Native Herbs: Original Local, Seasonal & Sustainable Foods

SalmonberryThis post is a report back on a native herbs class I took at the Cedar River Watershed, and has pictures and plant info on some of the flora covered by the talk. Also included is a list of recommended books (click here to skip to that), resources (click here to skip to that), and upcoming native plant and fungi events (click here to skip to that).

The class was given by Mary Preus, whom you can meet at Molbak's this Saturday, July 31 as she gives a talk on gardening herbs.

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For larger views of the pictures in this post and additional photos, see the gallery.

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Earlier this summer, I headed out to the Cedar River Watershed Education Center for a native herbs class. I'm a total botany novice, but have taken a few classes this year on local flora. Because of my curiosity about food, cooking, and general Little House on the Prairie-ness, I am especially interested in learning about how native plants are used by humans.

I was also intrigued by the fact that the blurb for the class specifically indicated we would cover how Native American used them, not just how they're foraged nowadays.

Service Berry branch

When my mom was in town recently, we went to the salmon bake at Tillicum Village on Blake Island. The event – which featured a talk by a local Native American guy and a performance of traditional dances and songs – made me realize that I haven't really thought about the local, seasonal and sustainable movement in the context of native people. Upon further reflection, it occurred to me what a tremendous oversight this was!

After all, when your food source is something that you hunt or gather, sustainability takes on an even greater urgency. You can't just plant or grow more if you use it irresponsibly.

Rattlesnake Lake view from the Center groundsI decided on that salmon bake trip that I want to learn more about the foods of Native Americans. For one, I'm just curious and want to know more just for knowing's sake. But I am also interested in seeing what I can apply from that knowledge to sustainability in the here and now in my own life. Expect to see more posts here or on Fresh-Picked on this as I take more classes and read up in the coming months.

So I was excited to drive out to the North Bend area for this first of my forays.

The Cedar River Watershed Education Center is located on the shore of Rattlesnake Lake and it is a gorgeous spot. The Center "is a gateway to the Cedar River Municipal Watershed, which provides drinking water for 70% of 1.4 million people living in the greater Seattle area." It offers walking tours, adult and family classes, and school programs.  Various spots around the site have scopes for watching wildlife; I heard several Swainson's Thrushes and Spotted Towhees as I waited for the class. The courtyard has a rain drum display running throughout the day. 

The class was taught by Mary Preus. She is the author of two books on Northwest herbs – The Northwest Herb Lover's Handbook and Growing Herbs: for the Maritine Northwest Gardener. She's also a senior gardener for Seattle Parks and Recreation.

Mary explained that plants are considered herbs if they are "useful" to humans, meaning they are edible and/or medicinal or serve some kind of mechanical purpose. Here are some of the highlights of the talk, with one major caveat: unless you know what you are doing or are out with a knowledgeable person, please don't pick and eat anything out in the wild without being absolutely sure it is what you think it is. This year in Washington state, Western Hemlock has sickened several people, and even killed one woman. So please be careful!

Now onto the highlights…

Cedar stripsAn example of a plant used extensively in a mechanical purpose is the Western Red Cedar (Thuja plicata). This tree was central to the aboriginal people of the region. They used it to make shelter, transportation, and tool. The relatively soft and pliable bark was also used to make baskets and even clothing. Usually the plant material was harvested – even planks for building – without actually felling the tree. Mary also let us know that the wood "contains a natural fungicide that preserves the wood up to 100 years."

Mary showed us some coiled cedar strips and some baskets she'd made from cedar. She also gave us an overview the basket-making process. If you're curious about basket-making, the Duwamish Longhouse in West Seattle sometimes offers classes.

Mary's Baskets

Another useful tree is the Douglas Fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii). In addition to the expected uses of the wood, the pitch from the cones is used as a medicinal salve. Mary showed us how to identify cones from the Douglas Fir - they have "tails" called "mice."

Douglas fir fresh and dried cone

We got to see and taste the native edible Oregon Grape (low is Berberis or Mahonia nervosa, and tall is Berberis or Mahonia aquifolium). While edible, the berry of the Oregon Grape is quite tart. They were often mixed with salal or another sweeter fruit. One of the students in the class, Tom, suggested that a good way to eat the berries raw is to have two Oregon Grape berries to one Service Berry or Saskatoon. The Service Berry is sweet, but bland, and so the combo of the two, was, in fact, a nice mix.

