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Arizona Ethnobotanical Research Association (AERA)
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Symposium 2004 - Symposium 2002 - Symposium 2000
The Ethnobotany of Food and Medicine in the Twenty-First Century
AERA looks at indigenous food as medicine
By S.J. Wilson
Excerpts taken in part from the Navajo-Hopi Observer
September 11th and 12th, 2004
Coconino Center for the Arts
N. Fort Valley Road, Flagstaff, Arizona
AERA has been working with indigenous herbalists and healers in the documentation and preservation of traditional plant knowledge since 1983. As the founding director of the AERA, Phyllis Hogan has facilitated the compilation of over 1,000 specimens in the organization's herbarium.
Hogan credited Hosteen Sam Boone, a well-known and greatly respected medicine man with the idea for organizing the AERA. Along with board members such as Theresa Boone-Schuler (Hosteen Boone's daughter),Jill Dedera and Pam Nakai, the organization also consults with schools across the Little Colorado Plateau.
"We began by working mostly with children, presenting plants appropriate for children,"Hogan said.
Having worked with Yaqui, Navajo, Hopi and Hispanic medicine people, Hogan posed a pressing question to members of each group.
"If people are still using these traditional healing herbs, why are the people still sick?" Hogan asked.
All answered in the same manner.
"That's an easy question," Hogan quoted one Hopi herbalist. "We eat the white man's food."
In seeking a theme for this year's annual ethnobotany conference, Hogan and AERA assistant director, Jill Dedera, looked to traditional and natural foods-knowing that we are what we eat, and that food is our first and most important medicine.
Traditional people spend a great deal of time honoring their food; food was given prayer offerings. Utensils such as mush sticks were held close to the women's hearts while they prayed for the health and welfare of their families, Hogan said. Food was prepared slowly, chewed and eaten slowly, and given honoring the home.
Michael Sockyma, Thoedora Homewytewa and their daughter, Michelle Sockyma were presenters at the conference, sharing traditional Hopi Plant knowledge and arts and crafts.
Theodora Homewytewa, of the Hopi Bear Clan, said that as the only daughter of her family, the role of herbal knowledge fell to her, rather than a male.
"We grew up with medicinal and edible plants. These were picked in season, so as we grew up we had the craving for certain plants at certain times of the year," Homewytewa said. These include plants she knows as spinach's, a type of wild carrot, and others that are used by the Hopi in gravies.
Michele Sockyma added to this observation, pointing out that one such plant comes out right around Easter, and that the Hopi use it to create very tasty egg gravy.
Theodora Homewytewa shares traditional knowledge about many herbs used not only for food, but also for medicine.
Dandelion serves not only as spinach, but also a healing tea. Homewytewa told of a neighbor's amusement when she collected dandelions that he'd pulled from his yard. Later, he came to Homewytewa for help with his daughter who was running a fever. "Here's your dandelion that you threw away," Homewytewa told him.
Homewytewa and Sockyma also spoke of the benefits of peppermint, creosote, mistletoe and other plants that could be used for various purposed including the cleansing of the blood system, healing sore and strep throat, and drying up athlete's foot.
One plant, which Homewytewa describes as the Queen Medicine," is the Juniper.
"There are no side effects to the drinker. If you need to clean yourself out, boil it and drink it. I guarantee it will clean you out good, so use it on the weekend," she laughed.
Jill Dedera, the assistant director of the AERA, and a long-time resident of Flagstaff, has a close relationship with plants. Her ancestors were farmers, who during times of drought, would have to depend on foraging to feed their families. Dedera has seen how, over the years, we've moved away from knowing what to forage, and that this is an important skill the people re-learn.
In the past 33 years, Dedera has learned what plants grow well in the Flagstaff climate and has noticed that during the drought, certain edible plants have become more abundant in her yard.
"These plants are what came up in my garden the year I decided not to plant because of Flagstaff water restrictions" Dedera said. After studying these plants she discovered they had more nutrients in them than some of the typical garden vegetables that she grew.
With her, she brought several trays of these plants that she washed and prepared as samples for the attendees. Such plants as lambsquarters (Chenopodium), purlsane (Portulaca) and cheeseweed (Malva) can be steamed, added to salads and provide important nutrients including calcium, Omega 3 and 6 that can stabilize blood sugars.
 Malva neglecta |
 Chenopodium |
One of her favorite plants is commonly known as mallow or "cheese weed," referring to the small round fruits that resemble little Gouda cheeses. "These were grown by the Romans" Dedera said. You can eat these, or suck on them for a sore throat.
