Discovering Ethnobotany
Michael Wilken-Robertson. Kumeyaay Ethnobotany: Shared Heritage of the Californias.
Visiting with family in Mexico last year, we learned a lot about the terrific work of Eric’s cousin ethnobotanist Michael Wilken-Robertson. He has worked for decades with indigenous groups in northern Baja California, retelling the stories important to their community, with a focus on how the many native plants were used throughout time. Ethnobotany was an unfamiliar term to us - it is the scientific study of the traditional knowledge and customs of how people use plants - for medical, religious, culinary and other uses.
Much of what Michael does is listen, learn, and discover - it is a time-intensive and rewarding practice full of rich engagement with both people and plants. He and some partners collected these descriptions and cataloged all these stories from indigenous communities and northern Baja, documenting their usage of plants that are like native across that area. Indigenous communities have experienced genocide, and and so parts of the culture have been disappearing. Their language is disappearing and the people in their practices are disappearing. Focusing on ethnobotaniy is critical for preserving the history of how groups of people interface with plants.
Humans have integrated with and benefited from plants since the earliest days. Learning about the significance of plants to many aspects of human society really increased our appreciation for learning the significance of native flora locally - for people living here long before us.
The Deviled Eggery is on a two-acre parcel that is overrun by nonnative invasive grasses, that we want to rewild with local native flora. We have a lot to learn - about the plants themselves and how best to steward their return to the land, and about their significance to indigenous cultures. Will we become ethnobotanists? Not by a long shot. But we hope to be able to learn some rich history of native flora and their cultural significance, and to be able to share this with our guests.