Bear's Den: "A Sping Bouquet is Sweetest... when Eaten"

Here in northwest Michigan, it´s still cooler than a jailer´s attitude. Reliable warmth hasn´t ´sprung´ yet. Yessir, and every morning we have a goodly amount of frost… just in case spring… gets any smart ideas, eh. But green is poking up, here and there, and man… those flowers are valiant, surely braver than brave. They pop up just knowing… that they run the risk of being consumed by… Pepoonwi´s icy bite. But then there´s a switcheroo, too, because when you´re talking about flowers and ´braves´, there´s always the chilly risk of the ´flora´… being consumed by the ´brave´… hmm?

Every year, it´s the same across the Earth Mother. Pepoonwi (winter) doesn´t want to give up its grizzled hold, and it sends its blistery rime to snatch life from any blossom daring to be the first to poke above the ground or sprout from a tree. This is an on again – off again occurrence until, finally, Melo´kami (spring) takes the season from winter´s grasp and all life begins anew. But, it´s not as if those few courageous blooms have only the cold and maybe a browsing deer to fear – nope. That´s because the old ne-noth´tu (Indian brave) will bite those waskon´atoeyen (flowers), too.

Not long ago, a pal was telling me about someone that he knew who grew up in Holland during World War II. The German occupiers ate most of the chow, so food was scarce for the Dutch. The Hollander added that they certainly did eat a lot of tulip soup in those days. Tulip soup, eh? That´s one I haven´t tried, but it didn´t surprise me none. That´s because my folks have been eating flowers forever. Sure, I´m talking about eating wild flowers, and boy, many of them are tasty, too. Indians use all of the Great Mystery´s wild foodstuffs. Yessum, and flowers are just a part of the Master of Life´s abundance. I´ve eaten everything from cattails to dogwood to dandelions; I always look for two flowers in early spring.

One of the first that appears in Melo´kami is the apple blossom. They have a nice delicate floral flavor and an apple aroma, to boot. American Indians made candied crab apple blossoms by dipping them in thinned maple sugar and drying them in the sun. But, they´re good when added sparsely to potato soup, too. Spud soup has a blandish base so apple blossoms liven it up a tad. Yet, Indians have always known that apple blossoms… contain the same stuff as apple seeds – cyanide precursors. So, if you don´t want an apple version of the elderberry wine from Arsenic & Old Lace … then you have to use them in moderation, eh. Always be careful with the amounts. But, they do freshen up other foods, and that´s a fact. It´s the same for pear blossoms, too.

Coming on at about the same time in the spring are the lawn lovers´ nemesis – the dandelions. Likely, if you haven´t had them, yourself, then you´ve likely heard of folks who have. Remember that Doris Day Movie and song – "Please Don´t Eat the Daisies"? Yeah, well… she wasn´t kid´n, eh. That´s because dandelions are members of the daisy family, and, like the daisies, they have a long history in food, medicine and folklore. So, they´re of value to those who want to use them. The yellow dandelion flowers are best when picked young. They have a sweet, honey-like flavor when fried in butter, but the older flowers are bitterer. Still, some two-leggeds favor them that way. And heck, some folks think that the dandelion buds are tastier than the flowers. So, if you´re after the buds, then it´s best to pick them when they´re very close to the ground, tightly bunched in the center, and about the size of a small acorn. Dandelion leaves can be tasty raw or steamed, and, if you have a wino streak, they make a fair brew, too. Young leaves are good steamed, cooked with side meat or tossed in salads. They have high amounts of nutrients and minerals for a two-legged, too, so the family ´daisy´ is sometimes more than just a chick from the "Dukes of Hazard" – huh?

I´m guessing that most folks have also heard of daisy chains, eh? Well, it´s evolved into a kid´s doo-hicky, nowadays, but, originally, Celtic mothers made these flowered chains and hung them over their children´s necks to stop fairies from stealing them. So see, folklore… galore. And growers, like the rest of us, have always feared the last icy bite of Pepoonwi … frost. So, an old farmer´s adage goes, ´it´s safe to plant the corn when the dandelions blossom.´ Sure, and as soon as Melo´kami starts showing her domination, those brave flowers poke up their heads, facing frost head-on. They run the risk of being consumed by Pepoonwi´s icy bite, and man… they are brave. But then again, there´s a switcheroo, too, because when talking about flowers and ´braves´, there´s always the chilly risk of the ´flora´… being consumed by the ´brave´… hmm?

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David Walks-As-Bear is an Inter-Tribal Elder and Kispoko Shawnee Indian. He works as a private game warden and detective and is a novelist and syndicated newspaper columnist living in Northwest Michigan. Contact him at The White Lake Beacon: 231-894-5356 or visit his website at: www.Walks-As-Bear.com