John Munk, of Thunderfoot Earthworks, examines how cultures arise, and how they are defined by cultural resources passed on as a body of wisdom. "This knowledge becomes the basis of the culture," Munk explained.
Munk told listeners that he has learned a lot of amazing lessons by just coming to the plants. "If you are hungry, you can ask for food, if you are ill, you can ask for healing."
Munk spent a great deal of time examining the virtues of osha, or bear root. Bears utilize this plant when they come out of hibernation. Munk has watched them chew the root and rub it on their coats.
Munk described many kinds of hers, and advises people to never throw away apricot seed.
"These should be cracked and consumed. They contain B-17, a cyanide that won't damage healthy cells, and is therefore important in preventing and combating cancer," Munk said. "I use these in cookies and bread, and it really enhances the flavor. It's there, so why not use it?"
The collection and cultivation of indigenous plants is nothing new. Wendy Hodgson of the Desert Botanical Gardens has conducted an extensive study of the agave plant, of which there are between 130 and 150 species. Though all are not edible, the agave is a very important plant.
Though it has long been believed that the agave were not cultivated, Hodgson conducted extensive research that not only discovered new species of agave, but also proved beyond a doubt that these plants had been cultivated by Hohokam people as early as 900 a.d. She was able to identify five such species.
"The agave is a living archaeological feature. Archaeologists and botanists have worked separately for too long. The days of the lone researcher are over. Now the National Forest Service and National Park Service is supporting this work; we now see the landscape not only as natural, but cultural as well.
Kevin Dahl, Executive Director of Native Seeds/SEARCH, gave an entertaining slide show and presentation on the work of NS/SEARCH. The non-profit is dedicated to conserving, distributing and documenting the adapted and diverse varieties of agricultural seeds, their wild relatives and the role these seeds play in cultures of the American Southwest and Northwest Mexico.
Dahl shared a humorous story about the "devils claw" plant (Proboscidea)and how these stories were ways to protect the plants from being destroyed. After all, who would want to touch the devil's claw fruit if it would cause hair on certain parts of their body to get all wiry and rough like the devil's claw!
He also spoke of how NS/SEARCH has discovered that many of the indigenous people who consume their traditional foods are protected from such diseases as diabetes, while those that have moved away from their traditional diet are more likely to have diabetes.
Natasa Garic, international exchange student of cultural anthropology, Northern Arizona University Graduate Department. Natasha gave a presentation about food additives and their adverse effect on the human body. Natasa's research was very informative and covered such topics as MSG, aspartame and genetically modified foods.
Natasa also had suggestions for the attendees for preparing foods that do not contain these harmful additives along with using such substitutes as the plant stevia for a non-caloric sweetener instead of aspartame. She explained that aspartame contains wood alcohol as one of it's derivatives and that this substance has been proven to kill human brain cells.
Photo and story by S.J. Wilson
Over a hundred herbalists, students and fans of herbal medicine and the Arizona Ethnobotanical Research Association gathered to honor a group of noted southwestern herbalists.
Michael Moore, author of the excellent series of books including the recently updated version of, Medicinal Plants of the Mountain West, was joined by five former students, Phyllis Hogan, Donna Chesner, Denise and DeeAnn Tracy and Pamela Hyde-Nakai. Each presented a plant with special significance to each other as a practicing herbalist.
One of the important and perhaps startling messages coming out of this year’s symposium is that some plants considered staples in any herbal practice are becoming endangered.
Hogan, the director of the AERA, explained that traditionally, the gathering of plants is a sacred undertaking. Her own indigenous teachers instructed her to always make an offering to each plant, to spend time talking to the plant about the purpose for which it will be used and about the person who is to be healed. Further, she was taught that one should dress nicely to enter the plant world. Perhaps one would wear favorite jewelry or other adornments to show respect for the plant. Finally, one should never gather more than needed for the purpose at hand, nor take more than a third of a plant community.
Once the plant is brought home, before processing offerings should be made to the plant. Once this sacred relationship has been established, the plant will heal.
Donna Chesner also considers her work as an herbalist a sacred undertaking, and chose the profession in honor of the spirit of her father, whom she described as the family doctor.
“He had this drink made of hot whiskey and lemon juice,” she said, pulling an expressive face. Over appreciative laughter, Chesner assured her audience that the concoction worked.
From a childhood of shared wilderness journeys with her father, Chesner began to gather indigenous knowledge of plants with surprising properties. One can fatten or capture ponies, another serves as an eyewash. Herbalists could regulate menses and even attract love matches with the proper use of plants. These were and are the traditional uses of plants known by the Shoshone, Blackfeet and Paiute peoples.
