A small group of Shoshone-Bannock tribal members harvest wild onions at Gifford Springs on May 7 with the Language & Cultural Preservation Department.
By ROSELYNN YAZZIE
Sho-Ban News
RAFT RIVER — The Shoshone-Bannock Language & Culture Preservation Department hosted a wild onion harvest gathering on Friday, May 7.
The day began with a prayer before a small caravan made the trip to the Gifford Springs area, located along the Snake River among the cedars on public lands.
It was estimated about 25 people came to the event and were instructed to practice social distancing while harvesting.
Bobette Haskett, LCPD Original Territories Historic Researcher, helped coordinate the event. Haskett said they’re fortunate to be able to come out and harvest traditional foods, even through the COVID-19 pandemic.
Haskett said spring time is the time to harvest roots, like onion, bitterroot, and in June camas bulbs. The wild onion can be harvested from spring into early summer.
Wild onion picked and cleaned.
The sun peeked through the clouds throughout the day and it was a little windy, but still good conditions to dig. Many of the participants used their Bodo sticks they made in the class offered last month.
Haskett said traditionally, the men had their tools and the Bodo is an important tool for a woman to have. A Bodo is not only used to dig roots, but can also be used to stir a fire and for protection.
The wild onion can be identified by the succulent like texture of the stems and has little red flowers on the bottom. When dug out the bulb is peeled back to reveal a small tear drop shaped white onion.
When using a Bodo they were instructed not to get too close to the root when digging, but just to the side of it. The soil they were digging in for the wild onions wasn’t too hard and could easily be broken through with the Bodo.
However, when digging for bitterroot Haskett said she uses the triangle method, meaning she goes in front of it and on the sides of it to lift up the dirt to get to the bitterroot. She said a Bodo is better to use than a shovel because a shovel will slice off the roots.
She said, “Our people knew what they were doing back in the day.”
LCPD Original Territories Historic Researcher Bobette Haskett with digging tools.
The department hosts annual events such as this to take the Shoshone-Bannock people back to harvest in aboriginal territories and refamiliarize themselves with the land.
Bailey Dann attended the event to pick “genga,” (the word for wild onion in Bannock) for the first time. She also took the Bodo class and used her new tool to pick.
As she walked along a hill she found a patch of genga and sat down. She smelled the genga and described the taste as a cross between garlic and onion. Some even pointed out the taste was stronger than regular store-bought onions, so you only had to use a few. The wild onions may either be dried or froze to be stored for later. It can be cooked in soups, roasts, and salads.
“This is my new favorite vegetable,” she said smiling.
She’s excited the LCPD gave her the opportunity to participate. She said it was lovely to see the tribal people to gather together and collect ancestral foods.
“I think that’s really powerful medicine. It feels really good. “Zahn Newsengah,” said Dann.
Bailey Dann shows what she gathered.
In the future, she’s looking forward to teaching others how to dig and continue her journey to reclaiming the language and culture through activities like this.
“It’s important to come out and gather in areas that we’ve forgotten about and to make our presence known to public,” said Haskett. “It’s important to go out and exercise our treaty rights.”