Judith Browning

M Ljin wrote:Lisa Null, Bill Shute, “The Rocky Banks of the Buffalo”

I suspect this may be an Indian story in ballad form, for various reasons. There aren’t many of those I’ve come across so this is quite interesting! This one is surprisingly fast paced.

A wild man comes (the wild man archetype who lives in the forest comes to steal the maiden to be his bride is found in different Native cultures) and courts some sisters. He threatens each sister to come with him or he will take their hair or take their hide. But they say they’d rather lose their hair and hides than go with him, and so the first loses her skin, the second her hair. He throws a knife at the oldest, but it bounces back and kills him. She puts her sisters back together and all is well.

Or, it may be a reworking of The Bonny Banks of Fordie as some suggest.

Judith, you may find this one interesting too, at least for reason of its locality…

There were three maids lived under a bluff,
Shickel-i-shoe and a shuffle-o
In the Ozark mountains wild and rough
On the rocky banks of the Buffalo.

One day a wild man came along,
And he was mighty fierce and strong.

He courted them the whole day long,
And on his pipes he played this song.

He said to the youngest, "Won't you be my wife?
Or I'll take your hide and I'll take your life."

"Before I'd be a wild man's wife,
I'd lose my hide and I'd lose my life!"

He took her hide and he let her go,
And she danced all night on the heel and toe.

He said to the second, "Won't you be my bride
Or I'll take your hair and I'll take your hide!"

"Before I'd be a wild man's bride
I'd lose my hair and I'd lose my hide!"

He took her hair and turned her loose
And she looked just like a new plucked goose.

He said to the oldest, "Won't you be my squaw?
Or I'll take your pelt to my mother in law."

She said, "Now wild man, that cannot be,
I'm a tough old gal and you can't fool me!"

He throwed at her his hunting knife,
But it bounced right back and took his life.

She put the hide back on her kin;
They were twice as pretty and young again.

M. Ljin, sure enough Steve found the song on an old Jimmy Driftwood album amongst our records😊
We have not played it recently but will soon and see if the lyrics are the same as you found.
Jimmy was local to us and we would see him at the grocery store often to chat...interesting character and apparently an excellent history teacher...(wrote the Battle of New Orleans among others, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Battle_of_New_Orleans He wrote the words but often lifted the melodies)
Here's some pics of the record and the song list, etc

Edit to say that I find the lyrics uncomfortable to say the least...not a song I would want to learn🫤

We've had a source for wonderful fresh raw cow milk for years now so with a gallon a week I make five widemouth pints of whole milk yogurt and the rest we drink.

I fill the widemouth jars to a half inch of the top, close with reused canning tips and rings and set in a kettle of water to a depth of the milk.
Then heat to at least 165F to pasteurize and sometimes up to 180F if Ii forget to check.
I remove the jars when up to temp and allow to cool to 100F.
Then add one full tablespoon yogurt to each jar from last weeks batch.
I then relid the jars and shake 30 or 40 seconds, and set in our dehydrator set at 105F for 6 or 7 hours.
I've never had a failed batch and it's pretty custard like and delicious.

I used to only heat to 105F or 110F....it was really good also but I learned that it might be wandering away from the yogurt strain I was using, so I started heating to 165 to pasteurize since I was sharing with others.

Well said Timothy!

This election was quite a statement!
I'm feeling cautiously relieved this morning🙃

💜💜💜

David Nightingale wrote:“Governments are instituted among ‘people’
deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed”

Thomas Jefferson
July 4, 1776

Do your little bit of good where you are;
it's those little bits of good put together
that overwhelm the world.

Desmond Mpilo Tutu
(7 October 1931 – 26 December 2021)
South African Anglican bishop and theologian,
known for his work as an anti-apartheid
and human rights activist.

We're done digging them now....three half gallon jars fermenting and a bag of cleaned roots in the refrigerator drawer to add to salads.
If we don't dig them in the fall, october and early november, they have more and more critter damage the longer they stay in the ground.

I am following moringa and sweet potatoes with winter peas in the 20 gallon tubs.

Here's one that's almost ready to cut for microgreens.
I've staggered the plantings so they will last well into the winter and we can trim them 2 or 3 times before letting them grow as they wish.
I'm counting on some good underground activity to improve this soil from dying roots and later in the early spring when I cut the tops back completely there will be a nice green mulch on top  to decompose.

I haven't found a companion to go with the peas that doesn't interfere with their growth...any ideas?  Something that would be clipable and equally tender for eating along with the peas?....and winter hardy?  ....maybe kale?

had to add a photo of sunchoke blooms 🌞

Robbie Lattig wrote:Judith, that mild and sweet sounds nice. Did you ever land on a leaf amount that gives the tea more flavor? Chewing a leaf being so strong, I would guess it takes a lot.

I haven't tried again but I did dry some.

Since I only had a few plants this year I let them go to seed in hopes it becomes a 'weed' and I can experiment some more....I love the color but have not figured out how to incorporate the flavor in my cooking?

We have a wild green version that we add to other greens for cooking that is a milder flavor.

Robbie Lattig wrote:Judith, did any of yours ever throw a stalk in the end? The out of sync part is what gets me, they seem to run on their own clock.

Robbie, this years has seed now, brown and ready to hitchhike on whom ever walks too close....I can't tell which roots are which anymore age wise.
I made the mistake of planting in a difficult place to dig.

edit to add ...I had to go back through this thread to see what happened ...since my first post I see it went to seed in july of 2025.

This year I didn't pay attention but I suppose it was around then also when it sent up seed stalks and began to make seed?

This has reminded me to plant some seed in a corner of better worked soil in the big garden and see if we can get some roots next year 😊

The link to Heather Cox Richardson's post from yesterday evening... https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/november-2-2026
helping to put things in perspective....well worth reading the whole thing...here's an excerpt.....

 At key moments in American history, the majority of voters have woken to the reality that a small group of men has rigged the system to funnel the wealth produced by ordinary people into their own pockets. With that wealth, they have bought power and undermined democracy in favor of themselves.