There are a tremendous amount of facts mixed with fiction when it comes to American Indians. Best info we have is "first contact" information. Even then - the Indians probably did not conduct life as normal - since they were being watched by non-Indians. The best written record is the Jesuit Relations. Jesuit priests lived with Indians in northern forests in New York,Michigan and Québec. They tried not to change them too much at first, and kept good written records of the lifestyle.
Many Indians did not farm. Those that did, did so differently depending on the region, and how many wars were going on with other Indians, etc.
As to the "fish stories", I'm sure the farming Indians did use fish when they either had too much, or it was rotten. Deere meat also. Indians would sometimes kill a lot more deer, fish, etc. then could be eaten or stored. There are many reports of them buring stuff in corn fields. Not sure if anybody knows if they knew it was good for the corn - or if it stunk and they just wanted to get rid it.
One sort of funny note on Indians and fishing. There are many accounts of coastal Indians in Maine, using dead people for fish bait. Probably not from their own tribe. They'd chuck them into a waterway and let the bodies attract fish and clams. I supposed that's not approved of anymore.
Some New England/New York Indians might be the first people in America, to go on record as "chucking moons." That is, pointing their bare rear-ends at others as a sign of disrespect. That was reported by ship captain-explorer Giovanni de Varrazzano in 1524. He claimed that when travelling in what is now the Nargansett Bay, Wampanoag Indians threw rocks at his boat, and bent over with bare rears pointed at him. He was quite insulted.
And, there's the Huron (8oundat) recipe for "rotting stinking corn." As reported by the Jesuit Priests in Huron Bay area of Michigan. Hurons were big corn growers. A favorite food of theirs was "Ameda." Translated from Huron-Iroquoian, to French, to English it is "rotten stinking corn." The Jesuits claimed that huron Indian women would pick corn, wrap it in large leaves, and bury it in deep mud in swamps. They'd let it rot and ferment all summer. Then dig it up for "good eating." The men reportedly loved it. The priests were pretty grossed out, but you never know. Maybe it was actually good?
"Huron" was a name given to the Indians by French white guys. It means "hillbilly" or "guy with rough hair." The Hurons called themselves something like "wendat/8oundat" The French sometimes spelled it staring with the number 8. That because the French had no one letter to made the perfect sound. The French number 8 (huit), is pronounced with a sound somewhere between "H" and "W" that came the closest.
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Today's Featured Article - Old Time Threshing - by Anthony West. A lovely harvest evening late September 1947, I was a school boy, like all school boys I loved harvest time. The golden corn ripens well and early, the stoking, stacking,.... the drawing in with the tractors and trailers and a few buck rakes thrown in, and possibly a heavy horse. It would be a great day for the collies and the terrier dogs, rats and mice would be at the bottom of the stacks so the dogs, would have a busy time hunting and killing, all the corn was gathered and ricked in what we c
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