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WEEK 5 Incan Panpipe: The inca ejnoyed music. They made one kind of instrument by fastening together several wooden tubes of different lengths. Blowing into each tube made a different note. We call this instrument a panpipe. To make: Cut construction paper into three rectangles, each a different size. Use crayons or markers to decorate one side of each sheet. Roll up each rectangle to make tubes of different lengths. tape each tube closed. Cover one end of the tube with waxed paper held in place by a rubber band. Use paper clips to fasten the tubes at open ends. All open ends (the "blowing into" end) should be lined up. Stretch a large rubber band loosely around all three tubes to hold them together. With a sharp pencil point, punch a hold in the middle of each tube. To play, humm loudly into the open ends of the tubes. Keep your mouth slightly open. When the holes in the tubes are open, the waxed paper will buzz. Covering the holes will change the sound. INDIAN FRYBREAD 2 cups flour 1 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon salt warm water 1/4 cup Vegetable oil Native Americans made fry-bread from corn flour. Because corn flour is now hard to find, we make it from wheat flour. (If you have cornmeal and a mortar & pestle or grain grinder, you can try making your own corn flour. If your grew your own corn from a 3 sisters garden, use the dried corn to try this.) Sift the dry ingredients. Slowly add warm water till you have a dough that feels like mud. Mix & knead this dough with your hand until smooth. If the dough is sticky, sprinkle more flour. Cover dough with a towel and let rest for 10 minutes. Break dough into lemon-sized pieces. Roll each into a ball and flatten into a pancake. Heat the oil in a heavy frypan. Fry pieces on each side until they are brown. Drain on a paper-towel covered plate and serve with ssalt or maple syrup. Serves about four. (The Native Americans did make maple syrup, by catching the maple tree sap into hollowed out log "bowls" then boiling. In Maine they use intricate masses of tubing to siphen the sap into large collection bins, but the boiling over a wood-fire is still the same.) BAKED SWEET POTATO Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Native Americans would have lined a pit with hot rocks. Scrub the potatoes and pierce each several times with a fork. Place potatoes on an aluminum covered baking sheet and bake one hour. Serve hot with butter or maple syrup. If any of you try this in a rock-lined pit, my guess is that the baking would take most of the day! MAIZE SOUP 1 1/2 Cups dried kidney beans (or one can) 1/2 Cup hominy 1/2 Cup maize/corn kernels 1/2 lb. smoked butt or fatback (bacon will do) 1 bay leaf 1 small onion, sliced water Soak dried beans overnight in water to soften them. Put beans and fatback in a saucepan with enough water to reach about 2" above the beans. Cook 30 min. Add hominy and stir. Cook 15 min. Add corn & stir. Place onion rings on top of the mixture and all bay leaf. Push the onions under with a spoon. Cook 20 min. Remove bay leaf. Cook 1 1/2 hours more. Total cooking time: nearly 2 hours, not counting the overnight bean soak. Serve with corn bread. Serves 6-8. NOTE: It would have taken the natives much longer to cook this if they used dried corn. |
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| WEEK 3 WOODLAND POTTERY The women in the woodland areas were responsible for raising the crops, harvesting them and preserving them, as well as caring for children, preparing the food and making pottery for their "kitchen". Clay would have been dug from river and lake beds. To the clay, they added crushed stones containing quartz and feldspar, crushed shells and/or plant fibers to keep the clay from cracking while drying and firing. For our purposes, we will use store-bought clay and let it air-dry. Form a ball of clay and insert thumbs into the center while pulling the clay up and out. This bowl base can now be set in a hole of sand lined with strips of bark (or set inside a cereal bowl). Make long, narrow 'snakes' of clay and wind around the base to hake the pot higher and wider. With a wooded paddle (or your hand!), press the coils together to make a pot. Some groups put designs on their pots by drawing lightly with a stick or bone. After drying several days, a fire was built on a bed of flat stones. When the fire was burned to hot embers, the pot was laid on its side with the opening facing the embers until it browned lightly. The pot was then rolled onto the embers and covered with dried bark, which ignited. After an hour the bark had burned and the pot fired. The hot pot was removed and dried pith thrown inside. The burning, smoking pith blackened and waterproofed the inside. CORN CHOWDER 3 Cups dried corn kernels (or 3/10 oz boxes frozen corn) 6 Cups water 2 small potatoes 1 chopped onion 1 chopped green pepper 2 Tbs. nut butter (peanutbutter, etc) 1/2 lb. sliced mushrooms 1Tbs. fresh dillweed Soak the corn overnight in a large kettle. Bring to boil then simmer 15 min. Add all except mushrooms & dill and simmer 30 min. Add mushrooms and simmer 5 min. Garnish with dillweed and serve NATIVE TORTILLAS 2 Cups corn flour (masa harina) 1 1/3 Cups lukewarm water Mix together with your hands for about 10 minutes. The dough will have a grainy feel to it .Form into egg-sized balls. Place between waxed paper and roll to flatten to about 4". Peel off top piece of waxed paper and carefully flip the tortilla over in your hand. peel off other waxed paper and lay tortilla on a med-hot UNgreased griddle. The process is tricky and the tortillas tend to fall apart. Cook until edges curl and tortilla is brown. |
| WEEK 4 MAKE: MODEL WIGWAM Use 7 or more skewers, dowels or even straws. Bundle together and tie near the top of the bundle. Separate the bottoms of the 'poles' and spread evenly. Western tribes used buffalo or similiar hides for the covering. Eastern tribes (like the New England Abanaki) used strips of birch bark about 3-4' long and various widths sewn together.The resulting long mats were tied to the wigwam poles. Try sewing felt pieces together to get the same effect. PLAINS CORNBREAD 1 pint cornmeal cold water Mix with your hands into a stiff dough. Roll and form into small pinecone-shaped mounds.Bake slowly on a hot cast-iron skillet. QUECHAN (YUMAN) SQUASH 1 squash Water Clean and peel fresh squash. Cut into small pieces. Boil til tender. Drain and mash. GAME: GUESSING GAME For 2-12 people One person hides a small object in their hand. The others try to guess the objects identity by asking questions about the color, size, use, price...The first to guess the object correctly gets to choose an object to hide in his hand. |