by Peter Twitchell
One of the greatest tragedies in life is forgetting our culture and our people, and all that we remember hearing them talk about – how our people survived in a place where there was no grocery store chains and other modern day conveniences which we couldn’t live without in this day and age!
It seems every autumn after a long summer our Elders went out on the tundra and wherever there was land they would be in search of tubers that a regular tundra mouse had foraged and brought to their den and stored for the winter months.
As a boy of 1, 2 and 3 years old I had no idea this was already in store for me to help Mom and Grandma look for the sweet tubers. Most were 2 to 3 inches that you could bring home to clean and peel the dark skin using the potato peeler. The bigger tubers they boiled to soften.
They would use tallow to squish between their fingers and then start whipping it with their hands. Into the fluffed up tallow they added the sweet tubers. They had a delicious dish of natural food from the tundra to add to their dried fish or to the fish they had boiled.
Mom and Grandma always gave thanks to Almighty Creator God for this natural food before eating their dinner.
This short story is not quite finished. Mom and Grandma always left at least 2 cups of these mouse foods in the mouse’s den for the mice. They did not take everything. They covered the hole of the mouse den carefully.
They uncovered at least three mouse dens up until the early afternoon. After they prepared this food they always shared with others who were always happy to have it.
And before you ask me did I ever eat this natural food stored by the mice of the tundra? The mouse den was always clean.
You bet, I had a saucer of these tubers every fall time. Thanks to Mom Sarah and Grandma Hannah.
