark paper I found on line!
Recipe, I must have the recipe for the fry bread. I loved fry bread when we ate it with the Navajo.
Princess made a parfleche for her American Girl doll study of Kaya, it was quite fun to see and do.
I’ll put in a link for the fry bread as soon as I find the time!
You all are doing the most wonderful study. I love all of the great learning.
Blessings, Dawn
Thank you Dawn
Shall I just continue gushing about how much fun this unit is! And I’m not even participating – but oh so wish I was. I giggled at the incinerated food 🙂 and my mouth salivated at the bread, dip, and my favorite: maple candy. Do the Ojibwe practice smudging with the smoke from burning dried sage leaves? The Mi’kmaq First Nations do as a purification/blessing over people and in spaces.
I’m sure you have, but have you tasted maple candy? If not you really should. It is HEAVENLY!
Oh yes, maple candy is oh so good – as is maple sugar, oh, and maple butter, gooey maple taffy… I could never get enough of the stuff. Luckily it’s too pricey for me to indulge to the degree that I crave!
Looks like it was a very yummy study this past week! The doll clothes and parfleches are awesome as is pretty much everything you all do! I included your blog in my list of favorite homeschooling blogs posting tomorrow!
I’m honoured, Sylvia, thank you very much!
Ok, so I don’t even enjoy studying the Native Americans, yet I want to join your school. We can’t even begin to get that much in each week. How do you manage up it, plus daily exercise? I seriously need to try the fry bread though. Yumm. Btw, my daughter is thrilled that I read your blog and use some of your methods now.
Thank you Christy. That’s a particularly lovely thing to hear about your daughter.