In a crowded room filled with both people and woodworking tools at the Forest County Potawatomi Community Center, a large bison hide takes up most of the space.
It’s been stretched out with the fur side down about three feet off the ground within a wooden circle structure built from 2x4s.
In between the ropes that pull the hide tight, children and adults stand close to the hide as a pot filled with cooked bison brains is poured over the hide.
“Alright guys so now what we're going to do is we're going to dap the brains on this hide,” said Lawrence Mann as he explains to the group how the tanning process works. “We put three brains in here, so this is full of lecithin. This is what's going to get this hide nice and soft.”
The children don’t hesitate as they work the mixture into the hide with their gloved hands.
As they work, Mann teaches the children about the bison, how it’s used, and even some of the Potawatomi language.
“Now the buffalo he represents respect because he offers everything that he has to the Anishinaabe people,” Mann told the class.
Mann goes on to explain how respecting the bison means using every part of it.
The bones will be used for tools and broth. The hide will go up as display in the building after its painted with a constellation. The tendons can be turned into sinew for sewing. The meat will help feed people.
The Forest County Potawatomi Community held nearly two weeks of classes, open to the public, to share how they process bison.
As the Cultural Programming Coordinator for the Forest County Potawatomi Community, Mann led the class.
“We want our kids to be connected to the land. Our farm, we have buffalo bison out there, we wanted our children to experience everything that our ancestors experienced when they would harvest the bison in this area,” said Mann.
Wild bison haven’t been found in Wisconsin since the 1830s.
The Potawatomi Farm started cultivating a herd in 2018 which has led to this class being possible.
“When the buffalo came back here, it was like we were bringing a part of our tradition back,” he said.
Mann admits it’s not the same as having wild one’s roam again, but he’ll take it.
“That's the closest we can get to restoring them in our area is bringing them to our farms. But to have them here for our children to see it, feel it, smell it, hear it, to have all of their senses around there to bring them out there, that's amazing to be able to do that with them,” said Mann. “I didn't have that experience growing up, to be able to go out there with a buffalo and harvested and take all the meat and process it and then tan the hide. This is one of a few times in my life I got to do this.”
The Forest County Potawatomi Community brought in Mary Moose from Canada to help carry on the tradition. She grew up processing everything from moose to muskrats.
“We have to learn to do this, and then continue doing it. We lost it, we lost lots of our traditional ways,” said Moose. “There's lots of things that we lost. I'm just trying to bring back the things that we lost.”
Moose hopes this experience will stick with the kids and hopes they’ll continue to learn traditions like this.
“It makes me happy in my heart to see [them] doing that, so they could remember. They could remember when they get older that they did this,” she said.
Mann wants to see these traditions live on as well.
He also wants to instill in them the importance of food sovereignty.
“We're trying to get our children back to respecting the animals and respecting the environment, and also paying attention to our environment. There's outside factors that are happening to our environment that we can't control,” said Mann. “But we can monitor it, we can keep an eye on it. Now, if we can just keep a barometer on our environment, we can make sure that our people stay healthy and that our community stay healthy.”
Part of keeping the community healthy also means keeping it drug-free.
The class was funded by a Wisconsin Department of Justice grant as part of a solution towardsfighting the opioid epidemic in the area.
“It has hit our community hard,” said Mann.
Mann has seen how the community, county, and state all working together has improved conditions, but says there’s still work to be done.
“We really want to focus on being there for our children, making sure that we take up the time. That they're not out in gangs. They're not out there doing drugs. That they're here, working on their health, becoming healthy, and getting a strong mind, and becoming strong human beings for the future,” said Mann.
It’s a future that now includes a piece of the past and traditions that can last them a lifetime.
“In 20 years, you're going to talk about how you made this hide. This hide will still be hanging up around here somewhere in 20 years,” Mann told the class.
