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Reflections: Updated 7 March 07Cheryl Kirk Healing Gardens Reflections Paper # 8 Due: 7 March 2007 Final reflections on “The Sweet Breathing of Plants” At the beginning of the quarter, Marja described reading the book “The Sweet Breathing of Plants” as our “coffee break moments” for the quarter. I think that was a very apt description. The stories in this book were like little bites or tastes of different shades of green. My favorite of the stories was Plantswomen. There was just something in the tales the author talked about how she learned to garden through the years that resonated deeply with me. On page 128 she says, “I’d made many mistakes in the garden, such as planting whole beds with smatterings of perennials that made it spindly and unappealing.” I can completely identify with this, as the way I learned to garden was by making mistakes. My family still talks about the year my tomato plants took over and “ate” everything else in the garden. I don’t have a lot else to say about this book. I enjoyed reading it, and I think it was a good companion for the course, as well as being a nice break from some of the other “heavier” reading we were doing. Cheryl Kirk Healing Gardens Reflections Paper # 7 Due: 28 February 2007 Final reflections on “Keeping it Living” I read through as many chapters in the book “Keeping it Living” as I could, and then jumped ahead and read part III, Conclusions. There were parts of this book which I really enjoyed, and parts which were so academically focused that it was a struggle for me to read through them. I would really enjoy reading other material which focused on the plant cultivation practices of the First Peoples of the Pacific Northwest which were written in a more accessible format. What struck me most time and again while reading “Keeping it Living,” were the correlations I could see between the plant and land cultivation practices of the First Peoples, and the practices espoused by the comparatively recent promoters of Permaculture. One of my favorite parts of the book stated, “The culturally important plants of the Northwest Coast, with the exception of the former Northwest Coast tobacco, are all perennial species, either herbaceous perennials or woody perennials (trees and shrubs). This is the key to the management practices presented here – and to their lack of recognition in the past (1, 145).” In Permaculture, when one is working towards creating an edible landscape, the usage of perennials is of vital importance. The perennials are what build the foundation of the growing system, what help to create a self-maintaining system, aid in water conservation, and reduce the need for maintenance work. I would love to see a book written which would espouse the teaching points of plant and land management that were utilized by the pacific coast First Peoples, and be aimed at the rapidly expanding Organic and Permaculture market. As more people turn to methods of plant cultivation which are focused on sustainability, I believe we would be wise to learn from those who came before us. The First Peoples had practices which were obviously effective and which maintained the land while providing for their all of their needs. It would also be interesting to see more information which focused on the ways in which, “the peoples of this coast had ceremonial or ‘religious’ motives for plant management (1, 334).” As Deur and Turner state, “The attribution of a ‘spirit’ within all of nature’s creations, and of the powers of plants to affect human lives and human well-being, is another reflection of, and reason for, peoples’ stewardship of the plants they depend upon. One reason given for not girdling red-cedar trees when harvesting their bark is that the tree, conceived of as a sentient being with a ‘spirit,’ would die and nearby trees would curse the perpetrator of this act (1, 334-335).” My garden presentation For my presentation on work I am doing in my personal garden, I will be showing a short photo montage with music. I will also bring in the notebook I am using to start gathering all of my gardening plans and documentation in one place. (1) Deur, Douglas, and Turner, Nancy, ed., “Keeping it Living: Traditions of Plant Use and Cultivation on the Northwest Coast of North America”, (2005), University of Washington Press, Seattle, WA. Cheryl Kirk Healing Gardens Reflections Paper # 6 Due: 21 February 2007 Sacred Gardening: Creating a garden to nourish the body and the soul Gardening for me is a passion, an obsession, a lifestyle, and a deep and personal expression of the spiritual connection I feel for the earth. I wasn’t always this intensely in love with getting my hands into the soil and having dirt under my fingernails. I was raised by parents who gardened, and while I loved my time with the plants when I was a child, as I grew into my teen years, I started to resent the amount of time and care that growing things demanded. I drifted away from my gardening habits and became absorbed with a focus on material things. 