Wild Rose and Western Red Cedar

Elise Krohn wrote a book prior to Feeding the People Feeding the Spirit called Wild Rose and Western Red Cedar which talks about Native knowledge with the land, and plants that are important to the Northwest. She opens up the book by talking about Native science. I think that people view indigenous knowledge as not being real science or being outdated and old which Krohn combats in the very beginning of this book. “The underlying foundation of native science is the concept that everything is connected and interrelated, that everything has a purpose and a place in the wheel of life. The physical world is connected to the spiritual world. Within this frame of reference, plants have a body, a ming and a spirit.” Krohn 2007, 2 A reason that oral tradition is so huge is because it was an effective method of passing down information to the youth for centuries. However, since Native youth is still stuck in white history trusting elders and stories have become dismal. Krohn states: “Fortunately, research in Western European science is now validating traditional knowledge just as traditional knowledge has led to discoveries in modern science…traditional stories might teach about the nutritional importance of huckleberries while Western European science validates this through clinical trials and laboratory research. “ Krohn 3, 2007 Krohn like her later book starts by validating Native struggles and then goes into traditional foods.

She writes about the importance of different traditional and local plants and animals to coastal Salish people. Krohn divides the plants up by season they are grown in. Then she writes the english name as well as the traditional Native name under it as well as what tribe it has significance with. She also inputs some recipes with the plants. Then after the plants she writes about the importance of food from the sea. “The sea offers people countless traditional foods including shellfish, fish, octopus, barnacles, chitons, sea cucumbers and, of course, the plants of the sea-seaweed.”Krohn 2007, 36 She then goes on to talk about herbs, and lists different health issues like diabetes and what herbs that can help. With diabetes you can use burdock, dandelion, fennel just to name a few. Then there are sacred herbs like Indian Tobacco of coyote tobacco which is what it is called in the book. Then there is Knnikinnick, mugwort, sweet grass, and white sage. Krohn 2007, 50 This book is mainly to teach about these plants and foods and give advice on weeds, and going organic.

This book is different from Feeding the People Feeding the Spirit because it’s mainly and information on plants where as the Feeding the People Feeding the Spirit is about Indigenous peoples talking about their loss of traditional food and culture, and how it is affecting Native youth today. I do think that this book gives a lot of advice for people who want to go towards a more organic natural way of living with local plants to the Pacific Northwest.