Ethnobotany | Essential Plants & Trees PNW Native Americans

[@n.r.4579]

I'm not Native, but I have Native friends, and I'm even in a relationship with someone of Yaquí heritage (who is, unfortunately, distanced from that heritage; look up what Porfírio Diaz did to the Yaquí if you want a general idea). I appreciate seeing a video on the regional ethnobotany of the PNW, but, echoing the Indigenous commenters here, I encourage you to speak of them in the present tense. Although colonization has forced many not to *rely* on foraging so much to sustain themselves, many still *do* forage, at least for cultural reasons. In any case, these people are still living, and deserve the respect of that fact being acknowledged, after all they've had - and still have - to struggle through to survive. I'm not attributing any malice to you, and I enjoyed the video. This is just a suggestion of a small but vital improvement you can make.

[@hydroxide5507]

cry about it

[@pinkfloydeagles34]

Seconding this! Indigenous folks are very much still here and practicing many of their lifeways

[@paulpursell4177]

I listened to the very first sentence and paused it and went to the comments to say exactly what you just said. I live in Oregon and there are native people still doing what they have always done. Nothing changed "hundreds of years ago" in regards to the native people and plants. With all honesty, that was probably the worst and misleading opening sentence possible. Im sure the rest of the video is good so I'm gonna continue watching now. But yeah 💯 %.

[@V3ND10L4]

Thank you for this video! Very informative and appreciated. One suggestion: Please refer to the Native populations in a contemporary perspective. While the innovations of our people are 100s, 1,000s of years ago, the people are still here, present, and still use these innovations. What this does is present Native populations in a contemporary context and counters the idea that Native tribes are extinct. This is not meant to be a criticism. I appreciate the channel and the work you've put into it and, especially, the tribute you give to the Native tribes for their contributions! 🙂👍🏾

[@epleyhead489]

Love that I've found a channel with an ethnobotany focus, especially in the PNW!

[@wildernessstrong6131]

Fantastic. Ethnobotany really is the spirit behind what we do. We’re constantly looking for ways to tie it in to what we cover in our videos.

[@sidneyfellows6693]

Wonderful video! Lots helpful insight for myself as a young ethnobotanist. I come from the Newe or Shoshone-Bannock Tribes and also the Chippewa Cree Tribes. Our Newe people traditionally use many of these plants that are spread out across today's state and country borders. If I could make a suggestion, I believe it would be appreciated by all Indigenous descendants to have you speak of our ancestral practices in the present tense as we are still here, still have our cultures, and still have strong relations with these many plants + practices. Although genocide and assimilation have disrupted our traditional knowledge in some ways, many of us still utilize our ancestral wisdom on the daily. Oose (thank you)!

[@theogrondahl4007]

Please make more of these! This is awesome!

[@wildernessstrong6131]

Will do. Thanks for the great feedback!

[@Benvoyonsdoncle]

I really enjoyed the willow demonstration portion of the video; thank you for taking the time. Two thumbs up!

[@mosiacmaniacswarm]

this is by far the best video ive come across since learning about the plants around me, thank you so much for being so in depth with this your passion for these plants really shows

[@wildernessstrong6131]

Thanks for the great compliment!

[@digitalphoenix72]

Great video! Im surprised there arent more faux "nature lovers" complaining about "harming" trees to use them as tools. I know one youtuber where people piss and moan every time he uses a tree for survival. Its always city dwellers unfamiliar with wild living that make the biggest stink about things they arent even familiar with😂 the cordage craft was awesome! It reminds me of when my great grandfather would make whistles out of a tree branch and a pocket knife. Thanks for the time you took to make the video:)

[@PastaSausta]

I loved every moment of this

[@wildernessstrong6131]

Thanks for letting us know! Glad you liked it.

[@Plumberslashwaterbender]

Thanks man! Great vid cheers from WA

[@FishCakeIsland4928]

Great stuff, I'm in the uk, but a lot of the plants that grow in the US grow here too.

[@johncarr6625]

How about identifying the tree first

[@aaronhuber-chois1511]

Great video, I love learning about ethnobotany. Can you make a video on basketry or foraging for food and/or the storage methods that native Americans used?

[@wildernessstrong6131]

Thanks! We love learning about it too. We will absolutely be doing videos on foraging and food storage in the future. Including basketry. Thanks for the comment!

[@shelleypilcher3812]

Need better sight of plants and trees up close instead of focusing on you, majorly! Missed out on that. Otherwise you dis an pretty good job. Beautiful and great content.

[@davidlee8551]

Excellent, thank you.

