Reflections Wk 2 Throughout the areas covered by lowland forests around Puget Sound zones can be categorized in a couple of ways. One way of classifying the different zones is kind of a dominant tree species scheme. By identifying the dominant species we can understand that the area has maintained a steady climax for many generations. There are four of these schemes that occur around Puget sound. The Coastal Western Hemlock zone ranges from sea level to the bases of the mountains. Western Hemlock thrives in the moist mild climate of the coast and the forests are very dense carrying an enormous amount of biomass. Pacific silver fir, western red-cedar and Sitka Spruce are also found in these forests. The Pacific Fir zone is located at slightly higher elevations above the Western Hemlock zone an includes the grand fir, Pacific madrone and broad leaf maple as well as western red cedar trees. Just above the Pacific Fir zone is the Mountain Hemlock zone which is located on the higher elevation slopes of the mountains and contains plants that are better adapted to survive cold temperatures. A fourth timberline to high alpine zone can also be included, although it is above the tree line many scrubs and similar hardy plants can successfully grow.
The native people of this land seem to have a very close connection to the earth. To the eyes of the first Europeans who explored the area the fact that the people of the Pacific Northwest did not have an agricultural system seemed very primitive. Instead it seems that the people were very aware of their environment and knew how to use it to their advantage. They knew how to use the abundance of natural resources of all kinds that were available in the most industrious ways to produce everything that they needed to survive. Although they could be called foragers they were in fact highly tuned in to the natural rhythms and seasons, knowing where to go and when to go there. They depended on the plants found around them for everything from food and medicine to clothing, transportation, for tools and instruments for hunting and storing food. It seems to me that it was simply not necessary for them to practice widespread cultivation because of the unlimited resources available. List the plants discussed in both texts that you can identify.
Douglas fir, Sitka Spruce, Western Hemlock, Western Red Cedar, Sword fern, Oregon grape, black cottonwood, big leaf maple.
It was amazing to finally sit down and read about all the different tree and plant species of this area. I was largely unfamiliar with how ecosystems develop and function as well as how native people survive in this rich, diverse northwest country and feel like I learned a lot from the readings. I would like to learn more about native edible plants and perhaps plant the appropriate ones in my area; maybe eventually we will be able to taste the foods that our ancestors survived on. I am very interested in working on the middle and high alpine areas, bringing in native plants that are found in those areas and learning the ethnobotanical uses for them.
Reflections Wk 3 The people of the northwest had an amazing symbiotic relationship with the land. They did not need to rely on heavy agriculture and the what the European idea of food cultivation was because they knew how to utilize the resources available to them. They made due with what they had and were very tuned into what gifts the earth had to offer, knowing what to take and what to give. I feel like being a young women today it is up to me to keep believing in the plants and the role they play in our lives. I hope that after I am finished my academic education and will be able to take the knowledge I have gained and use it to live sustainably and to educate others on the importance of knowing the earth the way our ancestors did.
It was very interesting to read about all the different kinds of healers and how they have been treated throughout history. From the witch hunts of the Middle Ages when to be a women healer going against the status quo of the church was a crime worthy of a death sentence . Even today it seems that people, especially women, who practice holistic natural medicine are viewed suspiciously by the mainstream medical community. I knew about the witch hunts but had never realized how much the hatred the church (men) had against women who were only trying to help people and were often much more effective at doing so then the approved doctors. My mother raised me to believe in the power of herbs and natural remedies before having to turn to what the doctor may prescribe.
I knew of many of the top ten herbs mentioned in the Herbalist Way. My mother always would dose my sister and I Echinacea and Goldenseal when we were sick, St. John’s wort is familiar. When was small I hated the thought of garlic that my mother was always putting in the food she cooked, probably because I associated it with the garlic oil capsules she would squeeze in my ear when I had an infection. She shared this method with other mothers who were amazed by how effective it was. Now that I am older I found that I love garlic and put it in almost everything. Chamomile tea with honey was a favorite before bedtime and when I felt sick. I remember making salad from dandelion leaves little the bright yellow flowers to add color. Yarrow is one of the plants (and smells) that I remember from my childhood in Colorado where it grows wild in front of our house. I hope to pass all of this knowledge and more on to my children.
Modern medicine is really depressing to me, a reflection on the state of our society and culture where people what a quick fix for everything. The general idea seems to be that having good health should be as easy as going to McDonalds to get a cheeseburger. Medicine of any and all kinds can be conveniently picked up at the grocery store fixes for everything from a headache to weight loss. Many people seem to have lost the idea that in order to be healthy we must take care of our bodies throughout our lives and that we should not depend on chemicals and artificial cures. This is just a tangent, but I feel like keeping alive the tradition of natural medicine and the realization that health and prosperity in our lives takes time and energy.
I attended the winter twig identification workshop on Sunday and was so excited to learn about more of the plants in the area. I can now identify Red Alder, Western Hazel, Red Huckleberry, Salmonberry, Indian Plum, Snowberry, Cascara, Big Leaf Maple and Oregon Ash with some confidence. It is so exciting to identify these plants on my walks to school and to annoy my roommates with my new knowledge when we take the dog out.
Reflections Wk 4 Over the past couple weeks I have experienced a great shift, a much needed change of pace and direction. The months before school started were like a fog. I had no direction, no objectives, I forgot how to use my time. This was not a bad thing, but it was a pace that made me uncomfortable and anxious, my habits reflected the lack of stimulation, mental and physical, I could feel a kind of stress in my mind and body. I am feeling like have finally, just this week, come out of that fog. My passion for plants and the outdoors was reignited and with it my mind sprang back into action. Identifying plants, reading about people and their experiences with them and reflecting on my own relationship, past and present, with them has reminded me of the reasons why I moved to Olympia to go to school here. I feel very excited about working in the Longhouse Garden but at the same time very timid. I work very hard when I am interested in changing something, especially when it comes to gardening, so I might have to check myself sometimes, try not to over do it.
