In November of 2008, this cry for help came to my attention, through a friend:
“Hi all,
“There is a state of emergency out on the reservations in South Dakota because of early blizzards. Below is a recent email from Grandmother Barbara Threecrow, one of our elders here in the Hudson Valley of New York, about the matter, and below that a link where you can find out more about the crisis and help out if you feel moved to do so.
“Thanks, and a Happy Thanksgiving to all!
“love,
“Rob
_______________________________
Subject: The Joy of Sharing
Date: Sat, 15 Nov 2008
“News from the Rez: Apparently the blizzards have begun in S. Dakota and as it often is our brothers and sisters are hit hard, especially when their is no FUEL for heat in their homes. If you feel called, please check the site below to donate, share your abundance so the "people" can be warm too. Every little bit helps.
“Grandmother Threecrow”
… … …
My heart went out to those far-away people freezing in their homes, and especially to the elders who had suffered and struggled and sacrificed so much in their lives, and whose hard-won and sorely-needed wisdom was now in fact in mortal danger due to the harshness of their living conditions. I did want to help, but sending money to purchase fossil fuel to heat poorly insulated trailers exposed to fierce blizzard winds on the wild Great Plains didn’t feel like the answer.
Three or four years later – maybe 2012? - my husband Craig was visiting a local farmer, looking at a carpentry job or picking up a load of manure for the garden – we’re not sure which anymore. There, in the dumpster at the farm, he spotted three small sheepskins, discarded when the sheep were butchered. The skins are not in great demand these days and so are of little economic value. Adrian, the farmer, said that he threw away the skins when he butchered his sheep each autumn -- they are considered a ‘waste product.’ Craig brought the three skins home.
We’ve kept sheep here at Mawenawasigh in the past, and have had the skins of our animals custom-tanned. They have come back from the tannery beautifully thick and warm. I greatly enjoy using them when I sleep outdoors – one under me and one over me. I am never cold! So we got those three discarded skins tanned as well, and they served as rugs in our home for many years.
I thought of those poor people on the Plains, subjected to the harsh winter winds every year. I wished I could give them some sheepskins – especially the children and the elders. But I did not know how to reach them.
More years passed. Blizzards continued in the West, and every year I thought of those freezing people. The ‘Sheepskin Project’, as I called it in my mind, remained a dormant seed, waiting for the conditions it needed to crack open and grow – waiting for the puzzle pieces to fall into place that would get the thick warm fleeces to the shivering people. I felt sure they would know just how best to use them, because their ancestral tradition holds those Wisdom Ways.
Finally, 2020 arrived: the Year of Clear Vision, the year of the coronavirus pandemic, the year when Earth School was born. Our twelve short months of immersion in connection and study were filled with learning and growth in ways we never could have anticipated -- especially in light of the until-then-unimaginable world events that emerged into Being each and every day that year. Unlike many in our communities who were taken down by the challenges of 2020, each of us in Earth School emerged happier, healthier, wiser, more grounded, more connected, and more capable of creating what we wish for in our lives than we have ever been before (see our previous blog post, here.) It has been a joy to witness the transformation that was set in motion by the Earth School experience!
It was through Earth School student Alan Ritter’s connection with Olga Sher, of Antinanco Earth Arts, that finally a way has been found to get warm fleeces to the freezing people. I am so glad and grateful!
As a trial, we recently procured two sheepskins from two different Hudson Valley farms, and scraped and salted them – the first steps in the tanning process. This morning I sent them to Hopi Nation, to a native tanner in Arizona. We are hoping that she will be able to process them using traditional methods. If she finds them suitable she will tan them and they will be given to those in need for use as blankets, clothing, or insulating material. If those two sheepskins are of use there will be an opportunity to offer many more. There will be plenty of room for you and others to help as well – through financial contributions to purchase raw sheepskins and materials, pay for shipping, and support the tanning process, and through direct hands-on work in community, scraping and salting the skins to prepare them for shipping. Together we can turn this ‘waste product’ into health and warmth and wisdom for our beleaguered relatives.
We are now eagerly awaiting feedback from the tanner – will these hides be workable with traditional methods, and will the results be of service and value? Stay tuned – we’ll keep you posted!
What You Can Do: Add your name to our mailing list to stay connected with the Sacred Skins Sheepskin Project by sending us a message here.
I’m so grateful for this opportunity to meet and collaborate with the people at Antinanco Earth Arts, whose mission is so strongly resonant with that of Earth School. Thank you, thank you, thank you! Our connection feels like a blessing to me.