Currently, Chesner is the administrator and a teacher at Moore’s Southwest School of Botanical Medicine.
Hogan’s dissatisfaction with mainstream medicinal practices as a young mother spurred her journey into the living pharmacy of nature. Wanting a healthier and natural healing system for her young daughters, Hogan began her study with an aging curandera, Senora Valencia, in the early 1970’s.
A colorful healer who walked the fields with pieces of Osha root tied to her shoes, Valencia’s apparent
eccentricity intrigued Hogan. As time passed, the young student gained the confidence to ask the curandera why she always wore a sprig of the root on gathering expeditions. “Don’t you know? It keeps snakes away,” Valencia replied.
Later, among the Navajo, Hogan learned that this tribe used Osha for the same purpose. From the Hopi, she found credence to Osha’s fame for soothing sore throats. The root is used to keep voices strong for singing long, important ceremonial songs.
Hyde-Nakai was originally attracted to the Navajo Reservation, also in the 70s, as a teacher. However, she hadn't’t been in Kayenta long before she noticed something that changed the course of her life. “It seemed like the plants were talking to me,” Nakai explained. This observation led her to Moore’s institute. After graduation, years later, she went on to found her own school, the Sonoran Herbal Institute.
DeeAnn and Denise Tracy are second-generation herbalists, or, as they prefer to describe themselves, guinea pigs for their mother, Phyllis. As girls, the pair followed their mother’s footsteps on herbal adventures through Yaqui, Navajo and Hopi lands. Laughing, each admitted to the rebellion of youth, rejecting their mother’s teachings during their post-high school and college lives. Eating too much junk food, taking too much penicillin, both young women experienced the toll taken on their bodies. Ultimately, both were to throw themselves on their mother’s doorstep for help.
Today, DeeAnn serves as the manager of the herb room at Winter Sun Trading Company and has developed her own line of aromatherapy products, Peak Scents. Denise is the founder and manager of the Super Salve Co., located near the ghost town of Mogollon, New Mexico.
Unlike western medicine, herbalists encourage people to become a part of their own healing process, DeeAnn explained.
Michael Moore, lovingly described by Hogan as the “Jerry Garcia of the plant world,” directs his Southwest School for Botanical Medicine in Bisbee, Arizona. His journey there is perhaps most surprising of all the presenters. He left behind a lucrative career in the music industry of Los Angeles to open his own business, Herbs, Etc., in 1968. Three years later he relocated to New Mexico. “Unlike Phyllis,” he admitted, “I have no rituals, no dogma. I was just a white guy with plants to sell.”
Knowing that it would be ridiculous to present himself any other way, he won a place within the community of Taos, and later, Santa Fe. “Because I didn't’t assume to know, I got to learn a lot more. It was about knowing my place. I’m going to tell old Mexican women what to buy? All I had to do was acknowledge I was selling. This was a culture that accepts and welcomes the trader.”
He has documented through his extensive travels that many important species, once plentiful, are sadly destined for extinction. These include Ginseng and Goldenseal. He therefore urges herbalists and students to seek alternative plants or combinations of several to do what the endangered plants do. “Let’s face it. There aren't’t that many plants left,” Moore said, comparing Ginseng to the mountain gorilla. “The gorillas are not going to recover. The Goldenseal and Ginseng will not come back, so we have to grow them. We’ve got to find things that do the same thing as Ginseng.”
Moore also speaks against what he calls ethnic strip- mining by ethnographers and practitioners of other academic disciplines. “Beware the wannabees,” he chuckled. “Even very good ethnographers have sold their souls or are dancing with the corporate wolves.”
Moore takes great interest in the observation that plants people have depended on in the past don’t always work on today’s health problems. For example, Moore pointed out, herbs that once worked on spasmodic asthma are not effective on the environmental asthma presenting themselves today. He also pointed out that 50 years ago, type II diabetes was unheard of.
“We have to do what old curanderas and medicine people do. We must try all of our herbs on this new diabetes. Now you are finding old remedies with new applications. We are creating a new model of combating new diseases with old remedies.”
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by Sandy J. Wilson
(reprinted from The Navajo-Hopi Observer, Vol. 19, No. 38 09/27/2000)
The Arizona Ethnobotanical Research Association held the Third Annual Ethnobotany Symposium and Concert September 15-17 on the campus of Northern Arizona University. R. Carlos Nakai, Theodora Homewytewa, Gail Tierney and Gary Paul Nabhan were just some of the individuals who assisted in this educational event.
