Tend & Tell: Developing an Ethnobotanical Garden

This fall hybrid program is part of a yearlong mission to revitalize the ethnobotanical garden at the Longhouse and tell the garden’s 25-year story. Students become acquainted with the garden and its plants, habitats, and history as well as its ecological and Indigenous cultural contexts. Through both online and in-person class sessions, students develop plant identification skills, “adopt” a garden area, learn and engage in seasonal garden care, maintain a nature journal, carry out research, and support a vision for the next 25 years. Importantly, we pursue our studies with recognition that the land we occupy was stolen by European-Americans from the First People of this place and we commit to learn these difficult historical truths, support Indigenous leadership, and respect Indigenous sovereignty. In this spirit, we contribute our service-based learning to a living legacy that fosters environmental justice. Students are encouraged to continue study in the programs offered winter and spring.

12-credit enrollment is availablebased on a plan for additional independent study. Submit a detailed letter of interest to faculty. Signature is required.

Background:The Evergreen State College is located on the traditional territory of the Squaxin Island Tribe. These and other Coast Salish Peoples have lived since Time Immemorial on the shores of Puget Sound –– now known as part of the Salish Sea –– and have traditionally spoken dialects of the Lushootseed language. In 1994, the Evergreen Longhouse -- s’gʷigʷiʔaltxʷ “House of Welcome” -– the first Longhouse on a State college campus –- was constructed; the mission of the Longhouse Education and Cultural Center is to promote Indigenous arts and cultures. Also, in 1994, an ethnobotanical garden was established around the Longhouse. In the intervening years, challenges, including Covid, have interrupted the garden’s development and care.