*Elder Charlie Fox with Melanie (kneeling) and Liz from Ottawa*

Owl News was present for the initial pole harvesting for this project on the weekend as were two other journalists from two other news outlets. Traditionally, journalists are not supposed to be part of the story but Owl News believes journalism evolves.

There was no way that I was going to sit back and only take photos -nope -I was going to get my hands dirty (okay, I wore gloves but only because I hate getting tree sap on my hands).

All photos taken by the author.

Last year Brenda Mercer made her first tepee, this year she wishes to build 7 more - each one will be inscribed with one of the seven grandfather/ sacred teachings.

THE SEVEN SACRED TEACHINGS

To cherish knowledge is to know WISDOM;

To know LOVE is to know peace;

To honor all of the Creation is to have RESPECT;

BRAVERY is to face the foe with integrity;

HONESTY also means “righteousness”, be honest first with yourself – in word and action;

HUMILITY is to know yourself as a sacred part of the Creation,

TRUTH is to know all of these things.

Source - Empowering The Spirit/

*Elder Charlie Fox - photo Kelly Allard*

On Saturday we gathered in Elkwater with a permit. The goal was to cut 140 tepee poles for seven tepees.

Elder Charlie Fox was there to guide us in the harvesting, instructing people in how to select the right trees.

They needed to be straight, 4-5 inches (10-12.5cm) in diameter at the base, and 20-25 feet (6-7.5m) tall.

Elder Charlie told the delimbing crew was told to leave a few branches at the top to make them pretty.

The debarking would take place later as well as the sanding to make sure the poles did not tear the canvas.

The White Horse Rider Tepee Project will need more volunteers,
contact info will be at the bottom of the story.

It was a fabulous day with a slight breeze to keep most of the bugs away.

I dressed for a long hike in the woods - boots, long pants and long sleeves to avoid ticks), sun hat, crew neck t-shirt (getting needles and pine cones in your bra is not fun) and carrying a walking stick to make noise (you never want to surprise wild animals).

As it turned out, we were able to harvest them near the road.

We were late getting started, but nobody minded.

*Smudge box with sweetgrass and a can of tobacco.*

Before the harvesting began Elder Charlie did a smudge and a prayer; then we went around and introduced ourselves. We talked a little bit about why we were there. I had said that this reminded me of walking in the woods with my dad and he would point out the trees that were suitable for totem poles - straight and not too many branches (knots are hard to carve).

At one point we were all given a pinch of tobacco to make an offering to Mother Earth.

This is an Indigenous custom of respect.

Present was: Elder Charlie Fox, Brenda Mercer, Davie James, Nolan Cross Child (a grandson of Dan Weasel Moccasin who dedicated the Saamis tepee 35 years ago), Ken Feser, Glenn Salewski, the other two journalists, a young man who came to help even though he had very little off time, the drone crew, two of Brenda's grandchildren and one of their friends, four people from across Canada were also there. Two women had come from Ottawa for the event, they had met Davie and Brenda at a conference and heard about the project; there was also a mother/ daughter duo from Halifax.

After Elder Charlie showed the people what trees to look for, a crew went and flagged the trees to be cut down.

They then hauled the trees to the delimbing areas where the rest of us used various saws to remove them.

We broke for lunch to eat the delicious sandwiches donated by Adam Koch, O/O of Hometown Restaurant.

Elder Charlie spoke of the traditional materials to use to build tepees - while Mercer's project uses canvas, they once used buffalo hide which is very heavy - this limited the size of the tepees. He spoke about how most tepees were quite small, and spoke about staying in a tepee for two weeks; he said it was very warm, very cozy. He spoke about how his ancestors used dogs to transport their goods on a travois and told us the tepee rings we see on the plains were from campsites, the stones were used to hold down the tepees instead of pegs.

Elder Charlie talked about his gift for being able to find a game when he was hunting, he always knew where the game was. He never once came home from hunting without a deer or a moose or an elk. He spoke about the importance of walking barefoot for at least 30 minutes a day, to feel the connection with Mother Earth.

Brenda Mercer passed around some photographs of her adopted parents and then her biological mother as well as her grandmother and great grandmother, her great grandmother was Dakota Sioux and didn’t speak any English. One of her photos was of her at about five years-old, it looked identical to a photo that was taken of me at that age. (Bangs, a bob cut above the shoulder, dress and the same pose.)

A highlight of the day was Brenda's grandson being honoured with a Blackfoot name. Elder Charlie explained that a person might be given 5 or 6 names during their lifetime, to help remember significant events. This name was so the young man would always remember the day of pole harvesting.

At the end of the day, the trailer was loaded, the trees strapped down and then we had a closing circle before heading home. We all spoke about what we had learned that day.

The day was not yet done - volunteers followed Ken Feser who drove the truck and trailer to unload the poles at Brenda's home where the debarking will occur.

Contact

White Horse Rider Tepee Project Facebook Page

Email - whitehorseridertepeeproject@gmail.com‍ ‍

The White Horse Tepee Project

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