Native Plants for Food and Medicine Class

The images are from the Native Plants for Food and Medicine class at Idyllwild Arts in Summer 2009 taught by Barbara Drake (Tongva) and Lorene Sisquoc (Cahuilla/Apache). They will be teaching their 2010 Native Plants week-end workshop again this year on July 10-11. The photographs above and below show Lorene working with members of the class.

In Barbara and Lorene’s  classes at Idyllwild, they share what they’re really passionate about, the nutritive and medicinal properties of California plants used as food, medicine, fibers, dyes, shelter, ceremony, and inspiration.

The photo above shows Barbara Drake talking about the use of fibers.

Peeling the skins off acorn nuts.

There are also more photos and information about Barbara and Lorene’s class at a previously published post titled Grinding Mesquite Pods.

The pictograph is from an Idyllwild rock art site. Daniel McCarthy, archaeologist and tribal liaison for the San Bernardino National Forest, as well as a long-time collaborator with Lorene and Barbara, took us to rock art sites during the week-end. Daniel wrote Medicinal Plants Used by Native American Tribes in Southern California with Marcia Roper and the late Donna Largo, published by the Malki-Ballena Press.

For more information, check out Rose Ramirez’s  article about Barbara and Lorene’s class last year for News from Native California.

Also, check out our 2010 Ethnobotanical Calendar, where both Barbara and Lorene are quoted about their uses of California native plants.

~ by deborah small on June 7, 2010.