Camas and Duck-Potatoes or what others called Wapato (Cree or Ojibwe) were farmed extensively. Recent findings suggest Wapato farming at the time when the Egyptians were building their pyramids. Wapato was not just used for food in the NW, the Indigenous Peoples of Montana ate the tubers raw or boiled, those of Colorado dried the leaves for medicines. Like Camas, it provided food that could be dried, cured and stored for winter consumption. And Wapato and Camas fed not just humans, consider the beaver and the muskrat that also gather and store the bulbs in large caches.  These are not the typical starches American Natives used (potatoes, squashes, corn, and beans) most likely never introduced into the Northwest because of geographic restrictions.

Have you ever wondered how:
a. Muskrats and beavers know how to harvest and store bulbs;
b. If mammals have “stored computer programs” related to skills; why don’t humans;
c. For example, who taught a lonely marmot to cut grass, dry it in front of burrows, and store for winter when cured;

and when it comes to humans:
d. Like the Dark Ages losing the Roman knowledge of how to make concrete, how quickly a culture’s skills and knowledge can be lost.

http://naeb.brit.org/uses/search/?string=sagittaria
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sagittaria_latifolia
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/american-antiquity/article/abs/were-the-ancient-coast-salish-farmers-a-story-of-origins/EDC5070E5064C00EBDE8E6E01134FB49
https://www.bing.com/search?q=earliest+garden+discovered+british+columbia
https://burkeherbarium.org/imagecollection/taxon.php?Taxon=Sagittaria%20latifolia
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/323879350_Katzie_the_Wapato_An_Archaeological_Love_Story

Have you wondered why the Native Indigenous Peoples from San Francisco Bay to Alaska did not use the 3 Sisters (Corn, beans, squash) or the Incan Potato?  Was it because of:

bad taste
the climate
ocean currants

Comments, content, questions appreciated; email bb@plc215.org

Copyright © 2024