 |
| Our street (straight ahead). |
 |
| Tuesday morning sunshine |
 |
| Quick stop in to Northmart to see if they had bread. |
Also, I am learning about fur. And becoming envious of the gorgeous fur I am seeing around town. Everyone here has gorgeous, thick fur outlining the hoods on their parkas. I have been looking at my scrawny fur on my Canada Goose parka thinking, "If I ever want nice, thick, lush fur, THIS is the time to do it." With this in mind, I jumped on to Iqaluit sell/swap. A woman was selling a coyote pelt that was about the color I was looking for.
 |
| Look at this nice plush fur on CJS. |
 |
| Then check out the scrawny fur on my hood. |
 |
| The coyote pelt I purchased. |
Then I came across this ad on Facebook:
 |
| Nunavut Dream Parka Hood Transformation Service |
Jinny, a local gal, has created her own business replacing commercial fur hoods with big, thick, warm custom fur. A quick summary of the arguments I have made in the past regarding fur: 1) We are in the arctic. Fur is way of life. 2) No way around it, real fur is warmer and more water repellant than faux fur. 3) Buying fur locally in Nunavut supports local businesses--hunter/trapper and seamstress for example.
I made an appointment to see Jinny, and headed off with my parka and coyote pelt. As is typical in Iqaluit, despite having made an appointment, when I showed up at Jinny's home studio there was no one home. I sent her a quick message on Facebook. She apologized profusely, and we made another appointment for a few days later at 5pm.
Tuesday was one of the days JJ managed to get home in the middle of the day. We were even able to grab a quick lunch out at the Snack, since his first meeting wasn't until later in the afternoon. Since we were in the area, I decided to stop into the Country Food store. We have a friend coming in from out of town on Friday who is vegetarian. There may be other places in the world where it is more difficult to maintain a vegetarian lifestyle than Nunavut, but I doubt it. The Inuit only eat meat and fish (well, along with berries and bread). Fresh fruit and veggies are challenging to get here, especially since our "produce via cargo" service finished last week. (This was a program by local group IqaluEAT, every 2 weeks we received a big rubbermaid container full of fresh produce. The program lasted 3 months, and was fantastic. I hope they do it again.) At the Country Food Store they had 3 types of arctic char to choose from: cooked smoked char, smoked char, freshly frozen char. We went with frozen fresh char, and hope our friend will like it.
While there I remembered they happened to be selling freshly made caribou stew (I had seen an ad on Facebook earlier in the day). I asked if they had any left, and as luck would have it they did. Knowing I had an appointment with Jinny at 5pm, and having no plans for dinner, JJ and I picked up 4 servings worth of stew.
 |
| Remember this pic? Country Food Store. |
 |
| Arctic char |
At 5pm I went to drop off my parka and coyote pelt (again) to Jinny. She was super polite and professional and had this gorgeous fur on hand.
 |
| Jinny's fur. |
This is Finn raccoon. Finn raccoon fur is known to be extremely warm, and durable. While my new coyote pelt I'd purchased was fine, it wasn't as full and lush. Also, coyote has a tendency to become matted over time. I am learning so much about fur here. Apparently red fox fur? The pits. Not warm, and scrawny. Any other type of fox fur (crystal fox, silver fox, or white arctic fox) is great for warmth. Polar bear is also recommended, but very expensive.
After seeing the beautiful Finn raccoon, I opted to go with it instead of the coyote. Jinny showed me exactly where she would be cutting the fur to use for my hood, and how many inches she would be adding after removing the old fur. I left my removable hood with her, confident that I will love my new fur hood, and headed home.
For dinner I warmed up the caribou stew. The people at the store even included rolls! So thoughtful. Yay! Once the stew was good and warm I hollered to both kids to come inside (Coraline was sledding down the tundra, and Captain Jack was playing road hockey with friends). We sat down to eat.
 |
| Caribou stew |
 |
| Yay! Dinner rolls! |
Travel is always full of new experiences, most of which add to the richness of this tapestry we call life. We knew coming up would certainly be an adventure for all of us--the kids are learning a new language at school, the lifestyle is different, and the culture is rich and beautiful. However, the thing about adventures is that they sometimes don't go as planned. The stew........was not great. As I've said before, the Inuit have a very simple diet. A meal might consist of sitting down and eating a slice of raw whale blubber and skin. Or having bannock and smoked arctic char. Typically, no spice or extra flavor is added to food. When I make caribou stew, I add beef broth, thyme, garlic, or Herbs de Provence, tomato paste, etc. This stew was simply meat, potatoes, and few carrots. There was barely any liquid, so I'm not sure if they used broth or just water.
We all gave it a hearty try, then we finished off our meal with Eggo waffles.
 |
| Woot! Waffles for supper! |
Wednesday morning I had an appointment with Victoria Kakuktinniq of Victoria's Arctic Fashion. Victoria was born and raised in Rankin Inlet, a tiny hamlet in Nunavut. She learned to sew the traditional Inuit way as a teenager. When she finished high school she went away to college in Winnipeg and took a course in fashion design. She moved back to Nunavut, setting up shop in Iqaluit and starting Victoria's Arctic Fashion. At first she operated out of her home (like so many other artisans and seamstresses here in town), but her business has grown to the point where she now has a retail location and employs several seamstresses to help her complete orders on time. She ships all across the country. Sadly, since sealskin is still illegal in the US, she cannot do orders for American customers that use sealskin.
I have been seeing VAF parkas around town since we got here, and they are gorgeous. They are fitted, which I love, and have a unique style.
 |
| Typical VAF parka |
 |
| Victoria's Arctic Fashion retail and production centre. |
 |
| Taken from Victoria's Arctic Fashion website. |
Victoria's shop makes more than just parkas. She does custom and off-the-shelf amautis, sealskin mittens, headbands, jewelry, long coats, etc. All of her work is beautiful.
I knew I would need a custom parka from Victoria. I went in and tried on a couple of sizes, but I have rather long arms. In fact, if I were more athletic, I would probably have made a fantastic volleyball player. As it is, I just have arms that hang down like a gorilla. I'm cool with it. Victoria is going to make me a parka with extra long arms (yay!) and even a slightly longer torso.
Now: a question for my readers. My custom parka will be teal (like in the photo below). For the trim, should I go with sealskin dyed black, or natural sealskin like in the photo? My instinct (which may be somewhat cowardly) is to go with black. It looks nice, but also it isn't immediately recognizable as sealskin. Part of me says "Get the black! That way no one will jump on you for killing baby seals when you go back to Ontario!" The other side of me is meekly saying "But the sealskin looks so nice!" I happen to like both, but am a little undecided.
Would I regret natural sealskin when I return to Ontario? (Have I drunk too much of the Nunavut seal Kool-aid?) Black trim is nice and classic, should I just choose that? What do I do? Ask my readers for help, that's what! Let me know in the comments below, or in the survey below. Help me make a decision!
Up next: Toonik Tyme is officially starting! Opening ceremonies are tomorrow night. Read all about it next week.
While I voted for the natural color of the sealskin I really like both. Be confident, my daughter! Wearing natural sealskin will give you the opportunity to educate people of the "south" about the hunters of the north.
ReplyDeleteYes, Mother. People are often so open to being educated when they have already made up their minds.........I agree though, the natural sealskin is really nice.
Delete