The elders' teachings

The local celebration of the International Year of Natural Fibres was absolutely nothing like the high-fashion show held in January in Rome, Italy, as a kickoff event.

But the Ganado event was fun and full of hands-on workshops featuring the No. 1 natural fiber associated with Navajos - wool. Churro wool, to be exact.

On Sunday, the National Park Service hosted about 200 people at "Sheep is Life," a mini-workshop held at the Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site. The day began, of course, with the butchering of a nice fat Churro sheep by local resident Larry Curtis Sr.

Park intern Amanda Curtis, wearing an apron over her ranger uniform, smiled widely as she talked about learning those special occasions on the Navajo Reservation that demand a sheep be butchered.

Curtis, who is originally from Texas, is in her fifth summer internship at the historic trading post. She's a student at Northern Arizona University, majoring in parks and recreation management.

As she politely instructed Larry Curtis Jr., whom she met five years ago and eventually married, where to put the contents of the sheep stomach, she talked about her role in organizing the day.

She wanted it to be "a celebration of everything from getting wool from sheep to the importance of the Churro sheep."

The Churro was the most common breed in Navajo flocks until fairly recent times, and some organizations are working on its comeback.

Ann Worthington, Hubbell superintendent, said the site maintains a flock of 20 Churro sheep, and uses them to demonstrate all stages of wool production, from shearing and skirting to dyeing, spinning and weaving, and even wool grading and marketing.

The park started its Churro flock after Diné be' iiná Inc. (Navajo Lifeway) held one of its annual Sheep is Life conferences there four or five years ago, she said.

According to its Web site, www.navajolifeway.org, DBI is a grassroots nonprofit founded in 1991 to restore the balance between Navajo culture, life and land through the conservation of the traditional Navajo-Churro breed.

"It's true, sheep is life," said Jay Begay Jr., leader of the park's Southwest conservation crew. "Our elders know what that means. It's hard work and that's why only a few Navajos are involved.

"You have to be with the sheep daily," he said. "In the old days, it provided everything - food, clothing, money. My grandmother said she raised eight kids on sheep."

But the shift to a wage economy caused many Navajo families to give up on sheep and now, Begay said, he's met Navajo youth who don't know the difference between a goat and sheep.

As crew leader, he teaches the youth about sheep and their role in the Navajo way of life.

"They don't see someone making money off sheep," noted Begay, who is Tsé Njíkiní (Cliff Dweller Clan), born for Chíshí (Chiricahua Apache).

But that's because it's happening off the reservation, he said, alluding to the large-scale operations and/or highly targeted marketing that characterize successful sheep ranching nowadays.

For instance, Begay, 26, owns 70 Churro ewes and sells directly to high-end restaurants. He gets about $8 per pound for 40- to 60-pound lambs, butchered and ready to cut up and cook. On top of that he sells fleeces for between $100 and $200 apiece, prices that weavers producing for the art market are willing to pay for high quality, very clean wool.

He makes money, he said, adding that he keeps careful records of his operation, preparing for extra costs such as the supplemental feed required in winter.

He has his lambs and sheep butchered and sold during the winter because not only is their fleece in optimal condition then, the money they bring in covers his extra seasonal costs.

He provides a product that is all natural and healthy, and much in demand by businesses catering to "slow food" customers - a term describing the turn away from "fast food" and towards naturally grown foods prepared with care and savored at leisure.

Churros are listed as slow food because they don't build up much fat, Begay explained.

He noted that the restaurant chain owner who buys from him knows that he herds his sheep daily, unlike commercial operations that usually "finish" their lambs in feedlots, to be crowded together and fattened on commercially produced feed.

"The way that a lamb or sheep tastes comes from their environment and the way they are cared for," said Begay, who is majoring in animal science at NAU.

He is a founding member of the Navajo Churro Lamb Presidium, a Flagstaff-based cooperative started about four ago as an offshoot of Diné be' iiná.

Knowledge about wool also is being lost, Begay said as he watched Ilene Naegle, a weaving instructor at Diné College, teach visitors how to "skirt," or clean, wool.

The onlookers included Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who had been camping and hiking in Canyon de Chelly. McCain said the Sheep is Life workshop was "important" in "preserving the culture for Native Americans and Navajos."

As he walked away from the wool cleaning demonstration, McCain joked that he was fired after five minutes.

"I was learning, but I'm not a very good pupil," he said.

Begay said people on the reservation don't know that the way they take care of their flocks and process the wool is recognized as a standard for producing an all-natural, organic product.

Such wool fetches top prices, provided the seller knows how to reach buyers who value the "all-natural," and "organic" designation.

And he said the price increases when the buyer knows the wool has been hand-spun in the ancient Navajo way. Begay said he's attended fiber festivals where he could sell a 4-ounce skein of Churro wool for $24.

"It's eye-opening," he said.

The International Year of Natural Fibres is sponsored by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

Information: www.naturalfibres2009.org.

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