by Nikki Rajala | Jun 10, 2020 | Featured
Did you read biographies as a kid? Bigfork’s tiny public library had one shelf of biographies for youth, jacketed in red and yellow, illustrated with black and white drawings. After finishing the life stories of all the women (maybe 7 total), I kept on, reading...
by Nikki Rajala | May 25, 2020 | Voyageur
If you have voyageurs in your French-Canadian ancestry, some of your forebears may be from Sorel. The hamlet provided many engages for the fur trade, actually. Why? Did some towns send more of their sons than others? And what attracted the men to doing such hard labor...
by Nikki Rajala | May 6, 2020 | Voyageur
Don’t you just want to get outside these days? Plan something unique, historical, interactive and FUN fun this summer? Festivals feature voyageurs and Ojibwe at rendezvous or historical events with foods, crafts, re-enactors, classes, cultural displays. Visit a...
by Nikki Rajala | Apr 16, 2020 | Featured
It’s a book. Want great info with lots of pix? You can’t go wrong with The Great Northwest Fur Trade: A Material Culture, 1763-1850, by Ryan R. Gale. It’s a fascinating compendium of solid information (like candy for people like me who LOVE fun...
by Nikki Rajala | Mar 24, 2020 | Voyageur
Here I thought my character Andre was too young to travel with a brigade of experienced canoemen (though he was taller than the usual 5’6” for voyageurs). But Margi Preus has envisioned a super-tiny one — a squirrel who longs to see what all the excitement is...
