We were up before dawn and gone shortly after the sun had just started peeking over the eastern horizon. With a couple of breakfast sandwiches and coffees, we were soon on our way for the half-hour drive northwest to Window Rock, Arizona, the capital of the Navajo Nation. The location of this year’s Sheep is Life celebration was the Navajo Museum, Library, and Visitors Center.
We intended to be here by 7:00, but it ended up being closer to 7:30 by the time we ran into a woman, and after an exchange of hello’s, she told us she needed to run as she was hoping to catch the prayer ceremony, which was the very reason we were showing up at this time of day. The woman we followed was invited into the Museum’s Hogan, so our thoughts were that the ceremony would take place in it, but nope, we were wrong because we heard the guy between the Hogan and that pickup truck say it was time to get things underway now that the sun was in the right position.
About a dozen of us joined in a line facing the rising sun as Ron Garnanez led the prayer in Navajo and concluded by pulling out a satchel of yellow corn pollen, touching a small pinch to his forehead, and then offering it to the wind in the direction of the sun. He then passed it to me, and I tried doing the same before passing it to Caroline, who then passed it to someone else. This was a first for us, and needless to say, we were honored.
Caroline and I waited until Ron was finished talking with someone else so we could offer our gratitude for being allowed to join the prayer. It turned out that Ron had to get going because he needed to unload his Jeep. He was going to be the cook for a meal being offered later in the day and had brought supplies. We offered to help him get things over to the kitchen, which he graciously accepted as his helpers hadn’t shown up yet.
Ron Garnanez is not only a sheep rancher, but he also learned to weave early in life, is a nurse by profession, and he’s on the board of Diné Bé’Iiná, which translates to Navajo Lifeway. He’s offered to share with me the process of making today’s extravagant meal.
While wandering around after emptying the Jeep and Caroline off somewhere else, I met Sam, who was recruiting volunteers for some sheep-related duties. I told her I knew of the perfect person who’d enthusiastically be willing to help in any way required.
Caroline became a sheep wrangler to help show lambs that were to be inspected and graded on a number of criteria. I believe she has the full story as she was in the pen with the others all struggling to hold onto their wards who apparently wanted to be with their fellow sheep they typically herd with. I’ll let Caroline tell you more.
I was excited about being part of the lamb judging! At this point, I had already been watching Nikyle Begay, founder of the Rainbow Fiber Coop, sheepherder, and Navajo-Churro expert, review the registration application for a couple of adult ewes, so I had an idea about what they were going to look for. I had, however, never handled a sheep of any age. This young fellow (lambs are less than one year old) could be handled by holding on to his horns and frogmarching him from the pen into the arena. He struggled only a little, and once we were in the arena, even if I had let go, he couldn’t go far. When he started to buck, someone gave me the tip to hold his chin up with one hand, which helped subdue him. He ended up garnering second place in a group of about ten lambs, and after returning him to his pen, I picked up a ewe lamb and repeated the process. – Caroline
I don’t know what would constitute a good turnout for Sheep is Life, but the “crowd” never seemed very large. There were a few Japanese tourists who’d somehow heard about the event, and even one of Caroline’s fellow guild members had come up from the Phoenix area, but somehow, I want to believe that this should be a major cultural happening drawing people from around the world to learn about the Navajo-Churro Sheep and the important role they play in so many aspects of Diné life.
Oh well, we are here, and looking at my wife with that happy smile on her face had me choking back the wellspring of emotions that wanted to tug at my eyes. I’m well aware that we are not living common lives and that by cultivating a willingness to lead participatory lives, we are offered meaningful experiences that are far away from any expectations either of us might have had prior to encountering each other and sharing time together. To be present is the precursor to anything happening that would take us further into the inexplicable. Today is one of those moments that defy my understanding that we should be so fortunate.
There were over 30 presentations and demonstrations happening over the course of the two days of the event, but sadly, Caroline and I would see very few of them as conversations and volunteering consumed the better part of our day. Learning that Sheep is Life is held every 3rd weekend in June means that we need to plan better for next year’s event so we can learn even more about what’s offered to attendees. On stage at this time were those being recognized with awards by Diné Bé’Iiná (Navajo Lifeway).
I was rather surprised by the number of male weavers and cannot remember this many from our previous visit. On the loom right, there is Kevin Tsosie, who’s a Navajo knot weaver, adobe brick maker, and artist using recycled materials. Later in the day, we watched him outside making bricks and plastering a small section of a demo wall to show us how he built his own home.
Every so often I check in at the kitchen looking for Ron as he had to run to collect a few things; the hour took longer than he anticipated. I arrived back at the sheep pens in time to find Caroline returning a ewe lamb to its owner; she was worn out from wrestling with the feisty sheep and was ready for some restorative shopping therapy.
Blue Bird Flour is the only flour Navajo would use to make Fry Bread; it is key. For years, Caroline wanted to make her own bag of one of the flour sacks, but with so many other projects on the docket, it simply never happened. One of the vendors was about to take care of her desire for a Blue Bird bag, not only that, her friend Claudia in Germany will also be the recipient of one of these rarities. I know I shouldn’t have written this last bit, as she will now know that a gift has been acquired for her, and she has no way of knowing just when we’ll get around to shipping it to her.
Not only did Ron show back up, but he is also joined by his daughter Laura and a couple of others; there’s a lot of food to prepare in order to feed the 50 or so people expected for the banquet that should get underway at 6:00. The sheep that is being carved was harvested just yesterday in a demonstration of the process here at Sheep is Life. By the time the meat was being carved up, Laura had already chopped and prepped the internal organs, including the heart, liver, kidneys, lungs, small intestines, fat, and other assorted bits for a variation of ‘ach’íí’ (mutton fat and intestine) that was being made in the crockpot as a stew so everyone could try the internal organs of the sheep.
