Our Guiding Principles

Plants are our Teachers

Through the stories and experiences of our Elders and Ancestors, we know that plants are  among our very first teachers. They are our allies—each carrying unique wisdom and valuable teachings that can help us learn, grow, and heal. Plants lead through example. Alder demonstrates how to build a healthy community through collaborating with other species and creating a place where many plants and animals can thrive. Yarrow reminds us of the importance of healthy boundaries, while willow shows us how to be flexible, yet strong. As we spend time building relationships with plants, we come to understand the depth of their wisdom, and we connect to important teachings of who we are and how we can be happy, healthy, and resilient.

We give thanks to Pacific Northwest Tribes who for thousands of years have stewarded this land, practicing management techniques including: burning and weeding camas prairies and mountain huckleberry meadows, building clam gardens on saltwater beaches, enhancing wetlands habitats, and harvesting sustainably so that plant and animal communities can continue to thrive. These practices create an abundance and diversity of foods, medicines, and other culturally significant plants, and we call these landscapes “cultural ecosystems.” European colonization and modern agricultural practices have greatly diminished cultural ecosystems, and we give thanks to tribal communities that are leading the way in land preservation and restoration. Our educational resources are intended to protect and promote healthy plant communities and ecosystems through education, ethical harvesting, and ecological restoration. Plants that are rare or at risk for over-harvest are not included, or are shared with the intention of promoting conservation and restoration efforts. 

Honoring Cultural Property Rights and Protected Knowledge

Many Native People hold cultural knowledge very close in order to protect plants, places, and cultural traditions. There may be multiple reasons for this. In Northwest Native Culture, knowledge is considered wealth and can be a part of heritage. Harvest sites, plant knowledge, recipes, and spiritual traditions may be passed down through a family or a spiritual community. This may protect the knowledge so it is not misused, and the plants so they continue to thrive. A teaching that Skokomish elder Bruce Miller shared is that having people within a community hold distinct knowledge helps the community to need each other and work together. In his words, “You don’t teach your children everything the same. If you teach them everything the same, they won’t need each other and the world will fall apart.” This is in contrast to dominant Western culture, which holds a collective belief that everyone should have free access to knowledge.

When developing educational resources, we collaborate with tribal elders and other tribal culture keepers to ensure that information included is appropriate to share broadly. All stories and cultural plant teachings are included with permission from the storyteller or plant knowledge keeper. We encourage educators and students to add specific knowledge around local language, culture, stories, and places as appropriate. We believe that cultural diversity is part of our richness as people. We also encourage educators to create opportunities for immigrant students to share their knowledge and traditions as well, and plant uses from around the world are included in the curriculum to encourage this.

Uplifting Indigenous Science and STEAM Education

Our educational resources promote the value and significance of Indigenous Science and Native ways of knowing, doing, and being, including intergenerational, experiential learning, the transmission of knowledge through stories, and recognizing and building reciprocal relationships. Activities help develop sensory observation and storytelling skills as a means for self-expression and social change. Many of the lessons are intended to cultivate student’s love for scientific inquiry and to promote STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics) career pathways.

Practicing Reciprocity

The teaching of reciprocity (building reciprocal relationships) is a foundational part of our work. Reciprocity is a form of stewardship and includes recognizing, valuing, and taking an active part in upholding the complex web of relationships between humans and nonhumans. Our educational resources and classes emphasize ways that people can develop meaningful connections and experiences with plants and thereby build resiliency, health, social/emotional intelligence, and care for the land.

Embracing Our Weeds

Our programs and activities include useful non-native species – for example blackberry, chickweed, dandelion, and plantain. These common and easily accessible “weeds” provide nutritious food or healing medicine. Wild foods help build food security for those who do not have access to healthy store-bought foods. Making herbal home remedies can help improve our health while connecting us with the gifts of the land.