Nature's Sweetart

You can also make a preserve out of the Oregon Grape. I don't yet have Mary's recipe for it, but Plants of the Pacific Northwest Coast recommends making a jelly "using two cups of Oregon-grape juice, two cups of salal juice, five cups of sugar and one box of pectin."

Oregon Grape Preserves

One word of caution – Beth Sheresh, blogger at Kitchen Mage and author of Picture Yourself Cooking with Kids, noted that she has heard some folks complain of mustiness with Oregon Grape, so it's probably recommended you check them thoroughly after collecting.

Speaking of the Service Berry or Saskatoon (Amelanchier alnifolia), here's a little more about that plant. As mentioned, they have a sweet but bland berry, which native people dried into a cake for storage. Per the Pojar plant guide, the wood was used for arrows, digging sticks, and drying racks.

Dried Service Berry

Some other native edible berries include the thimbleberry and salmon berry (pictured below).

Salmonberry flower & leaves, taken on a different native plant talk at Discovery Park.

I also learned more about Snowberries, a beautiful white I noticed on my very first foray into plant identification – an ethnobotany trip I took back in 2007. I remember remarking on it because it was so pretty, but the guide shrugged and said they were not very useful. Mary let us know they were called "Saskatoon berries of people in the Land of the Dead." I love this evocative description.

This is not my picture, it from Flickr user user Andrew Fogg, but wanted to include it for illustrative purposes.

These berries did not have much ethnobotanical use by the first peoples but we learned at the class that they were called "Saskatoon berries of people in the Land of the Dead," which I found wonderfully evocative.

There were too many plants discussed to cover here, but if you would like to know more about our local plants and which ones were used by native peoples and continue to be useful to us today, check out some of the books and events listed below!

Books

•  Growing Herbs by Mary Preus
• Northwest Herb Lover's Handbook by Mary Preus
• People of Cascadia by Heidi Bohan
• Plants of the Pacific Northwest by Jim Pojar
• Edible and Medicinal Plants of the West by Gregory Tilford
• Plant Technology of the First People by Nancy J. Turner
• Food Plants of the Interior First Peoples by Nancy J. Turner
• Food Plants of Coastal First Peoples by Nancy J. Turner
• Ethnobotany of Western Washington by Erna Gunther

Online Resources

• It was at this class that I met Lauren, who is working on a research project on forgaging. If you are an urban forgaer, check out the project info  here!
• Check out these photo galleries from a native plants walk at Discovery Park earlier this year.
• See the Wild Food and Foraging page for a full listing of wilderness schools and more.
• Check out the Washington Native Plants Society.
• The Washington Park Arboretum usually offers free walks on the first and third Sundays. (Here's a gallery of photos from one I took.) The topics for these walks can vary but will sometimes include opportunities to learn more about the native plants in the collection.
• The Bridle Trails Foundation often offers free walks on native plants and mushrooms. There's one scheduled below and check out their site as they add more for the fall. Here's a gallery of photos from a mushroom walk there from last year.

Events

• Saturday, August 14: FREE! Native Plants Walk at Bridle Trails State Park.
• Saturday, September 25: Acorn Pudding & Extracting Volatile Oils. ($25, in Portland)
• Saturday, October 2: Fall Mushroom Walk ($8)
• Saturday, October 9: The Incredible Cattail: From Survival to Pancakes ($25, in Portland)
• Sunday, October 10: Wild Foods of the Native Americans ($20, in Portland)
• Saturday, October 16: Fall Mushroom Walk ($8)
• Sunday, October 17: Fall Lichen and Moss Walk ($8)
• Saturday, October 23
  • FREE! Fruits of the Fall Fungi Walk
  • FREE! Schmitz Park Native Plant Walk
• Saturday, November 6: FREE! Native Plant Event
• Sunday, November 7: FREE! Camp Long Native Plant Walk
• Saturday November 13: FREE! Native Trees of Puget Sound
• Saturday, December 18: FREE! Westcrest Park Native Plant Walk