Seasonal Lifeways of the Tualatin
The Tualatin Plains The Tualatin Plains was a vast oak savanna. From General Land Office survey field notes there was noted a large number of oaks and oak…
Tag: ethnobotany
Camas Journal 2023: Baby Camas, Mowing, Cultural Fire
This year I tried to get out there into the field when the camas is beginning to erupt from the ground. I am not sure I have seen…
Reconstructing the Willamette Valley Camas Swales
In recent work I have begun to document the various wetlands of the Willamette Valley from before settler changes took effect. Our best, and most
Museum Anthropology Review Volume 16: Studies in Museum Ethnography in Honor of Daniel C. Swan
Social media is changing again and it seems like a good time to give Shreds and Patches more love and attention. My collaborator and special issue co-editor Michael…
Teasel Adventure
The European Teasel (Dipsacus fullonum) was brought to Oregon in the 19th century. It is a hugely invasive plant that has a habit of taking over large areas…
Camas and Micro-seasonality at Minto-Brown Park
We all are aware of the annual seasons, winter, spring, summer, and fall, but in the growing cycle of the plants of the Willamette Valley there are micro-seasons…
Seasonal Wetlands and Minto-Brown Island Park
It seems important to tribes that if they are truly to become restored, and decolonized, they need to be culturally restored by helping to decolonize their lands and…
Camas Journal, May 10, 2022 Minto-Brown Park
Visited again Minto-Brown park to see all of the camas fields. That field near the city has at this time a very thin population of camas, it seems…
Camas Journal, May 8, 2022
I returned today to Bush Park to take in the middle prairie and see how things are going. The weather has scattered spring rains all day. This year…
Joryville Park May 5, 2022
I recently heard about another park I had not been to in Salem, Joryville Park. I went assuming it would be mostly grassland but was surprised that this…
Camas Journal May 2, 2022
I revisited Bush Park today to tour the other areas of camas. I began at the “Picnic” area, south side of the park at its upper level and…
Camas Journal, May 1, 2022
Today, I visited three camas areas in Salem. They present different characters and interesting contexts this spring. As I left the fields I noticed splotches of yellow on…
The Mind of Plants: Book launch by Synergetic Press on December 15
–Synergetic Press has just released The Mind of Plants: Narratives of Vegetal Intelligence, edited by John C. Ryan, Patricia Vieira and Monica Gagliano, and with a foreword by D…
Unlikely Blessings: A poem on hope, despair and periwinkle
This poem, written fifteen years ago as my youngest son began (thankfully successful) chemotherapy for a rare immune system disease, was recently published for the first time by S…
Fifty Shades of Green: Reflecting back on the Oscar-nominated film Embrace of the Serpent in the age of coronavirus [excerpt]
The tragic death from coronavirus of indigenous actor Antonio Bolivar, star of the Oscar-nominated film Embrace of the Serpent, has made me reflect back on all the facts…
Catching up with Glenn Shepard: Interview to launch benefit photography sale with Linda Matney Gallery
This interview launches a new partnership with Linda Matney Gallery. Proceeds from the sale of selected photographs will directly support vital health services including emergency Covid-19 prevention …
Voluntary Isolation in the Age of Coronavirus
As governments around the world decide on public health measures to contain the spread of coronavirus, indigenous peoples across the Amazon, from the Madre de Dios region in…
Yellow Jessamine: A coronavirus haiku
Yellow jessamine infects a premature Spring: Fragrant and lethal. Gelsemium sempervirens, known as yellow jessamine or Carolinajasmine, is a toxic plant with alkaloids related to…
Toé (Brugmansia suaveolens): The Path of Day and Night [excerpt]
The Path of DayHenchi, a young man from a remote Matsigenka native community in Peru’s Manu National Park, left home one morning to go hunting in the vast…
Summer Cycling at Minto-Brown Island Park
This summer, I have been returning to mountain biking in the local park, Minto-Brown Island park. I used to mountain bike a lot, when I lived in California.…
Fieldwork: Highlights from the Textile Group
This post in the recent series on December 2017 research and travel in Guangxi, China was written by Carrie Hertz, who also provided the photographs. In this post,…
Weeds, Herbicides, and Bodies: Emerging Entanglements in Toxic Agricultural Landscapes
By Tony VanWinkle, Sterling College § Dedicated to the memory of Jackie Dill. Pigweed. Photo by author. Shortly after the unexpected death of friend and mentor Jackie Dill, I…
The hummingbird shamans of Peru: Excerpt from "Agony and Ecstasy in the Amazon"
Abanti blew the tobacco with fast furious puffs. The snuff entered my nostrils as a sequence of chartreuse explosions that expanded in chain reaction and spread backwards and…
The hummingbird shamans of Peru: Excerpt from "Agony and Ecstasy in the Amazon"
Abanti blew the tobacco with fast furious puffs. The snuff entered my nostrils as a sequence of chartreuse explosions that expanded in chain reaction and spread backwards and…