Brief reprieve

We took a brief reprieve from the farm to enjoy friends and extended family at the North Country Intertribal Powwow in Newport, Maine. It was a wonderful week full of dancing, drumming, celebration, ceremony, and its share of really hard work. My husband has been helping put on the pot-luck feast at this event since 2004. I began helping at my first visit in 2006 and we have been working with the Littlefield and Luce families ever since to make this event better each year. This picture is of the second tipi on Friday morning just as the fog was lifting from the field before sunrise.

We also help with a relatively new powwow only in its third year – the Great Northern Moose Intertribal Powwow in Dummer, NH. This is a small event which feels more like visiting old friends then it does an organized event. The Tessiers have established a great bed and breakfast and they are working on new campground across the road from the lodge. Out in the middle of the north woods, they couldn’t have a better location to gather and celebrate the Native American culture. You can visit the lodge at http://www.greatnorthernmoose.com/.

My first powwow was in May of 2006 in Tamworth, NH. That weekend I was welcomed with open arms into ‘the family’. The powwow trail has some incredible people and my life has only been enriched by knowing and learning from them. Grandmother Two Feathers and Grandmother Awabejiwani took me under their wing and began to teach me the ways of the red road that weekend. I went to six powwows that summer and at each I gained a better understanding of who I am in addition to meeting and becoming great friends with my husband’s extended ‘family.’ Today, I pray each day to Creator for my friends and family who need help and for guidance in the choices I make and the manner in which I live my life. Sometimes I get so mired down with ‘things’ or distracted by everything on the to-do list that I feel lost. Those days I take out the sage, tobacco, cedar and sweet grass, go outside to one of my favorite places on the farm and talk to Creator. I am left with a renewed sense of vigor and almost always with answer to get myself un-mired.

There are several more powwows in New England between now and the end of October. If you are looking for a great, family friendly and even educational event, look one up. We are hoping to get to at least one more, but it is getting cooler and the fall farm chores are at hand.

May your journey be full of learning today.