Wild Onions, A Cherokee Foraging Tradition

Oh see oh it's how we say hello and Cherokee this show is the first of its kind taking you through Cherokee country bringing you the voices of the people who shape our nation one of those people is Myra Robertson like many Cherokees she looks forward to each spring because it's wild onion season and a time to share with the people she loves you I would go along with my grandmother my aunt nudge and my mom and I'd listen to him talking and I'd help dig dig onions and up and that's how I knew the difference you know there's a of what to look for where to look for them and when you do it on a regular basis you know year after year it's just something that's naturally and there's certain places you know that are well known you know to the people that do gather mushrooms or dig onions or get possum grapes huckleberry you know I mean they know where it grows and a lot of patches is a common place you know and you see different families going to that to that spot to give we're usually clean on site that way you can leave the roots you always leave something that you don't take and without giving back you know that they're going to be there next year you know it depends on the weather and and in the different regions and different areas of the Cherokee Nation like how they grow some comes up earlier in certain areas then then in other areas after they're clean we're just a you just chop them up and you cover them with with water if they're young and they're tender it don't take them very long you know if you just cover them in water put a little bit of salt in there and you just let them cook down you know and boil down and once they are tender then you just take your eggs and you just beat them up and you pour them in there and it don't take them very long and they're ready that's it it's real simple you experience a very special feeling of being one with nature and knowing where our food comes from you know and it's not just from the grocery store you know knowing that that it was there it was placed there for us a few two or three years back you know we had went to dig onions in this certain place and in the distance I could see another Cherokee family and but I couldn't tell who they was and they couldn't tell who I was but we put our hand up and greeted one another and I stood there and I thought how much longer is it going to be like that when you could go out you know to the woods and you can greet these you know another Cherokee family and you know they know what you're there for do you know what they're there for you know and it feels good and I thought you know that left an impression on me that's what life is really about you know is is being around those that you love and enjoying what is given to us as a gift there would be a bunch of my cousin's we'd all get together they didn't have to tell us too big the onion we did it ourselves you know we did it because it was fun and I want this little one to grow up like that and hero as long as there's Turkey people that that teach and I feel like it that yeah in 10 years from now they're still going to be people diggin engines Oh

Channel: OsiyoTV

Views: 127,758

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Id: gUL7I7OtPS8

Length: 4min 51sec (291 seconds)

Published: Sun Apr 12 2015