How Green was My Desert--Foodie Visits Canyon de Chelly

Foodie is just back from a brief hop into Navajo Country, visiting Canyon de Chelly and Monument Valley. It was not a visit replete with breathless gustatory moments---although the red chile beans and tortilla at the El Rancho in Gallup, New Mexico, were indeed tasty,  and the blue corn mush for breakfast at The Junction  in Chinle, Arizona was a pleasant surprise.

The major news?   Greenery.   The Canyon itself had been closed for a few days due to flooding of the canyon floor-----sage was thick and had filled in all the empty dirt patches all over this part of the world. Farmers could not get to their lands by truck ( no one walks down anymore as people did in the olden days) so no corn, beans or squash had yet been planted.  And cold temperatures were amazing the locals.  " By now it should be real hot down here,"  said one jewlery-seller on the canyon floor, who added he had not seen the land as  green for at least seven or eight years.

In Monument Valley we stayed at fabled Goulding's, a lodge started in the 1920's by a young couple  who built a trading post.  You can visit the original post, now a mini museum---canned green grapes were a big item with the Navajos along with huge sacks  of Blue Bird flour from Cortez, Colorado, a brand begun in 1920 and  still dominating  in the 21st century.  Blue Bird seems to be the only flour traditionally used by Navajos  to make fry bread, a delicious and popular lard-based dish that many think has contributed to the rise in obesity and diabetes among southwest Indians generally.

The vibrant blue bird on the cotton sack continues. ( Cortez Milling says it may be the last mill putting flour in cotton bags, used by generations of natives to make purses, clothes, even diapers.)
I bought a 25 lb bag at Basha's supermarket in Chinle for $5.33, and now it sits on my hearth, a colorful reminder of the cherished song of the blue bird at dawn in newly-green Navajo country.

( Photo from  philipgreenspun.com)

Comments

[carol berry]

Does anyone know a store in the Denver CO area that sells Blue Bird flour? I'd appreciate any information.

[Juno888]

Oh i saw a cave... it's really nice..

[Tawny]

Did you ever find a place that sells Blue Bird Flour?

[Foodie]

Only know of Basha's, in Indian Country. I have no clue re Denver or elsewhere, sorry.

[thunderchicken]

Just call Cortez Milling, they'll tell you if anyone in Denver stocks bluebird. I'd get their high patent "white rose" flour though.

[Charleson]

FrontierSurvival.net has it online to buy.

[scarlet]

My Navajo friend says to NOT use white rose flour - ONLY Bluebird. She says they only use white rose for biscuits and pancakes - that it tastes wrong when used for fry bread. So I guess it all depends on what you plan on making!

[scarlet]

PS: She says you don't use lard in fry bread, either. I just got her recipe today and asked specifically.

[Judy Gorman-Prow]

Blue Bird sells in Arizona in some stores off the reservation. Here in the White Mountains, they sell it at Safeway. In Tucson, they sell it at Bashas. Not sure about other places...