As a followup to yesterday’s Flower Moon bucket, I think we need more flowers. Welcome Flower Full Moon!
.
My flowers today are what’s blooming currently in the prairie on the bluff I’ve taken Bucketeers to before: Iceberg Point, a part of the San Juan Islands National Monument on the island where I live. I am so grateful this piece of BLM land was protected by President Obama in 2014, and fervently hope our current administration doesn’t turn its eyes in this direction to reverse that protection.
.
Blue Camas is in full bloom right now, about two weeks late due to our unusually cool wet spring, but opening up all over. In general wildflowers on the bluff are blooming late this year.
Blue Camas was a favored food source for local Straits Salish Indians hereabouts, as it was for many tribes in the West. In fact it was so valuable, land was cultivated intensely to raise camas bulbs for thousands of years, even used as a trade item. Families had particular areas they managed, and their rights to the spot were handed down to the following generations.
"Land management" may understandably evoke images of logging, dams and monoculture. Local tribes - with practices such as controlled burning, plant cultivation, and clam gardens - were not as destructive, lacking modern technology and energy, but they were highly motivated to increase food supply to support populations considerably larger than conventional wisdom assumed until recently. For example, before European explorers made contact, the three permanent villages on Lopez Island numbered about as many people as the current resident population today. The village nearest Iceberg Point was just a couple of miles away by canoe, easily farmed through the year. Maritime Pacific Northwest Indians managed prairies in many locations besides the Salish Sea area, including the Olympic Peninsula nd lower Puget Sound.
In the larger historical context pairies are what people knew for the first several thousand years after coming to the Northwest (www.wildlandfire.com/...). Archeological evidence shows both that the area was settled by people some 11,000 years ago and that the climate was warmer and dryer then (www.fsl.orst.edu/...). Forests only began to take over about 5000 years ago when the climate became cooler and wetter. Inhabitants chose to maintain prairies, knowing the wealth of food they provided.
Today, most of the ancient prairies are either urban, forested or developed for modern agriculture. A few remnants remain, and while invasive plants have moved in, the range of native vegetation is an indication of the special nature of each prairie.
The Daily Bucket is a nature refuge. We amicably discuss animals, weather, climate, soil, plants, waters and note life’s patterns.
We invite you to note what you are seeing around you in your own part of the world, and to share your observations in the comments below.
Each note is a record that we can refer to in the future as we try to understand the phenological patterns that are quietly unwinding around us. To have the Daily Bucket in your Activity Stream, visit Backyard Science’s profile page and click on Follow.
|
A poisonous relative of Blue Camas — Death Camas — is just beginning its bloom. Pollinators have found the few open flowers.
When families cultivated their patches of camas, it was necessary to weed out the Death Camas whose bulbs look identical to Blue Camas. Usually Blue camas was dug up just after flowering.
An interetive sign has been recently installed at the entrance to the Monument land as you emerge from the woods onto the prairie bluff. Along with information about rare and fragile flowers, and a request to stay on trails, it includes a section of an old Douglas Fir showing fire scars of 200 years of intentional burns. Mature Douglas firs have thick bark which can withstand light burns. The younger firs and shrubbery would get burned away, leaving perennial bulbs and rhizomes unaffected.
Another valuable bulb for food was from Chocolate Lilies. These lovelies are blooming now too.
Close-up views:
Chocolate Lily was called Rice-root Lily by the Salish Indians, for the small bulblets.
Bulbs were dug in spring (before flowering) or in summer or fall (after flowering) using a digging stick, a wooden spade, or the fingers. Chocolate lily bulbs were cooked immediately, or could be partially dried, then stored in a cool place for winter use. They were cooked for about 30 minutes in a cedarwood box, by boiling for a short time then mashing to a paste, or occasionally, by baking in ashes. Chocolate lily bulbs were used as an item of trade. Even when cooked, they are slightly bitter, and some people used to soak them in water overnight to reduce the bitter flavor. source
Other flowers are also blooming under the Flower Moon out at Iceberg:
Any more flowers in your part of the world? What’s the night sky like where you live — did you see the Flower Moon last night? I did. The overcast skies of evening cleared overnight. Mixed clouds and sun this morning in the Pacific Northwest.
Please add your nature observations in the comments!
"SPOTLIGHT ON GREEN NEWS & VIEWS" IS POSTED EVERY SATURDAY AT 5:00 PM PACIFIC TIME AND WEDNESDAY AT 3:30 ON THE DAILY KOS FRONT PAGE. IT'S A GREAT WAY TO CATCH UP ON DIARIES YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED. BE SURE TO RECOMMEND AND COMMENT IN THE DIARY. |