10 years later, when I was in my late twenties, the land started calling to me again. I had forgotten many of the skills my parents taught me, so I learned again by trail and error. I remember still the first time I dug a few little holes in the rock hard, clay filled soil in front of my porch, stuck some seeds in the ground and waited for the miracle of growth that I remembered from my childhood. Somehow I had forgotten the part about plants needing water. Those poor little first plants that I grew, they were so abused and neglected. Somehow though, a few of them grew into spindly little things, yearning for a better life. I learned. I learned to look at the soil first, and to loosen it up so that the plants roots would have air to breath. I learned to add natural amendments to the soil, to give the plants food that they could convert into lush greenery. I learned to treat the earth like a living thing, applying mulch to shade it from the sun, and running the dirt through my fingers, I learned the difference in feel between soil that had been stripped of life, and soil that was exploding with potential. In time I started to learn about plants. I petted them, so I would know what their leaves and flowers felt like, and so I could feel the flow of life running through. I talked with them, asking them to let me know what their needs were. I experimented, putting plants in places that all the books said were wrong, and yet, sometimes, they still grew, and flourished. I learned about bees and pollination, and positive insects, and how to live in harmony with the deer who saw my garden as a buffet dinner. I watched the plants and saw how some of them strained towards the light, and others leaned towards the shadow. All of this I read about in my books, but it was only real to me when I could see it happening in my own garden. Throughout this time of me growing and learning as a gardener, I was also working in an environment that tore at my spirit on a daily basis. My gardens became my refuge. My plants became my healers. The food I grew to eat, nourished my body, and all of the plants nourished my soul. At the end of a long week, I would retreat to the garden and put my hands in the dirt, feeling the clean life that I had helped to create, and a part of me would be healed. I resolved that someday, I would have the time, and the space to create a garden that would help others to heal. A Sacred Sanctuary that would be available to those who needed a place of refuge. Not a big place, just a small corner of the world where the soil was healthy, the plants were vibrant with life, the air was still, and anyone could come and sit for a while in a place devoted to healing. That is my dream for my gardens, and that is what I am currently working to create. Cheryl Kirk Healing Gardens Reflections Paper # 5 Due: 14 February 2007 Chapter # 2 from Keeping it Living: “Low-Level Food Production and the Northwest Coast.” Chapter two of Keeping it Living continues to lay the groundwork for the rest of the book. It calls into question the frequent classification of Northwest Coast societies as complex or affluent hunter-gatherers. “Northwest Coast cultures are found not to fall comfortably under the heading of complex hunter-gatherers, but rather to belong out in the middle, between hunting and gathering and agriculture in terms of their economic base” (1, 38). According to the authors, there currently does not exist a clearly defined way to describe those people who are not strictly hunter-gatherers and who also do not fall into the category of western identified agricultural practices. This book is intended to, “bring into clear focus a number of intertwined, very basic, and very challenging questions regarding this middle ground” (1, 39). “This middle ground is not an easy landscape to describe” (1, 43). Traditional western thought has seen the transition from hunter-gatherer societies to agriculturally based societies as a logical progression towards civilization. There has been a clear line drawn between the two ways of life. With hunter-gatherers seen as having no domesticated plants or animals and any societies with domesticates being agricultural. These patterns of thought have not allowed for the possibility of there being in existence a different and possibly better way. “Domestication, then, is essentially a new category of relationship of interaction between a population of humans and a population of plants or animals. This new relationship is initiated and maintained by humans, with the plant or animal species occupying a dependent role” (1, 49). “In seed crops, such control and management of the cycle of reproduction entails the harvesting, storage, and planting of seed stock, which - releases them from selective pressures that act on wild populations” (1, 51). Perennial plants on the other hand, present a different situation. “A relationship of domestication in which perennials are the target species, as along the Northwest Coast, would not involve the harvest, storage, and subsequent planting of seed stock” (1, 51). Chapter two goes on to compare several different geographical regions that produced other societies that might be seen to fall into the middle ground between hunter-gatherer and agriculture as well. Qualities of each natural environment are discussed, as well as sociological and climatic factors which would have contributed to the development of this sort of middle of the road cultivation of plants and animals. In particular, three regions are highlighted – “Mesoamerica, the Near East, and eastern North America- are the best documented of the world’s recognized primary centers of domestication and subsequent agricultural emergence. And in each of these three areas, where the temporal-developmental placement of both initial domestication and the subsequent transition to agriculture can be determined with a reasonable degree of accuracy, they are separated by large, still mostly uncharted territories stretching across 2000-5500 years of time. In each area, these vast expanses are occupied by in-between societies that are neither hunter-gatherers nor agriculturalists, even though domesticates contribute