Pakihomomink –
“where there are cranberries growing”
"Small cranberry is one of the first
colonizers of burned bogs and increases in abundance with repeated fires if the
fires are not too severe (Flinn and Wein 1977; Vogl 1964; Matthews 1992). It
also regenerates vegetatively by re-growing from rhizomes and by layering
(Flinn and Wein 1988; Matthews 1992).
Reports of such large quantities suggest the possibility of
Indian stewardship to increase fruit yields. Lightning is rare within the
Pacific northwestern distribution of small cranberries (Agee 1993; Kay 2007;
Vitt et al. 1990), and tribes maintained them by burning (Anderson 2009; Latham
2008). The primary role of fire was to keep open habitats for the small
cranberries and other useful plants. Burning arrested the processes of
succession that would otherwise have allowed the forest to advance, which would
have reduced sunlight to the fruit-bearing plants, increased competition for
nutrients, and made the plants more difficult to get to and harvest. Gregory
Colfax, Makah, explains this function of burning in relation to small
cranberries: “My dad [Lloyd Colfax] mentioned that the [Ts’ooyuhs] prairie was
burned yearly or whenever it was necessary. When the cranberry bogs would get
so overgrown then the folks knew that it was time to do it. And so it was
generally in autumn I think when it happened—just at the time when you had your
long spells of light summer weather in September and October. And it was the
perfect time to do it because you match it to the wind and you match it to
upcoming rains” (pers. comm.).
Indian burning of bogs also had a directly beneficial effect
on individual cranberry plants, maintaining vigor and stimulating the
production of berries. Without pruning or burning, the vines produce many
runners, and produce less and less fruit. Traditionally tribes in western
Washington, such as the Quinault and the Makah, burned off bogs periodically
not only to keep them open by eliminating encroaching shrubs and trees but also
to stimulate the plants to produce more fruit (Anderson 2009). This probably
would have a similar effect to the pruning of the cultivated cranberry
practiced by growers today. They prune heavily vined cranberries for two
reasons: 1) severing most of the runners removes apical dominance in many of
the vines, promoting new uprights to produce fruit in the second year after
pruning; and 2) removing top growth allows more sunlight to reach the vines,
encouraging increased flower bud initiation (Eck 1990). Paul Eck (1990)
instructs cranberry growers to burn or mow overgrown bogs during the dormant
season to bring them back into productive bearing..."
Above: area with a great deal of possible Indigenous Stonework, possibly related to the Indigenous management of Cranberry Swamp that surrounds Cranberry Pond, some controlling perhaps the flow of water into the bog...
"PAKIHM is the Lenape word for cranberry.
The famous chief PAKIMINTZEN used the cranberry as a symbol of peace.
Pakimintzen means cranberry eater.
PERKIOMEN Creek comes from the Lenape word Pakihomomink – “where there are cranberries growing”.
The cranberries were enjoyed fresh or dried in soups, such as “succotash“ of cranberries, corn and beans. They were also used in “pemmican“ where the cranberries were crushed, dried and combined with dried venison (deer meat) and fat drippings. This mixture was then molded into small “cakes” (loaves of bread). This would keep for a long time and was good on a long trip."
This post relates to some questions I posed (mostly to myself, I guess, since no one commented) here:
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