Yesterday I took half the day off from work for two reasons: My physical therapist had beat me up pretty good in the morning and I was too sore to sit at my desk all afternoon, and we had to get ready to go to the powwow on Saturday.
This weekend is the Twin Buttes Powwow. We go every year, and spend time with dear friends who are tribal members of the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation. The reservation is north of us about 60 miles.
The most important part of going to a powwow is sitting around and talking and eating with friends and family. Watching the dancers is just icing. We have known our friends’ grandchildren, now college age, since they were little. They call me granny. (They call all older women granny. It was a little hard to get used to, especially when I was in my 50’s. I understand it is done out of respect.) One asked our friend Linda last week if we were coming and if we were bringing our homemade French bread. Those kids just devour the bread. I am bringing two loaves this year so poor Linda gets some, too. We are also bringing rhubarb bread from our own rhubarb, as well as chili made with our home canned tomatoes and Hidatsa red beans we grew in the garden. Linda’s Husband is Arikara and is pretty dismissive of the Hidatsas, but I think he will like the chili.
Kyrill is at the kennel this weekend. He isn’t rez dog material, and gets upset with the drumming and commotion. We are only going Saturday, but it will be a nice holiday, and the weather should be sunny.
What food do you like to share with others at gatherings or at picnics? Where do you like to go for close to home holidays?
Trail Baboon 
Doritos and Diet Pepsi.
Cleveland for the Rock n Roll Hall Of Fame and Lake front.
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We’ll walk over to the lakeside park for Juneteenth on the 15th, and to the park by the city hall for the Pride Festival on the 29th. It’s a joy to live within walking distance in this town.
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Depends on the gathering. For my Happy Hour Support Group, I like to bring a special cheese like Boursin, and some kind of crackers. If it’s early in the day, I’ll probably bring an egg bake of some kind… Or if it’s last minute and I have no time, a can of stuffed grape leaves from the co-op.
I’ve talked about going out to Prairie Island Campground to watch the campers.. Farmers Park (Ben knows this place) is also just 10 minutes from Winona, a good place for a gathering in the summer.
We also meet friends or relatives in river towns midway between here and Mpls. – Red Wing or Lake City, or cross the river for Alma, Nelson, Stockholm in Wisc.
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There is a very good powwow in Mankato in September, right after Rock Bend. They’re Mdewankton Sioux (I hope I have spelled that right.) They come in remembrance of the 38+2 who were hanged after the so-called Sioux uprising of 1862.
Back in the ‘80s and early ‘90s, I was part of a large group of friends who gathered every Wednesday evening to play volleyball or play music at the Stone House in Faribault. It’s kind of where I cut my teeth playing folk music and folk rock. I lived at the Stone House for a while in the early ‘80s. It still feels like home to me. There is a birthday party for one of those old friends there on Saturday. It will feel really good to be with all my old hippy friends.
I usually go north by myself to really find some peace.
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Oh! I’m just bringing guacamole and chips.
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So the Stone House had apartments as well as a music venue back then?
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No, it’s a very small house that’s privately owned. It’s arguably the oldest house in Faribault, built around 1852. It’s made of locally quarried limestone. It has been a hippy house since the late ‘70s. I started hanging out there in the early ‘80s when Tim T owned it (tim knows Tim T – they went to high school together). Tim T sold it to our friend Gary in the ‘90s and moved to Hawaii. So the house has been owned by good friends of mine for 50 years. We call it the Stone House. It’s been home to quite a few of us.
In the past the house was known as the Tetrault house. It was built on the east side of the Straight River, near the Faribault cheese caves and the schools on the eastern bluff that gave Faribault the name “The Athens of the West.”
The house has walls that are two feet thick, made of locally quarried limestone. The stone is the same as that of several buildings at St. Olaf. Gary has done a lot to restore it back to original, with modifications to make it comfortable as a home today. Gary and Cindy cook on a wood cookstove, which also heats the house. The most updated room in the house is a modern bathroom. When I lived there, the bathroom was on the edge of the kitchen, almost outside.
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You might find the book Mystery of Metropolisville by Edward Eggleston interesting. Eggleston lived in Cannon City, I think in the 1850s, and the story is set there. The mystery isn’t much but the descriptions of the settlement and the competition with Faribault to be designated county seat and the conveyance from Red Owl (Red Wing) to Metropolisville are all fun to read.
I don’t know how likely you are to find it in the library.
