With the end of peepoonki ‘winter’ and the closing of our maple sugar camp, it’s time to get ready to go hunting for wiinhsihsia ‘onion’ and šikaakwa ‘ramps.’ Soon the soft green leaves of both of these plants should begin to poke their way up above the piles of leaves leftover from the fall. This usually happens near the end of Aanteekwa Kiilhswa ‘Crow Moon’ or the beginning of Cecaahkwa Kiilhswa ‘Sandhill Crane Moon’ (or March into April in the Gregorian calendar).

When the plants are tall enough, we’ll take our flathead screwdrivers and plastic bags out into the woods and harvest these tasty and fragrant plants. After carrying them home, we’ll clean them off, chop them up, and cook them with scrambled eggs and bacon. If you don’t have wild onions or ramps growing near where you live, you can make a similar dish using store bought green onions. If you’ve never cooked wild onions and eggs, here’s a great example recipe published by the Chickasaw Nation.

We recommend trying wiinhsihsiaki and šikaakwaki, but if the taste doesn’t suit you, feel free to print and color this page from wilaalaansantaawi: neepinwiki & peepoonki ‘Let’s Color It! Summer & Winter.’