The Fabulous Forager

At Raccoon Creek State Park’s PATH WAYS’s herbal medicines workshop, the instructors provide a recipe for natural, poison-free insect repellent. When Jason and I first attended the workshop back in 2006, we came back with two 4oz bottles of this “bug juice”: a combination of simple extra virgin olive oil and essential plant oils. Since then, we’ve used it on every hike and camping trip, and noticed a big difference in how many bugs bother us. We’ve also noticed that the people around us using bug sprays with DEET and other poisons generally end up getting devoured like they’re walking mosquito buffets while we remain untouched.

Decorations weren’t–and still aren’t–just for fashion: they carried cultural and personal meanings. I probably should have included this in my last post about Native American dresses, but here’s a fascinating article (from NativeTech, natch) about beads. Native Americans in my bioregion made them out of bone, ceramic, metal, shell, and stone. Beads, of course, are far from the only method of decorating clothing: there’s also quill embroidery.In other news, I <3 NativeTech.

The National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C., is currently running an exhibit on native dresses called Identity by Design. They’ll be running it until August 3, 2008–one reason why Jason and I are looking for some excuse to go to D.C. before then. But even if you can’t get to the exhibit itself, check out the website for a wealth of information on native dressmaking. And naturally, you’re going to need something to go with all those dresses: check out this interesting article on NativeTech for information on how the Seminoles accessorized.