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A community garden,
the Native American way
by AMY STEWART
I'D HEARD THAT THERE WAS A GARDEN
BEHIND THE Potawot Community Village, the new United Indian Health
Services facility on Janes Road, but I never got around to visiting
it until last week. Marnin Robbins, head gardener of the community
garden, invited me to stop by on a sunny Friday afternoon.
The clinic and garden are situated
on a 40-acre site that UIHS purchased several years ago. It had
been used for farming and ranching since the mid-1800s, but before
that the Mad River (called "Potawot" by the Wiyot tribe)
flowed through the site, creating a wetland that is also being
gradually restored. The clinic, which provides health and dental
services to 16,000 American Indian clients,
is designed to resemble a traditional village; it's built in
a circular shape around a garden of native plants. This interior
garden even includes a waterfall, which feeds into a small stream
that runs into the wetland. The large gathering room at the entrance
is made from recycled wood, and the building's exterior, which
looks like weathered redwood, is actually concrete. A fallen
redwood tree was used to make forms for the concrete "planks,"
and it is almost impossible to tell the difference. Everything
about the building speaks of tradition and a concern for its
impact on the land.
[Ed Mata, one of
the Potawot gardeners]
When I arrived at the clinic,
there was a farm stand set up outside the front door. Volunteers
and staff were doing a brisk business selling produce from the
community garden. "This is just one way we teach our clients
about nutrition," Robbins explained. "We're very focused
on `five [fruits and vegetables] a day' here."
Dietician Leah King told me
that the farm stand has given her a chance to teach families
about foods they might not try otherwise. "We started getting
kohlrabi out of the garden," she said, "and nobody
knew what to do with it. So we made a few low-fat dips and had
a tasting right here at the farm stand. People took recipes with
them, and now we sell out of it." (Kohlrabi, if you've never
tried it, tastes a little like cabbage or a mild radish. It's
shaped like a turnip, but the bulb grows aboveground. Organic
gardeners love it because it's so easy to grow in this climate.)
We walked out to the garden,
following a path that meanders through hayfields and the wetland
restoration area. "We're planting native plants here,"
Robbins explained, "but ironically, we have to try to take
nutrients out to make it work. This land was pasture for so long
that it actually needs to be lower in nutrients for the native
grasses to survive and outcompete the clover." The plan
is to plant many of the grasses and other plants that American
Indians have used to make baskets and mats so that those traditions
can take place again. The clinic's philosophy is that human,
cultural and environmental health is interconnected. The wetlands
and community garden seem to be the physical manifestation of
that belief.
Robbins designed the 2 1/2-acre
garden himself. I'm not sure I'd even call it a garden; it has
the bustle and ambition of a small farm. Rows of strawberries
yield enough ripe berries to keep the farm stand stocked, heads
of garlic cure in the sun, and green beans are poised at the
bottom of trellises, ready to climb. The garden is surrounded
by a living fence of berries, and on the other side of that fence,
a newly planted orchard offered up the promise of plums, apples
and pears in a few more years. Two greenhouses hold tomatoes,
peppers and eggplant. Just down the hill, an enormous compost
pile is covered in straw.
"This garden gives us a
way in," Nutrition Services Director Nancy Flynn said. "We
can use it to talk about nutrition and exercise. Diabetes prevention
and treatment is such a big part of what we do, and the garden
lets us address all those issues."
"It wasn't so long ago,"
King said, "that American Indians around here were pretty
self-sufficient when it came to food. We offer canning classes,
but this community already knows how to process whole foods.
They know how to garden, and many of them have access to land,
sun and water. We've started giving out vegetable starts along
with food, and it's great to see people planting their own garden
-- either a home garden or a community garden. We'd love to make
ourselves obsolete, to encourage everyone to have their own garden
so ours isn't necessary."
The farm stand isn't the only
way that UIHS clients connect with the garden. The staff holds
events throughout the year, including a blessing of the garden
at the start of the season, a Hawk Walk that focuses on exercise
and a banquet to celebrate the harvest. Teens come to a weeklong
summer camp to learn about organic gardening, and kids from local
schools and Head Start programs visit as well. Produce from the
garden also goes into a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA)
program in which clients receive a weekly or monthly basket of
mixed produce from the garden. Staff and interns even visit families
in their home and teach them how to cook healthy meals with the
food they get.
"We did cut back a little
on the chard and the kale," King said. "We're trying
to focus more on staple foods: tomatoes, onions, green beans,
broccoli -- food that's a little more familiar." (I could
sympathize with the predicament: Kale and chard are so easy to
grow that you can get carried away.)
I just can't describe how it
felt to sit in the shade of the greenhouse and talk about health
and nutrition while surrounded by this abundant and well-ordered
garden. Last year, the garden produced 20,000 pounds of food
for American Indian families. It's a revolutionary idea to tie
health care and organic gardening together like that. I've certainly
never been to a doctor's office or a hospital that offered fresh
strawberries at the entrance. But at the Potawot Community Village,
you get a sense that perhaps those ideas are not so new after
all.
The garden and the wetlands
areas are open to the public, with certain restrictions, during
daylight hours. UIHS is a nonprofit and they can use your donations
and your time. If you're interested in volunteering at the garden
or making a donation, call Marnin Robbins at 826-8476.
_ _ _
Sun Valley Floral Farms holds
an Open House on Sunday, July 20, from noon to 4 p.m. The farm
is located in Arcata at 3160 Upper Bay Road. If you've never
been, I highly recommend it. You are certain to learn something
new about how flowers are grown.
_ _ _
Tickets are available now for
the Wildlife and Native Plant Garden Tour on July 26 from 10
a.m. to 4 p.m. The event is sponsored by the Redwood Region Audubon
Society and the California Native Plant Society. Tickets are
$15 and may be purchased at Strictly for the Birds or Freshwater
Farms in Eureka, the Northcoast Environmental Center in Arcata,
or Blake's Books in McKinleyville.
_ _ _
Now that I've exhausted the
issue of flower thieves, it has been suggested that I look into
plant orphans: those plants that get left on your doorstep without
so much as a note. Grace Kerr in our office pointed out that
in a way it's the opposite of flower theft. So if you've ever
put a plant up for adoption or taken one in, drop me a note at
,
or write in care of the Journal at 145 G St., Suite A,
Arcata 95521.
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