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Also, the Stone House is on a very large corner lot, bordered by the Straight River. Gary’s garage is down by the river and has been flooded many times – not yet this year though. Tim T had a sand volleyball court down by the river but Gary is more of a gardener and has let the area be. They have a lot of native flowers down there now, with room for a camper, Gary’s sailboat, and a fire pit. It’s going to rain tomorrow so we will be in the garage, by the river, playing music, and drinking Gary and Cindy’s homemade beer.
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Sounds like fun. Have a great time, Krista.
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I’ve been playing music with a group of retirees at FiftyNorth for a couple years now. I’ve missed the last two jams, then I went on the wrong day. So it’s been a while since I played music with them. We usually meet every other Wednesday afternoon. FiftyNorth will be closed in observance of Juneteenth this coming Wednesday so we are tentatively thinking about playing in Bridge Square downtown if it’s nice out.
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The cat thinks she’s on holiday with the dog at the boarding kennel until Sunday afternoon.
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YA and I were just talking about our Fawn Doe Rosa picnic lunch! We always take a little cooler with us and then purchase pop out of the machine. YA has suggested that we take our own beverages this time as the pop is “so expensive out of the machine”. (She’s on a frugal kick right now as we work on paying off the kitchen and bathroom projects.)
For gatherings I tend toward baked goods. We had dinner at a friends’ house this week and I made (at YA’s request) s’mores bars.
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Something about your FDR picnic reminds me of an end of the school year picnic when I was in maybe 1st Grade. We walked in pairs, holding hands from our school to nearby Sunset Park (Storm Lake, IA). I felt so proud to have my own lunch (all the in-town kids usually went home for lunch), and my mom let me have a rare bottle of pop! It was 1954 or so, and I don’t believe there were cans yet – the teachers must have handled the bottled stuff for those who brought it. I’ll bet I had a peanut butter jelly sandwich, and probably potato chips.
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It doesn’t seem like there are as many opportunties for ‘pot luck’ as there used to be.
Family events, someone always brings potatoes, someone makes mini-wienies, I bring Friendship Bread… but I miss the casseroles and salads.
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XDFBen
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I still miss the annual Memorial Day gathering arranged by the Eddies for those of us who “had no stinkin’ cabin up north.” Hans and I attended that many, many years, and it was always enjoyable. A number of baboons attended a couple of years toward the end of its run, including the year we were “busted” by the police.
In addition the barbequed meat the Eddies provided, everyone brought a generous portion of mostly homemade goodies. There was always an array of salads, everything from potato to pasta, quinoa, and various fruit and vegetable salads.
I don’t really have a favorite that I like to bring. It depends on where the event is, whether it’s indoor or out, and what the weather is like. If its a picnic like event, most likely I would bring a homemade salad of some kind. I would take my inspiration from whatever fresh veggies were available at the local farmers’ market.
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I did thoroughly the one time I got to attend that gathering, PJ.
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… did thoroughly enjoy…
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The food I would bring to a gathering would vary depending on the time of year, the nature of the event and the people who would be gathering. For a get-together this time of year I like to bring a cold salad of some sort, like the curried chicken pasta salad I have made for our dinner tonight. If I knew that there would be a contingent of vegetarians and if the group gathering would be small enough that there might not be many vegetarian options, I would perhaps make tabouli or a Greek pasta salad or potato salad with plenty of hard boiled eggs. For non-cooks, a watermelon is always a welcome contribution.
If the gathering were in the cool season I might bring chili or jambalaya or a casserole I make that is sort of like a lasagna but with layers of corn tortillas and enchilada sauce with shredded chicken and beans and peppers and cheese. An actual lasagna is good too.
Typical day trips for us are to Duluth or the Wisconsin side of Lake Pepin. If we are staying overnight for a night or two we also may go to Duluth or to Decorah or into Wisconsin to Sheboygan and Cedarburg. A few years ago we drove up to Fosston to visit a fiber mill there, then on to Fargo to see the stave church. Many of our small vacations include something fiber related, like the quilt museum in Cedarburg.
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If I’m going to a picnic I would usually go for finger food. Some hummus and chips will usually go over well, and a lot of people will go for the Candyland Chicago mix if it’s provided. I try to bring something I can easily use up if no one eats it, since there tends to be a serious surplus of food at most events.
If I were to propse a gathering, it might be at Minnehaha Paark, or Lakefront Park in Hudson. Nice picnic areas. Harriet Island is good too.
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