trading post

Ivy and Ella independently set up their own trading post one afternoon after covering some fur trade history and reading the Birchbark House novel. They were careful to initially only trade supplies that they had found or made themselves. The early offerings included hazelnuts, sunflower seeds, carrots and windfall apples. The girls had to consider the relative value of each item and decide how to trade it. They also figured out how long their supplies could last, depending on how much they would eat or drink each day.

As they began trading with various family members the options became more colourful. Their grandma heard about it and brought some true treasures to trade with. She has worked extesively with the Mishkegogamang First Nation in Northern Ontario (Ojibway) helping them to record some of their history in writing. She brought two small booklets, one contains stories from an elderly man who used to be a fur trader and the other is a book of traditional legends for the area. She also gave the girls a carved bone pendant made by the fur trader.