A Voice from the Eastern Door
A Voice from the Eastern Door
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The birch bark most commonly used and recognized in our area is called Paper Birch, White Birch, or Canoe Birch. Its scientific name is Befula Pyrifera which means, small tree with peeling white bark. The White Birch is the most widely distributed of all the birch trees in northern North America. It is a small to medium deciduous (loses its leaves in the fall) sized tree or shrub growing up to 50 to 70 feet tall. The White Birch a bit pyramidal in shape when young while older trees become oval...
During these cold below freezing days here in Akwesasne, I wonder how those little birds at my feeder manage to survive. I can barely stand the biting cold when I clean and fill my feeders every day. Every year I swear I will not feed them this year, but when I see a chickadee or two looking for last year’s feeder, there goes my resolution. I guess the rewards do outweigh the downside. The birds I watch through the window are my wintertime flowers. This year, for the first time, in a long time,...
When I decided to start off the New Year writing about the Porcupine, immediately Ray Fadden and Needles, a baby Porcupine he rescued, came to mind. Ray Fadden grew up in the Adirondack Mountains. He spent many years learning all he could about the environment around him. He studied and learned all he could about the Haudenosaunee culture and the Creator’s creatures. Not only did Ray have this desire to learn about these things, he also spent his life devoted to them. I do not think there is on...
It’s the holiday season, and while everything is brighter and shinier, unfortunately it can be a bit trashier. The Environmental Protection Agency states that Americans throw away 25 per cent more trash between Thanksgiving and Christmas then they do during the rest of the year. That amounts to 25 million tons of trash for Mother Earth. But there are some things we can all do to make the holiday environmentally friendly. The following article will list some ideas and projects we can all do to reduce waste. A large percentage of paper waste c...
The first Christmas trees recorded in America, in the year 1747, were not actual trees, but wooden pyramids covered with evergreen branches. These were for children in the German Moravian Church’s settlement in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. These pyramid trees were decorated with candles. An early account of using a real tree began in 1804 at Fort Dearborn in Illinois when a group of soldiers set up a Christmas tree. Most other early accounts were among German Settlers in eastern Pennsylvania. Decor...
Depending on their needs, animals will either remain in the same habitat during winter or move short or long distances to meet their needs. Winter’s cold temperatures, short days and storm conditions make it hard for animals to meet basic needs for food, water and shelter. Tracks and signs of feeding can tell you about animals activities outdoors. Sometimes you can find interesting tracks right in your own backyard. Winter, with its snow cover is a great time to search around your home to see...
The rhyme of the ancient mariner - “Water, water, everywhere but not a drop to drink,” refers to the men aboard a ship on a long journey. They are far out to sea, and eventually they run out of water. Even though they are surrounded by water, they haven’t a drop to drink. If something isn’t done about pollution, we here on Earth (land) could be faced with the same dilemma. Eighty percent of the earth’s surface is water, and ninety-seven percent of that is sea water. The Earth’s oceans cove...
The male whitetail deer, the buck, can weigh from about 130 pounds to 220 pounds. Sometimes they can weigh as much as 350 pounds. A record buck harvested in Minnesota weighed over 500 pounds. Females, the does, weigh from 90 to 200 pounds. Some can weigh as much as 230 pounds. Rarely, a doe may have antlers, but they are usually very small. Sometimes a buck will have small antlers, these are called button bucks or spiked bucks. Once in a while a buck’s antlers are so small they are hidden...
Plastics are made from petroleum. Petroleum is a limited non-renewable resource. It is believed that by the year 2040, the Earth’s usable petroleum reserves will be depleted. It is recorded that in 1987 the US used almost one billion barrels of oil just to make plastics. This same amount would be enough to meet the nation’s oil demand for imported oil for five months. That is why recycling and reusing plastics is a very important practice. Plastics are the fastest growing share of waste in the...
Did you know that for every person on Earth, there are at least two hundred million insects? There are so many insects that one square mile of rural land holds more insects than there are human beings on all of Earth. In the rainforest, on ten square feet of terrain, there are more insects than there are people in Manhattan. There are over 900,000 species of insects in the world, and still new ones are being discovered. Each year insects eat about 1/3 of the world’s food supply. There are m...
It’s Halloween time, and pumpkins, some decorated or carved, are showing up all over Akwesasne. I have to tell you about the carved pumpkin I saw the other day. It really cracked me up although I also almost gagged, too. On a wooden box was this very large carved pumpkin. It had grimaced shaped eyes, a tweaked nose, and its stringy insides and seeds were pulled out through its round carved mouth! Wow! that was a new one for me, and I have to say it was quite creative. I guess you could call i...
Centipedes and millipedes are not insects because they have more than six legs. They are arthropods and are distant relatives of shrimp, lobster, and crayfish. Arthropods are an invertebrate animal with jointed legs and a segmented body with a horny casing (exoskeleton) that is shed periodically as the animal grows. While their marine cousins live in the water, centipedes and millipedes are land dwellers. However, the centipedes and millipedes do prefer moist habitats. They are seen most o...
