Apostle Islands National Lakeshore

“When it comes to subsistence, in a smaller community, everybody watches out for everybody and helps . . .”

… There’s such a celebration about it. Your first harvest, you give the whole thing away. Like my first fox, I had to give away. The boys’ first stuff, they gotta give it away to humble them — you always share what you get. Whenever we get stuff, we’re going to deliver to the elder folks who might not get those resources anymore. When we set net, all our kids are helping; when we cut up the fish, all the kids are there. We come back here and our kitchen table becomes where we’re cleaning the meat, wrapping it up, storing, and labeling it.”

~Rhonda Sparks, in Project 562 by Matika Wilbur

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This place is on the traditional territory of the Očhéthi Šakówiŋ and Anishinabewaki ᐊᓂᔑᓈᐯᐗᑭ nations. (Crowdsourced info compiled by Native-Land.ca. Please visit the nations’ websites to learn more.) We support indigenous land rights and the Land Back movement.

 

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