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Spring: Fresh Greens, Spawning Fish, and Migratory Fowl


Female mallard and ducklings.
From late winter into the onset of spring, the diet probably became somewhat monotonous. Depleted stocks of stored food, and fresh meat from hunting, trapping, and fishing constituted the early spring diet.

Later in the spring new plant growth would have offered relief from the monotonous diet of stored grain, much of which was likely becoming increasingly moldy and rodent infested. Moreover, spring growth provided needed source of fresh greens, sap, and tubers to the diet. Because of its early seed production, maygrass was especially important in the Mississippian spring diet. As spring progressed, more and more foods could be added to meals -- spring-spawning fish, migratory waterfowl drawn to the shallow lakes and wetlands were probably particularly welcomed additions.

Spring hunting, trapping, collecting, and fishing would have been scheduled with the preparation and planting of new fields. Burning dried maize stalks and squash vines left in the field from last year's harvest returned nutrients to the soil. All able bodied household members spent a large amount of time preparing fields for planting. If the earth goddess cult is any indication, then planting may have been largely the responsibility of women (SCTY).
Buffalo fish.

Child shooting at a bird. 		Men, women, and children probably all played important roles in food procurement. Seining for spawning fish could have also been accomplished by groups of adolescents and adults. Maygrass harvesting was probably organized on the household level with women and children doing much of the grass cutting and collecting. Children, in addition to welcoming the spring with explorations and a myriad of games, probably also fed themselves when the opportunity arose -- fishing by the stream, gathering strawberry snacks, and shooting small birds, rabbits, and other small game.

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