April 21, 2011 - The Oneida Nation of Wisconsin

www.kalihwisaks.com Business
Oneida
Homespun
Harvest, Inc.
fills niche in
crafting world
By Dawn Walschinski
Kalihwisaks
Mother and daughter
team Amelia Cornelius
and Kim Nishimoto are
branching out with their
new business Oneida
Homespun Harvest, Inc.
to expand their vast crafting
repertoire
“It was a business that
was already formed, and
we were going to get a
really good deal,” said
Nishimoto.
The duo purchased an
industrial hem stitch
machine that punches
holes in fabric while
simultaneously sewing
around the holes to keep
the fabric from fraying.
“The purpose of it is
for crocheters to add an
edging … to make it
more like it’s homemade
and something you personally
did. It’s just now
coming back, but most of
the companies are based
in Utah,” said Nishimoto.
“We’re the only ones out
in this area in the
Midwest.”
Oneida Homespun
Harvest creates bibs and
baby blankets with decorative
crocheted edgings,
and also sells kits for
people to crochet themselves.
“If (the fabric’s) not
hemstitched, then they
would have to punch a
hole through with a crochet
hook, and that just
takes a lot more time.
This is tons easier,” said
Cornelius. “It could be
used for (powwow)
shawls, because the holes
are already there.”
Nishimoto does most
of the crocheting, though
Cornelius contributes.
“Every time I go shopping,
I’m looking for
something that looks like
it would be really cute for
a baby,” said Cornelius
who found a pattern with
little green turtles.
“Perfect for around
here,” she said.
The new business
incorporates other items
the two are known for,
specifically their cornhusk
dolls.
“I’ve been doing them
since I was 12,” said
Cornelius who learned
from her grandmother.
In 1987, Cornelius and
Nishimoto worked
together to create dolls
for the University of
Wisconsin-Stevens
Mother and daughter expand expertise
Kali photo/Dawn Walschinski
Amelia Cornelius and daughter Kim Nishimoto display cornhusk
dolls and crocheted baby items from their business Oneida
Homespun Harvest, Inc.
Point.
Cornelius stated
Nishimoto does most of
the sewing on the doll’s
outfits, and then
Cornelius does the beading.
“And then they come
back to me, and I put hair
on them” said Nishimoto.
Their dolls can be seen
in shadowboxes at the
Radisson Hotel and
Conference Center and at
Marriot Hotels in
Washington DC and
California. A display of
Oneida Chiefs can be
viewed in the entrance of
the Norbert Hill Center.
The duo also makes dolls
on a smaller scale.
“We did a wedding doll
for the top of a wedding
cake,” said Cornelius.
For more information,
contact Oneida
Homespun Harvest, Inc.
at knishimoto@
new.rr.com or call 920-
964-2729.
April 21, 2011 • (Wisk) 5A
Montana
tribes look
to stop
megaloads
MISSOULA, Mont.
(AP) _ Two Indian tribes
are asking to take part in
a lawsuit aimed at preventing
the hauling of
oversized equipment
through Montana to the
oil sand fields in Alberta,
Canada.
The Missoulian reports
that Western Montana's
Confederated Salish and
Kootenai Tribes, as well
as the Nez Perce of
Idaho, filed a motion in
District Court in
Missoula on Wednesday
asking to have their say
in the lawsuit against the
state Department of
Transportation.
Missoula County and
three environmental
groups say the department
failed to analyze or
disclose potential
adverse effects in its
environmental assessment
of Imperial
Oil/ExxonMobil's transportation
plan. The MDT
denies the claims.
The tribes say they
share many of the concerns
of the plaintiffs, but
have some of their own
that might not otherwise
be addressed in court.
Imperial/Exxon is
apparently modifying its
original proposal to send
207 oversized loads from
Lewiston, Idaho, to the
Canadian border in
north-central Montana.
Still, the companies continue
to seek clearance to
ship more than 100 loads
up U.S. Highway 12
through the Nez Perce
Reservation in Idaho.
___
Information from:
M i s s o u l i a n ,
http://www.missoulian.c
om
Yurok
tribe buys
forest in
Humboldt
County
KLAMATH, Calif.
(AP) _ A Native
American tribe is acquiring
more than 34 square
miles of ancestral land on
Northern California's
Redwood Coast.
The Yurok Tribe says it
completed the purchase
Thursday of the
Humboldt County property
from the Green
Diamond Resource
Company.
Tribal Chairman
Thomas O'Rourke says
the acquisition marks the
long-sought return of the
tribe's ancestral land and
more than doubles its territory
on the lower
Klamath River.
O'Rourke says tribe
plans to create a salmon
sanctuary and use tribal
management practices to
protect wildlife habitat
and restore water quality.
The tribe bought the
land with help from the
nonprofit Western Rivers
Conservancy and $18.75
million from a state clean
water fund.
The property is home
to Chinook salmon, coho
salmon, rainbow trout
and several imperiled
bird species.