These wild onions are a favored foraging food of sheep; consequently, they are considered the perfect pairing when cooking sheep. Ron pulled these out of the deep freeze from his personal supply. Some years, the weather is not conducive to a good harvest, and so when they are abundant, he stores them for special events such as today’s. The work to peel them out of their sheath is tedious; I now know this firsthand because I helped clean a few hundred of these tiny onions.
Spent a good amount of time talking with Franco Lee, a chef up at Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado, down here in Window Rock for the special occasion. Franco enthusiastically walked me through the process of making Navajo cake using corn meal, brown sugar, roasted pinon nuts, and peach slices. He was also preparing two other Navajo dishes I’ll speak of later in this post.
Back to Ron, who was running this show. I peeked in on the roasting mutton that was covered in wild onion and wild parsley but not only that. After the pieces of meat had been chosen and washed, Ron opened a large container of sumac and started sprinkling it over the leg and ribs that were going to be a part of the menu. He explained that with the sumac, there was no need for salt during cooking because the sumac would fill that role. While I thought sumac was something special to Persian cuisine, it turns out that there’s an edible variant native to the western United States. The branches are used to make baskets and the berries are for food and drinks.
Being present for the preparation of the feast only amplified my hunger, following our light breakfast and a couple of handfuls of cherries to sustain us. By midday, it was time to get something to eat. Unable to wait till 6:00, we opted to take a walk over to the Ch’ihootso Indian Market Place at the main intersection here in Window Rock, the location of a few eateries, as well as a busy swap meet. Between the Navajo Museum, where Sheep is Life took place, and the Ch’ihootso Market the building of the Navajo Arts and Craft Guild, where a get-together of sorts was being held. What the purpose was exactly, we never found out but we were quite astonished at the serendipity of what we heard from the band on the left.
First, some backstory: years ago, maybe 20 or more years ago, Caroline and I were driving across the Navajo Nation listening to 660 AM radio, a.k.a. KTNN – The Voice of the Navajo Nation. It was late at night (or so my memory tells me) when a song from Chester Knight titled Love Me Strong came on. We fell in love with the song and downloaded it so we could listen once in a while. Well, time passes and the song is forgotten until today when this band is out here playing just that tune right as we were walking by. This nearly felt impossible, and if we weren’t both on hand for such a coincidence, we might have thought the other was telling us a whopper should they have related the story.
At the Ch’ihootso Market, the busiest eatery of the two in the plaza was Ed’s Cafe, and while the wait was quoted to be 15 to 20 minutes for our food, we went with the idea that the locals know best. The Roast Mutton Deluxe looked like a perfect fit for me, while Caroline felt the Corn w/Squash and Mutton Stew would suit her. While waiting for our exquisite meals, we walked around the market but didn’t find anything that just had to come home with us. I do have one lament about this location: back some 20 or more years ago we were first directed to the “mutton shacks” at this otherwise empty corner. On that first visit, we were leary customers who weren’t going to let some dirt floors and an abundance of flies scare us away from our first encounter with Navajo food. Well, those shacks are now long gone, and with them, some of the flavors and authenticity of the rez.
As we were walking back into Sheep is Life, Caroline thought she recognized famous Navajo influencer, textile artist, and skateboarder Naiomi Glasses, and sure enough, it was her. Having a fan girl moment, we asked Naiomi if she’d take a moment to have her photo taken. Obviously, she obliged. Naiomi told us about a recent project she had done with Sackcloth and Ashes, a company that produces beautiful blankets and donates a blanket to homeless shelters for every purchase. She was here to present the award winners with blankets made after her design and was still having her own moment of feeling overwhelmed by the honor of being able to do this.
Let the feasting begin.
I had no idea how elaborate our meal was going to be. Things got underway with a bit of sheep’s blood sausage made of blood, bits of meat and pancreas, potato, salt, and pepper stuffed into sheep intestine and boiled. This was served with salad meant to add a sweet and fresh component to the heavy first course. Next up was the ‘ach’íí’ or internal organ stew with wild onion, wild parsley, garlic, and green chili. Our third course was mutton stew with potatoes and chile. Fourth was a small cup of blue corn mush followed by roast mutton served on a bed of red chili, honey, and blue corn flour. Our sixth course acted as a palette cleanser, sumac berry pudding made of sumac, honey, and blue corn flour. Somewhere in there was frybread, and finally, our dessert was the Navajo corn cake topped with peaches and served with a dollop of whipped cream. And not to forget, iced Navajo tea.
Before our end-of-the-day meal was served, we had the opportunity to sit down with Laura Garnanez and her aunt Flora with the conversation turning to addiction and overcoming uncertainty when we are young and not fully understanding our fortunate place in life. We also shared with Laura and her aunt why we were up here and what we get from it, how much we are in love with Navajo culture, how often we’ve been here, our time in a hogan with my mother-in-law, bringing our niece over the reservation, and our first encounter with mutton here in Window Rock. Just before Caroline and I were about to leave, we dipped back into the kitchen to say bye to everyone, and very sweetly, Laura asked about sharing contact information; we seriously hope we’ll have the opportunity to visit with Laura and her family again – this year.
Nothing left to do but drive back to Gallup; oh wait, how can we visit Window Rock and not visit its namesake? Okay, now we can take our mutton-stuffed selves back to El Rancho Hotel in Gallup and pass out.
