SPRINGTIME began the yearly cycle. Small parties of women ventured from winter camps to collect emerging plants and animals on slopes above the valley floors. Snowstorms still swept in from the northwest, but seldom lasted longer than a day. If caught by bad weather, women established temporary campsites in protected areas. Jackrabbits competed with people for fresh greens, but their time would come.

Men fished early spawning runs in rivers and lakes. Large quantities of cutthroat trout and, at Pyramid and Winnemucca lakes, cui-ui were netted, trapped, or speared as they made their way upstream. Large fillets hung from drying racks doting the sandy banks. Marshes yielded tender shoots of emerging cattails. Waterbirds were taken as they migrated to northern and local breeding grounds. Eggs from water bird nests were an especially welcome food. The very young and the very old remained near their winter camp until weather conditions permitted their participation in collecting food.

SUMMER’S bounty occurred from valley bottom to mountaintop. Women collected cattail pollen spikes and seed heads in early summer, made sweet bread from its pollen in mid-summer; and collected its roots in late summer. Men astride tule rafts drove flightless, young or molting water birds into nets. Men, women and children killed entangled birds and heaped them in great piles for immediate feasting and drying for future meals.

In mid- to late-summer, upland plants yielded seeds, bulbs and roots for tasty meals or storage. Women and children competed with birds and bears for ripening berries. Women harvested minuscule Indian rice grass seeds from dunes for making a rich mush.

Hard seeds from a variety of plants were collected for wintertime consumption because they were nutritious and stored well. Some other foods, including small fish and mammals, were dried and stored for winter use. In pinyon areas, the summer green cone dance emphasized the importance of this fall staple.

FALL provided the people a last chance to store food for winter. Pinyon pine nuts were a principal winter staple from California to Utah, but, generally, south of the Humboldt River. Many families came together after the first frost and before the harvest to give thanks for their bounty, socialize, politick, and share information on pine nut areas. All participated in the harvest of green cones, mature cones, and loose pine nuts. Nuts left in their cones were cached within large brush, earth, and rock-covered piles.

Western groups either traded for, or traveled to California oak woodlands for acorns. “Bug sugar,” deposited by aphids, was harvested from cane plants. These sweet specks were scraped or beaten from the leaves onto trays and formed into lumps. Marshes yielded cattail and sago pondweed roots. Migrating waterfowl, rabbits, other game animals and spawning fish were also available in abundance later in this season. Winter campsites were selected on the hillsides or along shore margins near cached food stores.

WINTER’S long nights, fierce winds, and snowstorms called for good shelter, typically dome-shaped houses covered with tule, bark, or grass, or, in eastern Nevada, hide or canvas covered teepees. Families huddled around a small fire wrapped in rabbit skin robes. Elders recounted Coyote and Weasel brothers’ tales. Young children drifted off to sleep without hearing story endings. Baskets and cradles were woven or repaired with recently collected willows. Individuals ventured from their camps on sunny days to collect firewood, retrieve stored food, fish through ice-covered lakes, and hunt for the few game animals also out for food on a winter’s day.

Food stores dwindled as days lengthened in the tenuous balance of the annual survival act. Dried fish and jackrabbit, berries, and the precious bug sugar were long gone. Roots, acorns, and pine nuts were supplemented with fresh, but very lean, venison and rabbit meat. Plants poking their seed leaves above the surface, the appearance of small mammals, and flights of the first spring waterfowl heralded an end to winter.