to their economies” (1, 54). “Northwest Coast societies, and in particular their management of root crops, provide clear and detailed full-society case study examples of low-level food production involving behavioral/cultural/nonmorphological domesticates” (1, 66). In a way, this western view of there being an “either/or” situation as regard to hunter-gatherer versus agriculture can also be seen reflected in their views of civilized versus “non-civilized” society. It is a classic example of in-group/out-group stereotyping. Western mindset, particularly at the time in which expansion was occurring into the Northwest Coast areas, was focused on “us versus them”. Being able to relegate the First Peoples to the position of “only” a hunter-gatherer society, who were not making effective “use” of the land; gave westerners the justification they needed to take the land away and start to put it into cultivation. I believe that as more information becomes known about the sustainable cultivation methods used by the Northcoast Peoples, it will be seen that their care of the land, plants and animals truly provided for a classic example of a “green” sustainable society. I have already seen correlations between what is known of the First Peoples cultivation practices and modern permaculture techniques that are amazing. Modern society has much we could learn from the wisdom and knowledge of these people who so capably maintained their natural environment, and provided for a rich and wonderful societal life at the same time. Many of the techniques used by the North Coast First Peoples could be easily translated into application techniques for working on the Longhouse ethno-botanical gardens. The methods of cultivation would allow us to gradually expand and develop the plant base located in each focused section of the garden. These natural methods of cultivation would also provide for an easier to maintain environment, which is very desirable to ensure that the garden continues to flourish even during breaks from school when no students or interns are available to water or maintain the gardens. Practicing First Peoples traditional methods would also add another facet to the teaching aspect of the ethno-botanical gardens. I looked ahead in the book to the last paragraph. I think that the last few sentences of the book really tie all of this together. “In highlighting some of the research on Northwest Coast plant management and real examples of the practices traditionally employed in ‘keeping it living’ – we hope to stimulate discussion, as well as a reevaluation of traditional assumptions regarding Northwest Coast traditional lifeways. It is our hope that we may foster a better understanding of the importance of plant resources, particularly of plant foods, on the Northwest Coast. And we hope to provide some hint of the depth of knowledge and the amount of energy traditionally directed toward the maintenance and enhancement of these resources” (1, 342). Learning from the past to save and improve the future. Sustainability as an example of a way of life. This is most definitely that “difficult to describe middle-ground” and well worth the time and effort it takes to study and learn about it. 1. Ed. Deur, Douglas and Turner, Nancy, Keeping it Living, Seattle, WA, University of Washington Press, 2005. Cheryl Kirk Healing Gardens Reflections Paper Due: 7 February 2007 Manifestations of Winter: It is really hard for me to keep my eyes focused inward on winter right now. I see so many manifestations of spring all around me. Yes, I know that the weather will probably turn cold again, (which worries me, since many of my plants are starting to bud out right now.) but I can’t help but start to feel my normal “spring fever” which draws me out into my gardens from dawn until dusk. This winter was hard on my plants. We had several spells of severe cold weather, followed by a few weeks of warmth, and then again a cold snap. I don’t know how this will affect the growth of my trees this year. This time of the winter is also when I select and plant new trees. I’m going to be using Raintree nursery (www.raintreenursery.com) almost exclusively this year. I really like their selection and quality of plants. They also have a really good environmental ethic which I appreciate. On Journaling: Journaling is not hard for me. I maintain an online blog that I post in almost every day. I also love to write. Keeping a nature journal on the other hand, hasn’t come easily. I think it is because of the guidance that I’m supposed to be drawing in my journal. I really can’t draw. I’ve been using my journal to just put down my thoughts, and things I’m doing with gardening and plants. But I feel like I’m not doing what I’m “supposed” to be doing, so there is a bit of a guilt factor associated with my nature journal now. I’m hoping that after the drawing workshop this evening, that will get easier. What is Medicine? Medicine is something that helps us to heal. There is western medicine, which tends to focus more on healing the symptoms of disease, and eastern medicine, which focuses more on keeping the body healthy, so disease can not get a foot hold. Scientific medicine, which has in the past been mostly focused away from the earth and towards lab produced solutions; and earth medicine, which uses the natural cures available in nature. For me personally, I use a combination, with a heavy focus on healing foods (food = fuel = foundation), supported by herbal supplements, and prescription medicine only when absolutely necessary. What is a Garden? Garden = Love. I’m an obsessive gardener. My garden is