Natural fibre shopping with Renee “Wasson” Dillard at the Ojibwe Cultural Foundation, and nearby bush, M’Chigeeng First Nation, Summer 2016
“Let’s go shopping, kwe,” Wasson jokes as we pull up to the densely treed lot where M’Chigeeng First Nation’s new grocery store is slated to be built in the coming months. Seeing as the land is scheduled to be cleared, we figure no one will mind if we snap up some choice natural fibres.
On our shopping list today is basswood bark, though Wasson always keeps an eye out for healthy black ash – an increasing rarity in Michigan now that the invasive emerald ash borer (EAB) beetle has destroyed tens of millions of its ash trees. We spent about an hour driving around the rez before coming to this spot, Wasson hanging out the passenger
