Buffalo Bird Woman, a Hidatsa Indian born in 1839, was an expert gardener using the long-lived traditional methods. In this fascinating, first person account, which was originally a doctoral thesis of Gilbert Wilson's published in 1917, the reader receives a highly detailed account, straight from mouth of Buffalo Bird Woman (translated by her son Goodbird) of the traditional methods and tools that Hidatsa women used to raise huge crops of corn, beans, squash and sunflowers on the rich bottomlands of the Missouri River. She gives detailed accounts of cultivating, harvesting and storing foods including how to build caches, drying racks and watcher's stages, where women and children would sit, sing and watch the gardens to protect them from crows and other opportunists. Also included are traditional recipes, cultural history and traditions, gender roles and songs. Whether your interest be anthropology, traditional foods and cultures or gardening, there is much to be gleaned from this unique portrait of native agriculture. 15 black and white photographs, black and white drawings and diagrams, 6"x9". To Order By Phone Call Toll Free: 866-596-9982. Reviewed by Julie.