such a healing space for me. There is always a new plant that I want to try and weave into the tapestry of growth that I am creating. There is life and energy and a gentle hum of healing that runs through the space of my garden; all gardens. Insights: This past week for me, was about setting priorities. This year, my top priority is on building up a really good foundation for the core of my gardens. (We’ve owned this property now for almost two years.) At the start of this quarter, I decided to take 16 credits. That was too much. I didn’t have time to really reflect on the information I was learning, and to do additional research on things that interested me. Last week I decided to drop one of my 4 credit classes, and it felt like a weight had lifted off of me. (I’m still taking 12 credits, so still going full time.) This week I actually had time to go out and just walk my land. To look at the natural cycle of growth. To stop and try and identify plants that I wasn’t familiar with. So my big lesson from the last week was about being able to set priorities. Cheryl Kirk Healing Gardens Reflections Paper Due: 31 January 2007 Synthesis In addition to the assigned reading this past week, I also skimmed through Medicinal Plants of the Pacific West, and looked back through my copy of Gaia’s Garden: A guide to home-scale permaculture. This week I feel as though I am drowning, which sort of ties into our theme of water, but probably not in the way it was intended. I’m drowning in possibilities and availability of information. So much information and knowledge that I don’t know where to start, or what is most important to learn first. My personal goals for this quarter were to focus on learning things at school that could be directly applied to the dream I am trying to build at home. I know a few basics of herbal cultivation, and have a good foundation in organic gardening. I have already started to expand my healing garden space at home, and I wanted to learn more about specifics of native plants and other herbs that would be good to include in my garden. In addition to the Healing Gardens program, I am studying Introduction to Metalwork and Philosophy of Religions. Both of these classes tie directly into the work I am doing in Healing Gardens. My metalwork class is teaching me a lot of wonderful basics on ways to work with metal, that I will be able to use to build support structures for my plants in my home garden. My Religions class is giving me the opportunity to participate in discussions on different peoples views of spirituality (which, for me, ties directly into my views on gardening, and my ties to the land). I think that the insight I gained this week is that I need to slow down. I need to NOT try to learn it all/do it all immediately. Everything has a season of growth, and a season of rest and preparation for growth. Winter should be a time of contemplation and preparation for the coming year. The plant/herb I picked to specifically focus on is Kava-kava. I had developed an interest in this plant a while ago, after reading the book, Natural Highs: Supplements, nutrition, and mind-body techniques to help you feel good all the time. According to this book: Kava, or Piper methysticum, which means “intoxicating pepper,” has been consumed as a social and ceremonial drink by Pacific Islanders for more than 3,000 years. The first description of this tall, lush plant with heart-shaped leaves came to the West from Captain Cook, on his celebrated voyages through the South Seas. To this day, when village elders or others come together for significant meetings, they begin with an elaborate kava ceremony. Kava also is used to welcome visiting dignitaries: Pope Paul, Queen Elizabeth II, and President Lyndon B. Johnson all were treated to a ceremonial drink at one time. A perfect icebreaker, kava eases tension and allows freer communication. It makes you warm and friendly, and as one early writer put so well, “You cannot hate with kava in you.” Less formally, it is drunk daily as a mild after-work inebriant in the islands’ ubiquitous kava bars or “nakamals.” (p.64) There is much more information in Natural Highs which leads me to believe that the use of Kava-kava as a supplement could be beneficial to many people. Here are a couple of pictures of kava-kava:
Cheryl Kirk Healing Gardens Reflections Paper Due: 24 January 2007 Relationships between natural systems & cultural systems in the Northwest After completing all the reading for this week, I sat back and just let the totality of what I had read sort of blend in my mind. This week I didn’t want to just focus in on a specific part of any one reading, I wanted to pull back and look at the big picture, and how I saw my study in the Healing Gardens program fitting into that. I think that the concepts that stuck with me the most are the ones of integration and natural-resource management. Especially how the First Peoples managed to lead fulfilling, community and art-filled lives, by focusing on natural resource management and conservation of natural resources. They didn’t rape the land, trying to pull everything they could get from it, they worked with the land to help encourage it to provide for the needs of the people, the needs of the indigenous plants and wildlife, and for the future needs of all. These are concepts that fall fully in line with what I want to do on my own property, and I believe they also fall in line with the principles of the Longhouse gardens. New Plants Labrador Tea (Ledum groenlandicum), Gorse (Ulex europeus), Mt. Balm (Ceanothus velutinus), Twin flower (Linnaea borealis), Sacaline (Polygonum