Phyllis Hogan, the AERA executive director, opened the symposium on Friday evening with a warm welcome and a blessing by Michael Sockyma, Hopi. Following the blessing, Hogan delighted the audience of 200 with a give-away of gifts which included Native American arts and crafts, jewelry, music and natural salves and lotions. She went on to introduce her friend and colleague, Gary Paul Nabhan, Ph.D.
Nabhan took the podium and began his inspirational talk by honoring Hogan. "She has been teaching for a quarter of a century, in her gentle way, that there are things at our doorstep that can heal us. I believe this is one of the most powerful messages we can give the community we live in."
In Nabhan's opinion, the saddest part of Hogan and other ethnobotanists' message is perhaps that the knowledge that everything we need for food and medicine is more important now than ever in the past. "We are at a crossroads in human history where we will either return to the earth or go even further from the things that can heal us."
Ethnobotany is the study of plants, humans, and the earth and their interrelationship. That study shows that there have been dramatic changes in how we as human beings obtain our foods and medicine, Nabhan explained. For example, for the first time in human history, half of what we spend for food is on meals not made in our own homes. "Humanity's ecological footprint is larger than ever," he said. And Americans are one of the biggest offenders.
"On the average, our food travels 2,000 miles before we ingest it. The average amount of land needed to produce food for one person in the world population for a year is two and a half acres," Nabhan continued. "For the average American person, the average is 21 acres of land for a year." Quoting another scientist, John Ryan, Nabhan said that if everyone in the world was eating like the average American we'd need four planets to grow food on.
While that might sound confusing to some, the reality is simple. The increase in acreage takes into consideration land needed to feed cattle which is used as food. We are a nation of meat-eaters.
Trends in foods spiked with medicines (nutraceuticals), genetically altered crops and corporate takeovers of small farms all foretell a sad story. "While someone is making money on all of this , it ain't the herbalists or the farmers," Nabhan said. "There are only about 5,000 small farms left. Land is in the hands of less people. More and more people are concerned about this than ever.
Nabhan proposed a "modest manifesto" on how to return to the earth. His efforts began in his own home, where he and his wife vowed to make four out of five meals from their own area. "What if each of us began with obtaining our food within 250 miles of where we live? What if we obtained all of our foods and medicines from sources within our area and stopped reshaping environments into those of another region? Why are we using enough water to fill an Olympic swimming pool to grow food the equivalent of one hamburger? Why aren't we using traditional foods instead of marshmallow-plastic fruitloops?" he challenged.
Ultimately, his goal would be to use only those foods and medicines within 30 miles of his own home.The indigenous cultures of the Colorado Plateau offers diverse knowledge of where to find food, how to grow it, and how to use it.
From his own decades of desert research , Nabhan envisioned a Desert Walk for Biodiviersity and Human Health which began at the Sea of Cortez in March. "We discussed this with elders of the Tohono O'odham Tribe, who agreed to support us. And so fifteen to twenty students, elders and indigenous people began a twelve day, 240 mile-long walk back to the Desert Museum in Tucson, Arizona.By the end of the walk, the pilgrims numbered 180. And, far more amazing, the walkers ate only locally grown foods and used locally grown medicines.
"A number of us said that they had never walked more than four miles a day in their life. Some of us began that first day with an absurd feeling that in twelve days we would be in Tucson. But we hung together and took care of each other."
The walkers traveled an average of twenty miles a day. they visited sacred sites, conducted healing circles, ate an amazing array of native foods. No less than 300 people were involved in gathering an preparing food for the pilgrimage.
"When we arrived at the Arizona port of entry, eight loaves of Wonder Bread were stomped flat." A documentary film of the walk showed a man dancing with gusto on top of the bread. This, according to Nabhan, was one of the many rites of passage of the walk.
"Elders picked medicine. We had a lot of burns, blisters, and aches, yet we were better taken care of than in any clinic, " Nabhan exclaimed. "It was extraordinary to see food back in its sacred context, prayerfully prepared."
Presentations of Hopi plants for food and medicine, basketry ecology and demonstration of Mayan style basketry and primitive skills as well as overviews of gardens of antiquity, heirloom seeds were just some of the other offerings of the AERA Third Annual Ethnobotany Symposium.
Hogan expressed her gratitude in those many people who helped make the symposium a reality. "I want to thank Miguel Vasquez of the Southwest Studies Program, NAU's Anthropology Department, The City of Flagstaff's Science and Arts Department."
"Those many who are not mentioned are all held close in her heart," a friend added.