One of the most important things that I have come to realize is how alive the world is, even in the winter when many of the trees are nothing but dead looking sticks. If you look close enough you will discover that life is there, in the form of little buds full of life just waiting to explode into life. Knowing this also makes me so excited for the future when I can see all of these plants I am getting to know in the winter in full bloom. The spring is going to be exceptionally wonderful for me this year. All of the work that I have been doing has brought me to a new level of understanding of what plants mean to me and how much I care about the outside world around me. I have learned about cultivation methods of the native peoples and have realized how much our environment has and is capable of giving to us. It makes me wish that I could live in a time and place where we live in harmony with this land but has made me see how we still are able to do that. Learning about these things has started to fill a big space that I have had in me for a long time.
Reflections Wk 5 I submitted this to Marja but it's kind of private so I don't want to post it.
Reflections Wk 6
Keeping it Living
Chapter 4
Solving the Perennial Paradox
Ethnobotanical Evidence for Plant Resource Management on the Northwest Coast
By Nancy J. Turner and Sandra Peacock
Summary
Chapter four from the first part of Keeping it Living is an overview of all the agricultural practices and cultivation traditions used by the people of the Pacific Northwest. Nancy Turner and Sandra Peacock provide a comprehensive view of the strategies used by the people to enhance production and ensure a plentiful harvest. The essay starts out by explaining some of the different strategies applied to foraging and cultivation. Generally foraging is minimal impact harvesting of less used plants. Cultivation techniques range from very low impact tending and fertilization to more intense efforts such as burning and transplanting. They also explain the variety of extractive techniques applied that we recognize as being important when maintaining any landscape. Tilling the soil with specialized tools to collect the various usable parts of the roots and aerate the soil. The peoples also actively weeded out unwanted plants, cleared areas to enhance productivity and applied an array of fertilizers composed of rotting plant matter and unused fish parts at appropriate times of year to stimulate growth and productivity in specific plants. Many of the desired plants were pruned or coppiced which encourages new growth and greatly enhances productivity of a plant. They discuss how people used fire to clear an area sometimes to create an entirely new landscape or habitat such as a camas prairie, where the roots were harvested as an important food source. The most obvious plant that was cultivated is tobacco which was keep in gardens and deliberately cultivated for consumption. All of these practices also helped a certain family or individual claim ownership over the land. The carrying out all of these activities was very much dictated by the seasons and also the believes and needs of a certain tribe. At certain times f each season various resources were harvested from different sites. Ownership was also depended upon the certain customs of individual tribes. In some areas a single clam would have ownership rights over a single large territory which was farther divided with in the clan and between families. However if a family or tribe did not look after the site its resources would be lost. The people held many food sharing ceremonies and celebrations where food was shared and recognition given to the plants gifts to them. Obviously the many practices and interactions that people had with plants would have had an impact on the landscape. Chapter four notes eight different environmental zones that were greatly influenced by these activities. Low elevation meadows, rain shadow (Douglas fir) forests, Coastal rainforest, Montane forest, Freshwater marshes and swamps riverbanks and lakeshores, Freshwater bogs and fens, Tidal wetlands, and human habitation sites. This chapter was very insightful and helped me very much with my understanding of the relationships between the First Peoples and the plant resources of the Pacific Northwest. I chose this chapter because I am particularly interested in learning about the ethnobotanical uses of plants of this area. I found the chapter to be very education and I learned so much not only about how the native Americans cultivated plants but also a wide variety of information on the uses and cultivation techniques for certain plants. Reading this chapter strengthened the ideas I have of the Longhouse Garden and the ways I could continue to use that space.
Missed Class I talked to Dana and Rebecca about the the Wednesday night class that I missed, they both said it was a very good and meaningful class and I am sorry I had to miss it. They decribed the discussions that were had among members of the class.
Reflections Wk 7 After feeling kind of down at the prospect of starting yet anther project I am now feeling much more excited about starting my own garden. I mention the fact that I dont really have an area for a garden and she offered to let me use some of the garden space at her home. Yay! I went over there for an hours or so and got really excited. I have always wanted to have my own garden and I feel that this is a perfect oppurtunity to make it finally happen. I am nervous again about starting something too ambitious but hope that I will have enough time throughout the next few months to really devote my energy to a garden. I am also having a really hard time deciding if I want to continue on in this program or pursue other activities. I have found that am really interested in the subject but instead have been focusing on other aspects of the program and have not learned as much as I hoped to about certain aspects of ethnobotany. I think that if I decide not to continue I hope to be able to at least audit some classes.
Reflections Wk 8 I'm having a hard time figuring out what to do for my ersonal presentation, I'm a terrible terrible public speaker, even in front of a group of people I know well. I think I'ma make a diarama with pictures and stuff like that. While reading the conclusion of Keeping It Living I realizaed that this quarter is almost over. It has been such a great learning experience. The book rea;;y helped me to see how people can positively effect the environment and use technology that is good for us and for the plants. The conclusions chapter did a good job of summing up the major points of the book. I found this book to be really redundant sometimes, though very informative, so the conclusion really was repeteing what the rest of the book said.
Reflections Wk 9 I was so happy to have abook this quarter that I could treat like I was reading for fun. It book made me realize how many different ways people can be affected by plants. Whether it be for food, fun, medicine, spritual healing plants can have such an impact on our lives. I was especially affcted by the section about the witch hunts. It is unbelieveable to me that people could be so against natural healing and the use of plant medicines. This book really helped me connect in a deeper way to plants.
Reflections Wk 10