sachalinense), Whipplea (Whipplea medesta), Ninebark (Physocarpus capitatus), Buffalo berry (Shepherdia canadensis), Squashberry (Viburnum edule), Twinberry (Lonicera involucrate), (It’s not a new plant, but I thought it was really interesting to read about how skunk cabbage was used as wrapping for food in Native kitchens) (1), Lichens.. all the different varieties mentioned. Wow there are a lot in the Pacific Northwest. (Do they count as plants?), Dodder (Cuscuta), Pine drops (Pterospora andromedea), Phantom orchid (Eburophyton austiniae), Indian pipe (Monotropa uniflora), Goats beard (Aruncus Sylvester), Cow parsnip (Heracleum lanatum), Teasel (Dipsacus fullonium), Twisted stalk (Streptopus amplexifolius), Large leved avens (Geum macrophyllum), Youth-on-Age (Tolmiea menziesii), Frinde-cup (Tellima grandiflora), Velvetgrass (Holcus lanatus), Vanilla leaf (Achlys triphylla), Pink Pyrola (P. asarifolia) New Ideas Most of the new ideas I gained this week came from the book Keeping it Living. (2) I’m really captured by the thought of the integration of human, plant and natural environment. Once again, it sparked a lot of comparisons in my mind with theories of Permaculture. While spending time in the garden, I found it especially appropriate that the garden is (in general) laid out in a circle around the Longhouse. Walking around, I found myself traveling a sort of spiral path, first circling the Longhouse directly on the pathway, and then traveling out a bit into each separate area. I also was doing some research this past week on what it would take to add a Labyrinth to my own property, and it sort of struck me that a VERY SIMPLE walking meditation labyrinth might be able to be incorporated into the area that integrates with the Longhouse through the gardens. I also started looking this week at ways to use the compost which is already stacked up there, as a start for the Sister Garden. Need to check permissions on what we would need to do to actually start breaking soil. I’d also like to check with the instructor of the sustainable building program to see if we could coordinate with them to build us a small tool shed to store our things in. I know they built a small shed last quarter, because they ended up giving it away on Freecycle. I think it would be a good opportunity for integration of two programs with similar ideas if we got them to build us a tool shed. (1) Kruckeberg, Arthur, “The Natural History of Puget Sound Country”, (1995), University of Washington Press, Seattle, WA, p.171 (2) Deur, Douglas, and Turner, Nancy, ed., “Keeping it Living: Traditions of Plant Use and Cultivation on the Northwest Coast of North America”, (2005), University of Washington Press, Seattle, WA.
Cheryl Kirk Contrast between ecosystems or zones In Keeping it Living, the authors describe the Northwest Coast Region as having, "four general "biogeoclimatic zones," defined by vegetation, topography, and climate." (1) The book goes on to define those zones as the "Coastal Douglas-fir zone", the "Coastal Western Hemlock Zone", the "Mountain Hemlock Zone", and the "Alpine Tundra biogeoclimatic zone." (1). By contrast, Arthur Kruckeberg in, The Natural History of Puget Sound Country, seems to see the different regions as being more interconnected and interdependent upon one another. He acknowledges that , "Each (zone) has unique attributes - particular plants, the producers; characteristic animals, the consumers; and microbes, the decomposers -all set in motion by the matter and energy of that particular habitat's allotment of earth, air, water, and light." (2) But he goes on to describe how each separate biosystem bleeds over into the biosystem next to it, and they are mutually dependent on facets of each other for their growth. I prefer the second description, by Mr. Kruckeberg. I see all of life as being interconnected, and no part of it as standing alone. Kruckeberg does give in to "due regard for the world as it really is, " and "yields to the practical need for ascribing ‘zones'" (3) By breaking down the Northwest into two major zones, which he bases on the vegetative patterns which change according to altitude. He also describes the three zones found in the Puget Sound basin which correspond to the zones described in Keeping it Living. (Western Hemlock Zone, Pacific Silver Fir Zone, and Mountain Hemlock Zone, with the POSSIBLE inclusion of the Timberline-to-Alpine zone.) Relationships between natural systems and cultural systems in the Northwest Plants in the assigned reading which I could identify Ideas gained thus far from reading and activities My mind has already begun to spin from the myriad of ideas which have been prompted by the Healing Gardens class so far. My main focus in taking this course of study this quarter was to involve myself in a class which I could directly apply to the projects I am working on at my own property. The film which we watched on Saturday (The Teachings of the Tree People) was very inspirational, and a perfect start to that day. From the film, I particularly would like to incorporate some of the native healing plants of the Northwest into my own healing herbs garden. I was also inspired just in general by listening to Bruce Miller speak. His love for traditional knowledge and interest in passing along that knowledge to future generations really shone through. (1) Deur, Douglas, and Turner, Nancy, ed., "Keeping it Living: Traditions of Plant Use and Cultivation on the Northwest Coast of North America", (2005), University of Washington Press, Seattle, WA., p. 9, 10
Sherry Kirk
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