URL: https://www.indianz.com/News/archives/001465.asp

Tuesday, September 16, 2003

"With canning season almost at an end, I stood in my basement with hands across my chest and looked at my handiwork. They looked great. Pretty jars of bright red wild plum jelly (thanks to my friend Anne and her mother, Marsh) and burgundy containers of chokecherry. If the chokecherries firmed up, they're jelly; if they don't, I call them syrup. I learned that labeling from the Prairie Gardener my guru he knows almost everything about anything that grows. Then there are the tall quarts of dill pickles my first attempt at those. When the evaluation was in from my sisters, they pronounced them "not bad" which in "sister talk" is pretty good.

It was my brother who brought my whole canning experiencing into perspective and made me think about the hours I spent over the hot water canner. He said, "Why are you canning like this? Are you out of your mind? That's too much work.""

Get the Story:
COLUMNIST DORREEN YELLOW BIRD: Come winter, enjoy the fruits of canning's labor (The Grand Forks Herald 9/16)

More Dorreen Yellow Bird:
Yellow Bird: 9-11 affected us 'to the very bone' (09/09)
Yellow Bird: Why are Indian students falling behind? (9/8)
Yellow Bird: Owning a home becomes more difficult (08/26)
Yellow Bird: Preserving culture through language (08/25)
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Yellow Bird: Time for gay rights has come (8/18)
Yellow Bird: Ushering in a new phase of life (8/13)
Yellow Bird: Healing through ceremony (8/11)
Yellow Bird: Going fishing with good friends (8/5)
Yellow Bird: My mother, the great recycler (8/4)
Yellow Bird: Skin color doesn't matter for group (7/28)
Yellow Bird: Those really long Indian names (06/30)
Yellow Bird: Children's stories getting better (6/24)
Yellow Bird: Not your average bear adventure (6/17)
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Yellow Bird: Nature's wonders in own back yard (6/10)
Yellow Bird: Public school teachers deserve praise (6/9)
Yellow Bird: Where the land and wind heal the soul (6/3)
Yellow Bird: Women should be allowed to fight (6/2)
Yellow Bird: Rebate forms difficult but addictive (5/27)
Yellow Bird: Indian Country tourism could work (5/27)
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Yellow Bird: Columnist 'put his foot in his mouth' (4/1)
Yellow Bird: Events help teach about Native culture (3/31)
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Yellow Bird: All is still not equal for women (03/17)
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Yellow Bird: Deer encounters, Part 2 (1/13)
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Yellow Bird: The smallpox threat (9/30)
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Yellow Bird: Reservation elections (9/17)
Yellow Bird: Learning from 9-11 (9/16)
Yellow Bird: Remembering 9-11 (9/10)
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