Page 18 RAIN April1981 GOODTHINGS We Didn't Have Much, But We Sure Had Plenty, by Sherry Thomas, 1981, 185 pp., $7.95 from: Anchor Books 245 Park Ave. New York, NY 10016 Pull up a comfortable chair, draw a lamp in dose, pour yourself a cup of tea . .. this is that kind of book. The oral histories of twelve farm women-farmers, not farmers' wives-go beyond nostalgia for the good ole days, and arrive crisp and vital in the here and now. Most of these women have been farmers or shepherds all of their lives. A few have only been at it for twenty years or so. For all of them it is a dawn to well beyond dusk cycle of hard labor laced with disappointment, but tempered by some unnamed return that seems to have made it all a geod bargain. " You're so totally involved in farmin', you can't, if you come up against something, just give up .. . there's just too much value there." These are stories of richly supportive families, of whole communities drawn together, and of lone women rebuilding and maintaining houses, crops, livestock and their own lives . There is a " yankee ingenuity" that reasons through situations where the " right way" may have been elusive. I found myself laughing with Eleanor Johnson who repaired her very steep roof and kept herself on it by pouring puddles of tar there to sit in. "You know I had the sorest behind anybody ever saw, bright red l" Sherry Thomas, who had the pleasure of meeting these women and recording their stories, offers her purpose: " Truth-telling enriches our sense of the possible . .." With that bit of wisdom and the acquaintance met of these fine women, it is easy to feel that anything is, after all, possible. When one of the women says, "I think there have been women like me from the beginning of time." I think of my mom, on her own, on the farm, raising chickens, pigs, kids and more. Perhaps the best lesson learned here is this: pull up another chair, pour another cup of tea, and invite your very own wise woman over to tell you her story. -CC Gathering What the Great Nature Provided: Food Traditions of the Gitksan, by the people of 'Ksan, 1980, 127 pp., $17.95 hardcover from: University of Washington Press Seattle, WA 98105 The all-around tonic in my family as I grew up was chicken soup, homemade with lots of garlic and "schmaltz" (chicken fat). Nothing could convince my grandmother of the superiority of the modern cold capsule, and indeed she was right. Years later many of us are discovering just how wise many of the olg traditions were, as scientific proof now supports what Grandma knew all along. Gathering What the Great Nature Provided is a collection of the cumulative wisdom and traditions of a Native American tribe from North-Central British Columbia, the Gitksan. In a concerted effort to record and transmit the heritage of their people as remembered by the elders, the Gitksan have initiated a series of publications on history and cultu re; this is their second publication in that series. Language, food preparation, diet and cultural traditions around food are lovingly presented with graphic illustrations and humor. Some little known foods common to the Northwest such as pine " noodles" (finely 'tl ~ ow I> ~ ~ Cl ] ~ shaved strips of the sweet inner bark of the jack pine) are fascinating. As with the chicken fat in my grandmother'S soup, the Gitksan used a fish-derived fat for adding flavor, as well as for preserving, and reconstituting dry foods. Today "ooligan" grease, an integral part of the Gitksan diet, has been recognized for its high nutritional value. Aside from its simple beauty, Gathering What the Great Nature Provided lends perspective to the concept of a regionally supported, environmentally benign food system. It also shows the native diet of the Northwest to be something more varied than berries, peppermint and marijuana. - LS
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