In the fall when we look up into the sky and see Canada Geese flying in a V formation, we know it is time for a season change. The Canada Goose is the most familiar goose in North America, and it can be seen in all kinds of water from the Tundra to the Gulf Coast. Canada Geese are a majestic large sized bird. These water birds can weigh up to twenty-five pounds and are twenty-two to forty-eight inches long. Their wingspan can be greater than six feet. They fly very fast with cruising spe...
The gourd family consists of a large family of vined plants. They range from the edible ones like pumpkins, squash, and cucumbers to the inedible kind like the hard-shelled gourds. For this article, I will be writing about the hard-shelled gourds. Hard-shelled gourds are the inedible fruit of two types of plants, Lagenaria and Cucurbita. These gourds come in many shapes and sizes. Some of these gourds are beautifully colored, and some have very interesting and even weird shapes that are used f...
The other day I came across a shallow pond in Akwesasne, and I was utterly amused at the ducks I observed there. They seemed to be bottoms up more than they were right side up. The ducks with white under their tails were quite a sight to see. These ducks are what are known as dabbling ducks. Dabblers skim food from the surface of the water, or they tip their bottom up so their heads and necks are underwater and near the, or on the, bottom. At the bottom of the shallow bodies of water is whe...
The leaves on deciduous trees are made up of cells filled with water. As autumn approaches and daylight time decreases, a layer at the base of the leaf stem, called a separation layer forms. The leaf’s ability to carry sap in and out of the leaves stops. If this process did not happen, the leaves would freeze possibly killing the tree. This process separates the attached leaves from the branches and they fall. The oak tree is one deciduous tree where this process does not fully take place. The...
The term ‘pine cone’ is used to describe any cone from a conifer. Conifers are evergreen trees that bear cones. There are many types of trees with cones. The types of trees are: spruce, fir, pine, hemlock, and cedar. Each evergreen tree has two distinct types of cones. There is a male cone and a female cone. The hardened, dark brown cones are the females. The female cones consist of a woody stalk surrounded by stiff, overlapping, shingle-like scales. Each scale has a bract behind it, which...
Native people have always had a vast knowledge of cordage. The basics for making cordage and rope have not changed for thousands of years. Cordage is made from strips of fiber that are plied or twisted together. Pottery estimated to be at least 3000 years old have been found in the North Eastern forests. These pots have impressions made from cord that was wrapped around them. Writings by Europeans who came to Turtle Island in the 1600s said the cordage they saw was superior to their own. The...
Every year an average of 45 hurricanes are reported. Fortunately, most of them fade to tropical storms before they reach land. Hurricane season is usually from June 1st thru October. The worst of these storms usually reach land in the months of September and October. The name, hurricane, is a West Indian term that means, big wind. To develop, hurricanes need warm humid air that is above tropical oceans. That is why hurricanes form over ocean waters that are close to the equator, and in the summer or early fall when the waters there are a...
The common snapping turtle (Chelydra serpentina) is the largest of the freshwater turtles in North America. They have a dull rough carapace (upper shell) and a large head. The second part of their name, serpentina comes from their neck which is quite long and snakelike, as well as their ability to strike like a snake. Snappers, as they are called, defend themselves similar to the way a snake strikes its prey. The speed of its strike rivals that of a rattlesnake. It is so fast the eye is barely...
The use of colorful dyes goes way back for Native people. While the Pilgrims are always depicted as wearing dark gloomy colors, the Native Indians are depicted as wearing very colorful garments. Even the porcupine quills and moose hair that decorated their leather garments were dyed beautiful colors. Using plants and animals for dyeing is an ancient practice. It is believed that in 3000 BC, the juice from the leaf of the indigo plant was used to make a blue dye. Also, in the ancient city of Ty...
Several days ago I was taking the back roads to Massena hoping to find some yard sales. About half way to Massena I finally spotted a sale. As I pulled into the driveway, I saw five people on the opposite side of the house staring intently down at something. I asked them what they were looking at, and they answered that they did not know what it was. They invited me over to take a look, I did, and what I saw was new to me and quite strange. On a mulched area stood one of those lawn statues, a...
With the rains we have had lately there is one scary looking bug found crawling outside our homes and sometimes inside our homes. It’s the “earwig.” They are an elongated, flattened insect with adults ranging from light red-brown to black in color. They measure anywhere from half an inch to an inch long. They are easily identified by their forcep-like pincers at the end of their abdomen. They have mouth parts that chew and slender, long antennae. Some earwigs are wingless while others may have wings. While earwigs may sometimes have wings,...
The smell of sweetgrass always brought a smile to my grandmother’s face. It also triggered in her mind many narratives. As a child, I sat at the knees of my grandmother and great aunties. I listened to them speak the language and tell stories as I made black ash splint horses with tiny sweetgrass reins from the leftover basket making materials. I did not know it then, but as they made baskets and talked, something wonderful was happening. It was the transference of ecological knowledge from t...
This time of year one of my favorite wildflowers is the beautiful blue Chicory. Chicory today grows wild throughout North America, but it is not a native wildflower. It was introduced to North America during colonial times. You can see these beautiful flowers along roadsides all over Akwesasne. Chicory is a perennial plant (meaning they return year after year on their own). The plant has rigid branches and dandelion-like shaped leaves with bright blue ray flowers. They can be from three to f...
