Lena Hurd, Acorns, Traditional Food Harvesting and Basket Making

Series Title

Food For Thought

Contributor

Jennifer Bell, Host

Lena Hurd, Interviewee

Jessica Eden, Engineer

Episode Description

I met the beautiful and super vivacious Lena Hurd at the Big Time event at Humboldt State University this past spring. Introduced to her by Jessica Eden, after 10 minutes of talking about wanting to include more stories of traditional foods into our Food for Thought show, we had an invitation to her home in Cave Junction, Oregon.

First of all — I don’t know what to say first of all. She was so gracious and gave us a tour of her home which was loaded with beautiful baskets and regalia (which she and other friends and family members made). The home itself was a piece of art, and was full of other art pieces created by both her son and her husband. I’m telling you this family got into line 12 times for artistic talent! I was in complete stimulation overload — I didn’t know where to look first.

Then! She took the time and graciously shared information with me about gathering acorns and making acorn mush, gathering various food plants and sea vegetables, and making baskets. Baskets are so part of making food, from baskets to trap eels, burden and storage baskets to carry plant materials and acorns, and cooking baskets. One of the things I learned was that baskets were made to be used — and baskets that are kept on museum shelves eventually become brittle and die. They need to be handled and need the oils from our hands to keep them alive.

Of the many journeys I’ve taken over the years this was quite possibly the very best. Practically in my own backyard (Oregon), such a rich and wonderful experience learning so much from Lena Hurd.

Broadcast Date

2018

Genre/Subject

Acorns, Food Traditions, Foraging, Native American

Publisher

KHSU

Filename

FFT_Lena_Hurd_acorns_1.mp3; FFT_Lena_Hurd_traditional_harvest_2.mp3; FFT_Lena_Hurd_Baskets_1.mp3; FFT_Lena_Hurd_baskets_2.mp3

Language

English

Digital Format

Audio/MP3

File Size

25.5 MB; 24.2 MB; 27.8 MB; 25.5 MB

Duration

00:11:08; 00:10:34; 00:12:09; 00:11:09

Generation

Copy

Collection

KHSU

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