[@nomadichunter2818]

The yellow paint from the root and the woman in bark clothing seems interesting. Would love to see you guys explore more of that.

[@wildernessstrong6131]

That’s interesting to us too. Suggestion noted…and thanks for the good feedback.

[@alberthell7089]

Danke schön from Bavaria.. Great Video and iam imprest how fast an accurate you speak. Cool Shirt ..kind regards Albert

[@wildernessstrong6131]

Bitte Schon! Danke fur das kompliment. And thank you for watching!

[@stanlam1238]

Interesting however to talk about wild edibles without discussing toxic look alikes is worrisome. Discussion of queens Anne lace without mentioning water hemlock is a missed opportunity

[@beggsnachin]

Ugh. Making cordage. I hate doing it so much. It hurts my hands. I have a spinning wheel and so line to figure out how to make threads or twine with natural materials - plants. I do wool already but summertime is too hot for wool. I'm looking to make a type of linen. I don't have enough nettles yet. But we have tons of thistle and blackberries. I have made baskets with the blackberry bark. Today I did some prep work on the blackberry vine and picked off the inner layer that is used.for cordage. I tried making cordage by hand for a little while. I tried spinning it. I tried shaving it into wool-like fluffs. Didn't get far with that, either. It's very frustrating when I'm trying add in new pieces.

[@christineedwards4865]

What species of dogwood is that? It look different from cornus florida, the species that's native to where I live. I had no idea they were edible. I had only heard about cornus kousa, the Japanese type that gets used for landscaping around here. Also, thank you for showing how to harvest the bark from a willow branch. Now I know where I went wrong the last time I attempted it. This video was filled with great info, but less experienced viewers should probably be warned to be careful if they try harvesting Queen Ann's Lace aka daucus carota aka wild carrot. There are some deadly look-alikes (a few species of hemlock) that can grow in the same habitat. Great video!

[@wildernessstrong6131]

very true...good thought.

[@sashacw4798]

Cornus sericera sericera and Cornus nutallii are native to the pnw

[@3AlarmBushcraft]

How do i get a wilderness strong tshirt? I would love to buy one and help support this channel.

[@wildernessstrong6131]

Fantastic, thank you! In the coming months we do plan on making some shirts, hats etc for our supporters. We’ll make sure to let everyone know. Thanks again!

[@herbsmith6871]

Very cool my friend 🤠

[@myemptyroomanda45]

You give a great description of why people do living history. This is my new favorite channel. Is there somewhere I can buy one of your t-shirts? I want to wear it to the next big BCUSA gathering coming up.

[@wildernessstrong6131]

Thanks for the great comment! We’re still a couple months away from opening up the official merch line, but shoot me an email at [e-mail] and let me know your size and which shirt you had your eye on. We’ll see what we can work out. -Luke

[@murdo4243]

Yes

[@novampires223]

What river is this?

[@wildernessstrong6131]

Clackamas River in NW Oregon.

[@Leroy-Jenkem]

is that naches valley??

[@wildernessstrong6131]

No we’re south of Portland near Clackamas along the Clackamas river.

[@Slippindisc]

I am a bit of an ethnobotanalist myself

[@Ophiotterkin]

I belong to the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde. I am not a spokesperson for the tribe though. Just making my place known for my opinion to make sense. I felt very disrespected in the way you talked about my tilix̣am. We are still in the process of reclaiming our food sovereignty, languages, and traditions that were literally beat out of our grand parents. Yes, GRANDPARENTS. Not ancestors. If you know a tribal person, you know a survivor of the generational trauma caused by colonial Christians and the federal government. But to speak of Oregon tribes like we aren't here... That was hurtful. Enjoying the aspect of learning how PNW tribes did things barely 200 years ago, is okay. If you came to the area back then, they would have happily taught you these things. It was just so hard listening to you mix and match various tribes' traditional ways of resource gathering. Oregon western tribes are not Oregon eastern tribes. Who are not Washington tribes on either side of that state. Let alone suggesting Oregon tribes made things the way Alaskan and BC tribes do/did. We made bark armor out of the western red cedar here in the valley and on the coast. We didn't really weave other trees into armor. That sounds like the Tlingit. Their armor was a formidable thing to contend with. Ours only tried to protect the vital organs in an arrow fight. I hope to find an apology somewhere in your profile/videos. To all the indigenous you hurt by making it sound like tribes out here were all doing the same things and are no longer even here. Otherwise you are no better than other colonial descent people who assume for what ever reason that we don't exist and therefore our traditions that are still alive today, are yours for the taking. Do better, be better. hayu masi