Museum’s Back to Basics Kicks Off the Gathering and Harvesting Series

MARILYN CRAIG | Museum Marketing Coordinator

Pretty-Sky Wilden examines a buckbrush bush that will be planted on tribal grounds (courtesy photo).

TAHLEQUAH, Okla.—After participating in the “Back to Basics” buckbrush gathering and harvesting class on Saturday, March 8, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., it’s safe to say that everyone in the class gained a whole new appreciation for baskets made from natural materials. Tradition Keeper Cindy Hair taught the class.

A location on the tribe’s 80-acre complex provided the buckbrush, but the plant was hard to gather that day. Runners were found, but they were scarce. The class gathered vines for about an hour, though no one collected enough to make a full basket. The materials were bundled and given to Pretty Sky Wilden and Alice Wilder, who said they would make a basket from them.

Due to the cold and windy weather, class members brought the reed to the museum kitchen and boiled it on the stove. “Last year, we were able to have a fire and boil it outside. This time, with the wind, it wasn’t feasible,” said Assistant Museum Director Barbara Girty Foster.

After gathering the material, the next step was to strip the bark from the runners. They boiled the runners for a couple of hours, then used a rag, a pot scrubber, a leather glove, or a paring knife to rub up and down and remove the bark.

Of course, anytime you get a group of Keetoowah women together, there is plenty of talking and laughter. After stripping, the branch was clean, and a knife was used to trim any raised spots on the vine until it was perfectly smooth. Then it could be coiled until ready to use.

UKB employee and tribal member Pretty Sky Wilden said, “I learned basket weaving by watching my grandma, Susie Dick. She used to work at the Cherokee Heritage Center. They had commercial reed, so that’s what I learned with and what I’d always used. I’ve never gathered buckbrush before, but now that I have, I know I’ve seen it all over the place, and I’m excited to gather more.

“The class itself was so fun. It was so nice to reconnect with our culture with my elders. Miss Cindy is a great teacher and a longtime friend of my mom, Roxana Wilden, and it was such an honor to learn from her. I was buzzing with excitement and happiness. We were laughing and sharing knowledge while we gathered—truly a gift. I felt like the trees were happy to see us and hear us talk and laugh, the Earth was happy to have its back scratched and missed our fingers in the dirt. I saw a freshly hatched copperhead after I scooped up some leaves; it looked scared, so I whispered ‘sorry’ and put a couple of leaves back on top of him. I like to think that’s something my ancestors encountered.

“I love to learn our traditional ways and get my hands dirty. I really got the hang of it pretty quick, I think! I’d dig around in the leaves like an armadillo, and then I’d hook one with my finger. When I followed the line and pulled, sometimes it would go on forever, and I’d have to navigate through thorns and saplings; sometimes it would only go a few inches. It’s like a treasure hunt. Stripping the buckbrush was so hard! I had to ask Miss Cindy for help a couple of times—she has stronger hands than me,” she said.

The entire class gained a better appreciation for a buckbrush basket after this experience. Due to the time invested in finding, cutting, and stripping materials, baskets made of natural materials will—and should—cost more money (at least double the price of commercial reed).

The next class in the gathering and harvesting series will be picking wild onions on March 22, followed by a class on how to bait a hook and catch and clean fish on April 26. Although this series is sold out, space remains available for the Canning Series, with classes on June 7, July 12, and August 9. For more information, contact Barbara Girty Foster at 918-871-2794