“This one day a year doesn’t suffice for the gratitude and appreciation that we have for our plant, animal, water, and land relatives. Our way of life is a thanks giving, every day.”
— Lucy Suppah, of the Native American Youth and Family Center
The spotlightThe further I drive into the hills, the more breathtaking the Wind River Reservation becomes. Twilight brings a big pink sky, the nearby creek has mule deer and pheasants scattered around its bank, and the silence is so complete in the cool air I feel like an interloper, despite living around here my whole life.
I’m headed to the home of Eastern Shoshone elder Caroline Mills, which is nestled between rolling sagebrush hills that slowly grow in height until they become the Wind River Mountain Range. When I arrive, I’m welcomed into her cozy abode, and soon I’m sitting on her couch with a hot cup of tea made from hawthorn berries she personally gathered.
She’s a part of Restoring Shoshone Ancestral Food, an organization that is reclaiming knowledge of Shoshone foods by collecting native plants like bluebells, c... Read more
