OAEC

O C C I D E N T A L A R T S & E C O L O G Y C E N T E R

Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION DEPARTMENT

May 2008 ~ Reconnecting with the Plant World: Organic Gardening, Food, and Health

This course was an exploration of the relationship between the health of the soil, the plants that nourish us, the food we eat, and the vitality they offer to each of us, our families, the Tribe, and the Earth.

PRESENTERS:

Doug Gosling:

Doug Gosling is a Sowing Circle Community member and the Garden Manager at OAEC — a position he has held at this site for over 23 years. Doug has a special interest in seed saving and the preservation of biodiversity, edible landscaping, and cooking from the garden. He is also a garden photographer with work published in Harrowsmith, National Gardening and National Geographic. In addition to co-teaching OAEC’s Permaculture Design Intensives and School Garden training courses, Doug manages the Mother Garden Biodiversity Program, OAEC’s seed collection, and the garden project at Food for Thought, the Sonoma County AIDS Food Bank. In his other life, Doug is an African music fanatic and hosts a monthly African music show on KRCB, Sonoma County's public radio station.

Michelle Vesser:

Michelle Vesser has returned to work in OAEC’s Mother Garden where she started gardening in 1986. As Assistant Gardener and Production Manager she concentrates on increasing the amount of vibrant produce available to the Center’s renowned kitchen. . Michelle managed a Community Support Agriculture project for 8 seasons, in the Sierra foothills. Over the years, she has been dedicated to passing on the knowledge of hand-tilled agriculture through extension and apprenticeship in the U.S., Philippines, Nepal, and Mexico. Her other passions are working with herbs, exploring food as medicine, and practicing Tai Chi. She has recently incorporated these skills in a variety of OAEC workshops.

Eric Wilder:

Eric Wilder is a tribal member of the Kashia Band of Pomo Indians of the Stewarts Point Rancheria. Eric was raised on the Kashia Reservation where he learned about many traditional Kashia customs and ceremonies from his grandparents Sidney and Essie Parrish which he has shared in talks at Sonoma State, Berkeley and Stanford University. He has also talked and many local colleges and High Schools in Sonoma and Marin County. He has served on the Kashia Tribal Council as Secretary and Chairman for which he is most proud of and also has a passion for art. Eric has worked as an Animator, Illustrator, Storyboard Artist, Character Designer and Concept Artist in the videogame industry. He has also had experience in webdesign and graphic design. Eric is currently working for the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria as the Environmental Education Specialist.

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

May 23rd:

Participants shared personal stories with regards to gardening and food.

Site Orientation

Garden Tour: site history; Organic and Bio-intensive overview.

Soil: From the woods into the garden.

Weeds: Discussion of attributes and uses.

Clearing Beds

Composting: Building piles and other composting options.

Slide show: Weston Price, An exploration of traditional diets.

Price travelled the world over in order to study isolated human groups, including sequestered villages in Switzerland, Gaelic communities in the Outer Hebrides, Eskimos and Indians of North America, Melanesian and Polynesian South Sea Islanders, African tribes, Australian Aborigines, New Zealand Maori and the Indians of South America. Wherever he went, Dr. Price found that beautiful straight teeth, freedom from decay, stalwart bodies, resistance to disease and fine characters were typical of primitives on their traditional diets, rich in essential food factors.

When Dr. Price analyzed the foods used by isolated primitive peoples he found that they provided at least four times the calcium and other minerals, and at least TEN times the fat-soluble vitamins from animal foods such as butter, fish eggs, shellfish and organ meats.

The importance of good nutrition for mothers during pregnancy has long been recognized, but Dr. Price's investigation showed that primitives understood and practiced preconception nutritional programs for both parents. Many tribes required a period of premarital nutrition, and children were spaced to permit the mother to maintain her full health and strength, thus assuring subsequent offspring of physical excellence. Special foods were often given to pregnant and lactating women, as well as to the maturing boys and girls in preparation for future parenthood. Dr. Price found these foods to be very rich in fat soluble vitamins A and D nutrients found only in animal fats.

These primitives with their fine bodies, homogeneous reproduction, emotional stability and freedom from degenerative ills stand forth in sharp contrast to those subsisting on the impoverished foods of civilization-sugar, white flour, pasteurized milk and convenience foods filled with extenders and additives.

May 24th:

Harvest

Tools: Overview; Strengthen your body while gathering.

Creating a Garden: How and where to start; How to prepare the soil.

Garden Calendar: Planting with the seasons.

Seeds

Nursery Tour.

Seed Sowing: To start you garden.

Sowing Seeds for Your Health: Body constitutions; Relationship to elements; Eating with the seasons.

May 25th:

Planting in the Garden: Direct sowing; Transplanting; Watering.

Making Pestos

Herbal Allies: Yarrow, Plantain, Cleavers.

