Oomingmak: The Bearded One

Thursday, 26 August: Part II

Our next stop was at the Musk Ox Farm, a non-profit organization “dedicated to the domestication of the musk ox, an Ice Age mammal that once roamed the earth alongside saber tooth tigers and woolly mammoths.” The farm, which is located outside Palmer, was born of a domestication project that was established in Fairbanks in 1964.

It is largely believed that the musk ox, known to the Eskimo as “Oomingmak” (the bearded one), crossed from Siberia to North America via the legendary Bering Land Bridge. The Alaska population, which had already gone extinct by the 1800s, was re-populated in the 1930s by a herd of 34 animals brought to Fairbanks from Greenland. The herd was then shipped to Nunivak Island in the Bering Sea where the animals thrived.

Musk Ox Farm

Thanks to domestication projects, a species that was once on the verge of extinction is now over 150,000 strong around the world. Wild herds once again roam the Arctic tundra of Alaska. We were, in fact, lucky enough to see them in the wild on our bus trip up the Dalton Highway to Deadhorse in 2001. I still chuckle when I remember how the pair that we came across roadside in the tundra suddenly galloped away in a cloud of dust. What we didn’t know until we were back on the road again was that they’d been startled into running when the bus blew a tire. (Boy were we glad to have an experienced bus driver replacing the tire that was shredded to bits by the time we realized there was a problem.)

Musk Ox Calf

Interestingly, musk oxen don’t have a musk gland and they are more closely related to sheep and goats than to cattle. Both the males and females have horns that droop down from the forehead and curve up at the tips. These horns serve as powerful tools for the establishment of dominance in the herd. That the cows tend to live longer is attributed to the fact that they don’t participate in the head-butting behavior common amongst the bulls during the mating season.

Littleman is a steer; he is known as the “friendly giant.”

What protects musk oxen from the bitterly cold Arctic temperatures is their soft underwool, which is called “qiviut,” an Eskimo word that means “down.” These soft hairs are shielded by long, shaggy guard hairs. The qiviut is shed naturally each spring. In the wild, the wool that is shed is quickly destroyed, which is unfortunate considering its value. At the farm, the animals are combed during shedding season to ensure that the wool is harvested in prime condition. Each animal sheds 4-6 pounds (less than 3 kg) of this very fine wool annually, thus making it one of the rarest in the world.

Qiviut
[photo of a photograph in the farm museum]

Our tour started on the landing outside the main building. At first, we were the only participants, but that number grew to about 10 people just as our guide was getting started on her spiel. Afterwards, we continued onto the various pens where we were introduced to the calves, yearlings, and the cows, as well as to Littleman, the steer. We didn’t get to see Goliath, the dominant bull, as he was apparently a bit frisky, and therefore, off-limits to visitors. (The mating season for musk oxen peaks in August.)

Looks to me like that calf is giving the yearling a piece of his mind!

How cute is this calf?

An Arctic Adaptation — The spirals in the nostrils warm the
exceptionally cold air that the animals breathe.

Visitors are invited to feed Eve, a young female, who likes to
roam the fenceline.

Mural painted by the Spring 2008 Two-Dimensional Design Class
Matanuska-Susitna College of UAA

The qiviut that is harvested at the farm is provided to a knitting co-operative that was formed in 1969. The knitters, who reside in distant coastal villages of Alaska, hand knit items for sale at the farm and through their co-op. (Click the photo below for their website.) A hand signed card from the knitter accompanies each item, adding to the “special” nature of the purchase.

I bought my first qiviut product when we visited the farm in 2001. The hefty price tag was a deterrent at first, but once I handled the qiviut and compared it against samples of sheep, cashmere, and other types of wool, I was a convert. The qiviut was so incredibly soft — almost weightless in fact. Unlike so many other natural wool products, it was not in the least scratchy either. In the end, it was the warmth-factor that made the decision for me. I don’t know that I can quantify the promise that qiviut is eight times warmer than sheep’s wool, but that first piece has certainly gotten me through some very cold days.

That day in 2001, we walked away with a nachaq (aka smokering; seamless, tubular garment worn around the head as a hood or about the neck as a decorative accessory) for me and a watchman’s cap for Mui. Six years later, I added to my qiviut collection, purchasing a watchman’s cap and a scarf, both in the matching Mekoryuk pattern of my nachaq. (The pattern is from Nunivak Island where today’s wild herds had their start; it is derived from a 1200 year-old ivory harpoon head found on the island.) On this visit, I could not resist a qiviut/silk blend headband in the “Mirror Image” pattern (symbolizing the light of summer and the dark of winter; the brown represents the tundra in the late fall and the white represents the snow that caps the tundra in the winter).

Scarf in the Mekoryuk pattern; headband in the Mirror Image pattern.

We left the Musk Ox Farm intent on visiting the Alaska State Fair in Palmer. We made it to the fairgrounds; we even turned off the main road and drove to the gate. Then we saw the line of cars waiting to get into the parking lot; and the even longer line of people at the ticket booths. We chickened out, made a u-turn, and got back on the highway. We’ll just have to catch the “giant cabbage weigh-off” on our next visit to Alaska. (This year’s winner received a cash prize of $2,000; his cabbage weighed 105.6 pounds (47.5 kg); click here for the video.)