Part 2
Now it was time to do some survival research just in case there was any truth to the medicine man's story. Tom the friend that had told him of the medicine man was a practice joker and did know his friend that got him the job. It seemed suspicious that he was so easily able to dedicate a month to getting the story. Just in case he would learn about native plants and mushrooms in the area. It was fun to go mushroom hunting anyway he had gone with Tom and his friend that knew mushrooms.
It was a good time. He even went as far to eat a couple of insects, that's what they seemed to do on the survival shows. Who knows what he was getting himself into. He imagined one of those mystic adventures where he would have to walk down a trail and not look back. There's always some kind of story like that it seems. The Greek story of Orpheus has a similar theme. The important thing was he would just report what he was told no matter how ridiculous. The story Tom told him about the medicine man made it seem like he would be out in the woods in a loin cloth hidden in the bushes covered in war paint. The day finally came for him to go and stay in the medicine man for about a month.
Tom had given him the directions to meet him and would be expected. It is probably good to note to some people that it is not a good idea going deep into the reservation unless you are invited or with someone from the tribe. When he got to the destination it was a house. Kind of worn and lived in but it was a house not living out in the brush. He introduced himself and the medicine man introduced himself as Mike. He was maybe I'm his sixties or seventies it was hard to tell. What Mike wanted help with was fixing up his house and help out in the garden. Tom had told him about previous experience landscaping and working at a hardware store and plant nursery. The climate and the soil were different but it could be figured out. Mike showed him around. The garden was impressive with a wide variety of plants.
Most people would see an unorganized mess but from previous experience he recognized the polyculture gardening methods. This just means instead of rows of one crop which is called monoculture there is a wide diverse population of plants. This is beneficial for a few reasons. For example legumes such as beans or peas collect nitrogen from the atmosphere and put it into the ground. When the pea or bean plants get cut down they leave the nitrogen in the root zone and in the compostable materials from the plant. Anything green contains nitrogen as far as plants go. Another benefit is what is called a biological fixer. These plants can have more than one purpose. For example they can attract beneficial insects to help manage the garden or access nutrients that are locked in soil.
Over time polyculture does not require fertilizer inputs or chemical control. Monoculture attracts infestations because there is an abundance of one thing with nothing to help control infestations. Larger scale more permanent crops such as orchards are called permaculture farms. These methods work great small scale and can yield large harvests for a family with limited space. Certain trees are legumes such as locust or Siberian Pea Tree. Legumes often grow pods. The medicine man showed him the problems he had with the deer and other animals eating his plants. Outside of gardening it was mostly fixing leaky valves. He would also help him fix the roof. It was composite shingles probably put on during a cold day. As long as the wood was not rotten underneath it would be an easy fix. Some roof tar on a warm day and a couple of roofing nails.
After the first week of an awkward situation we finally got comfortable enough to talk about the Bigfoot or Sasquatch. What the medicine man did is make remedies from plants in his garden and from the forest. He also did a type of massage that was similar to the Asian concept of centering oneself. A friend from back home had gone to the Mayan version that the Mexican people would go to. Somehow the Mayan medicine man got rid of nerve pain in the friends back. Another friend with a military background had visited what he referred to as a witch doctor with an Eastern or Asian natural medicine background.
He figured out a skin allergy by having the friend hold up bags with different household items such as toothpaste and soaps. The friend was unable to hold up the soap when the witch doctor pushed on his hand. Modern medicine couldn't figure it out with fancy testing but Eastern medicine solved it in ten minutes. He knew that a medicine man was usually an expert in alternative healing. It is just the old way. Now the concept is to synthesize medicines similar to what is in plants. What you might find in a modern pain reliever is the same is what you would find in certain birch and willow tree bark. The synthetic version has a faster effect but the natural version last longer. Mike explained that the common mistake of using an herbal tea is people try and make it taste good.
A medicinal amount of an herbal tea is highly concentrated and doesn't taste that good. Mike had lived in the forest as part of his training. He was not going to bother training someone in a month to learn what takes a lifetime. Mike had reluctantly told me about the Sasquatch even though that is what the purpose of helping him out was. He likely didn't want to seem to crazy but the story he told wasn't what was expected. Apparently the Sasquatch was able to talk but only communicated in the Native Tribal language which was being lost with time.
The Bigfoot told Mike that once the language was forgotten their relationship with nature would also be forgotten. Mike told him that it was the Bigfoot who had been following him in the woods as a kid. Apparently the Sasquatch could read thoughts and intentions of individuals. According to Mike the Sasquatch could also smell better than a bear and could trick most people's mind. The way he explained it is that it worked kind of like fiber optics. The mind only saw what it wanted to. He imagined something like the Predator our running around in the woods. This was far from the image of a wild savage beast. If this wasn't strange enough the Sasquatch had told him a story that would make Sasquatch seem not as far fetched. According to Mike Sasquatches could live thousands of years. The Sasquatch even had his own version of Gilgamesh and his encounters with the wild man Onkido. According to the Sasquatch Gilgamesh nearly lost his life to the wild man who ran with the forest creatures. The embellished tale of the humans had Gilgamesh the victor. Also according to the Sasquatch humans were aliens from Mars. They had destroyed their own planet with their wars and technology. Apparently humans were initially a lot weaker and smaller. They had to combine their DNA with primates from Earth in order to have a chance on earth. Before the humans showed up the Sasquatch was the dominant species on the planet. He could see why Mike didn't want to tell him about the Sasquatch. The way Mike told it was a matter of fact and never showed any sign of joking. This was just the type of story that publisher was after. This story seemed so unlikely but it was interesting.