Closing Circle: Wrap-up; Overview; Evaluations; Good-byes.

Book List:

Gardening

How to Grow More Vegetables - John Jeavons

Golden Gate Gardening - Pam Pierce

Secrets of the Soil - Peter Tompkins and Christoper Bird

Seed to Seed - Suzanne Ashwoth

From the Good Earth - Michael Ableman

Wees of the West - Whitson, Burrill

The New Organic Gardener - Eliot Coleman

Step by Step Organic Vegetable Gardening - Shepherd Ogden

Rodale's All-New Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening - J.I. Rodale

Let it Rot! The Home Gardener's Guide to Composting - Stu Campbell

Common Sense Pest Control - William & Helga Olikowski, Sheila Daar

Food

Nourishing Traditions Cookbook - Sally Fallon

Breaking the Vicious Cycle: Intestinal Health Through Diet - Elaine Gottschall

The Body Ecology Diet: Recovering Your Health & Rebuilding Your Immunity -

Donna Gates

Whole Foods Companion - Dianne Onstad

Herbs

Family Herbal - Rosemary Gladstar

Healing with the Herbs of Life - Lesley Tierra L.Ac

Medicinal Plants of the Pacific West - Michael Moore

Green Pharmacy: The History and Evolution of Western Herbal Medicine - Barbara Griggs

Weston Price

Nutrition and Physical Degeneration - Weston A. Price, D.D.S.

Traditional Foods are our Best Medicine - Dr. Ronald F. Schmid

From the Soil to the Stomach - Penny Kelly N.D.

Full Moon Feast - Food and the Hunger for Connection - Jessica Prentice

Weston A. Price Foundation - www.westonaprice.org

The Price-Pottenger Nutrition Foundation - www.ppnf.org

Native Foods and Harvesting

Tending the Wild - M. Kat Anderson

Earth Medicine Earth Food - Michael A. Weiner

The History and Folklore of North American Wildflowers - Timothy Coffey

Walking Where We Lived - Gaylen D. Lee

Doug Gosling, OAEC Garden Manager. FIGR tribal member John Henry in the foreground.

Left to Right: Doug Gosling, Ken Tipon(behind Doug), Jeannette Anglin, Eric Wilder and Kathleen Smith.

L to R: John Henry, Devin chatoian, Lorelle Ross, Michelle Vesser, Doug Gosling and Ron Swoveland.

ken Tipon, Ron Swoveland and Doug Gosling.

Michelle Vesser talks about the importance of weeds.

Michelle Vesser discusses weeds and their forgotten uses.

Michelle Vesser shares the uses of weeds.

Anne Swoveland and Nick Tipon weeding the beds in the garden.

Doug Gosling taking the weeds to the compost pile.

HA! Lorelle carrying out some weeds from the garden.

Ron Swoveland helps to build a compost pile.

Jeannette Anglin gives compost pile building a try.

Ron Swoveland, Lorelle Ross and Doug Gosling building a compost pile.

Doug Gosling adding kitchen waste to the compost pile.

Adding layers to the compost pile construction.

Doug Gosling, Gloria Armstrong, and Lorelle Ross construct the compost pile.

Doug Gosling watering down the compost pile.

Jeannette Anglin and Anne Swoveland show their salad picked from the OAEC garden.

Michelle Vesser talks about the proper uses of garden tools.

Doug Gosling talks about adding amendments to soil.

Doug gosling adds amendments to the soil.

Tools of the trade. - photo Devin Chatoian.

Eric Wilder trying to use the tools as instructed.

Related Materials:

The Sustainable Vegetable

Garden: A Backyard Guide to

Healthy Soil and Higher Yields

(Paperback)

by John Jeavons (Author),

Carol Cox (Author)

Presents the basic principles of

bio-intensive gardening in concise,

easy-to-understand terms

accessible even to a gardening

beginner. By implementing bio-

intensive techniques and working

in harmony with natural garden

cycles, gardeners will soon produce yields up to four times greater than those obtainable with conventional methods, in a fraction of the growing space.

How to Grow More Vegetables

And Fruits, Nuts, Berries,

Grains, and Other Crops Than

You Ever Thought Possible on

Less Land Than You Can

Imagine

7th Edition

by John Jeavons

A classic in the field of sustainable

gardening, HOW TO GROW

MORE VEGETABLES shows

how to produce a beautiful organic

garden with minimal watering and

care, whether it's just a few

tomatoes in a tiny backyard or

enough food to feed a family of

four on less than half an acre. Updated with the latest biointensive tips and techniques, this is an essential reference for gardeners of all skill levels seeking to grow some or all of their own food.

Both books available in the FIGR Tribal Library

Related Websites:

Occidental Arts & Ecology

Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria

P H O T O S - click on photo to enlarge