Sheep is Life to start Thursday

By John Christian Hopkins
Diné Bureau

TUBA CITY — Greyhills Academy will host the 12th annual Sheep is Life celebration this week, running Thursday through Saturday.

Precelebration workshops will begin at 9 a. m. Thursday. The cost is $50 per workshop.

A churro lamb dinner highlights the annual awards banquet on Friday. It begins at 5 p. m., with a cost of $20.

Award-winning Navajo chef Walter Whitewater will prepare the banquet. Whitewater has crafted a menu featuring Jay Begay’s locally grown Navajo-Churro lamb in two specialty dishes: lamb-stuffed green chile and chipotle-rubbed roasted leg of lamb, with wild cherry sauce.

The full menu and banquet details are on www.navajolifeway.org.

Whitewater grew up in a traditional Navajo household in Piñon, Ariz., where his family was raised sheep and farmed.

His grandmother was a well-known weaver. In a recent interview, he recalled that his interest in cooking began at an early age, even though cooking was not part of a traditional male role.

In 1992, when he began working as a professional chef in Santa Fe, Whitewater said that he was the only Native American in the profession at that time.

Over the years, he experimented with a range of ethnic and creative cooking approaches, including contemporary and traditional Southwest, Spanish, and Asian, while working in kitchen environments ranging from Mu Du Noodles and Bishop’s Lodge in Santa Fe to restaurants in other states.

Currently he teaches at Santa Fe School of Cooking with chef Lois Ellen Frank, of Kiowa heritage, and makes guest appearances at restaurants nationally.

Whitewater has been on numerous televised cooking shows.
Last March, he was the first Native chef to receive the James Lewis Award, honoring cultural awareness. He collaborated with Frank to adapt many Native recipes and ingredients for her 2002 book, “Foods of the Southwest Indian Nations.”

Whitewater is starting a flock of Navajo-Churro sheep in Piñon to recover the pastoral lifeways of his childhood and promote healthy eating with traditional foods.

The Sheep is Life Celebration honors the central role that sheep and fiber arts play in the philosophy and daily life of traditional and indigenous cultures throughout the world.
In addition to Friday’s Awards Banquet, Sheep is Life presents a Navajo Rug Auction on Saturday, beginning at 4 p.m.; free Sheep to Loom demonstrations on Friday and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; eight fiber arts workshops beginning at 9 a.m. on Thursday; and sheep shows, wool grading, and management workshops throughout the weekend.

Sheep is Life is at the Greyhills Academy campus, in Tuba City.

A Navajo Churro Sheep Show starts at 8:30 a.m. Saturday. Animals can be entered for $5 each. At 1 p.m. a fleece show will be held. Fleeces can be entered for $5 apiece.

Sellers can enter the Navajo run auction between 8 a.m. and noon, with the actual auction beginning at 4 p.m. Saturday. There will also be a weaver’s workshop from noon to 2 p.m. with a buyers’ preview scheduled between 2 p.m. and 3: 30 p.m.

Navajo weavers began organizing their own rug auctions several years ago to take more control over the presentation, handling, and sales of their creative work. After they approached Diné be’ iiná, Inc. and Diné College’s Institute for Integrated Rural Development for training and assistance, their first auction was held during Sheep is Life. Based on the weavers’ hard work and success, the Navajo Rug Auction has become a regular part of the annual Sheep is Life celebration.

This year’s rug auction will be held on Saturday, beginning at 4 p.m. There is no cost to the weavers to enter their rugs nor to the buyers for a bidding card. Rugs entered in the auction must be hand-woven of 100 percent wool, using traditional Navajo weaving techniques.

Emphasis is on weavings made with yarn handspun from Navajo-Churro wool in the range of natural colors or vegetable dyes. Experts examine each entry to make sure it conforms to high quality artistic and materials standards.

Weavers must register their rugs on Saturday, from 8 a.m. to noon in the auditorium at Greyhills Academy.

All weavers are encouraged to attend the Weavers Workshop from noon to 1 p.m. to learn more about how to price their rugs and what qualities collectors and buyers are seeking in Navajo weavings.

The buyers workshop and preview will be held from 2 to 3:30 p.m. Experts will demonstrate how to determine the quality of a Navajo weaving, how to tell if the wool is handspun and natural colored or vegetable dyed, how to ascertain the type of wool used, and other key points to look for when bidding on a rug.

Buyers will be able to look at the rugs that will be auctioned.
The auction begins at 4 p.m. and continues until the final rug has gone under the gavel of auctioneer Jim Keyes.

Buyers can pay with cash or credit card, and payout to the weavers will take place when the auction ends.

Information on the auction: Lucita Luckton, (928) 724-3219.

Information on Sheep is Life: Grace Boyne, (505) 863-3192 or e-mail dbi@navajolifeway.org.