Devon Peña, March 11th, 2013 
The Pacific Crabapple tree has been growing in Northwestern North America longer than any other species of ornamental fruit. The Pacific Crabapple tree grows in lifezones ranging from grasslands to foothills. The tree usually grows in moist environments; either in open wetlands or near bodies of water. Native groups from British Columbia all the way down through Cascadia used the Crabapple tree for various purposes.
Read more: Eating Our Landscape: the Ethnobotany of the Pacific Crabapple Tree
Devon Peña, February 4th, 2013 
A grassroots campaign has been launched in Washington State for the adoption of a labeling law for genetically engineered foods (a.k.a. GMO or transgenic foods). The grassroots initiative seeks support for I-522, which would mandate labeling of transgenic crops or foods containing GMOs. You can read the full text of the proposed initiative below this commentary. The I-522 movement is led by a diverse group of consumer advocates, organic farmers, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and has recruited a wide variety of endorsements from NGOs, municipalities, faith-based groups, farmers and farmer associations, seed savers and exchange groups, plant breeders, and well-known and respected elected officials.
Read more: GEO Watch: Effort Underway for Labeling Law in Washington State
Devon Peña, January 10th, 2013 
Salal, a native shade-tolerant shrub that produces little hairy berries and has a long affiliation with First Peoples as a source of food, medicine, lore, and much more. Sadly, while the salal plant has long been part of the food, medicine, and culture of Coast Salish peoples, the arrival of settlers led to the exploitation of the land, forests, and workers.
Read more: Salal: Food, Medicine and Culture of the Coast Salish Peoples
Devon Peña, December 19th, 2012 
The Chinook believe that when salmonberry was first discovered, the Coyote was instructed to put its berries inside the mouth of every salmon he caught from the river to ensure continued good fishing. This is how the name “Salmonberry” originally came about long ago.
Read more: Salmonberry: Food, Medicine, Culture – Part 2
Devon Peña, December 17th, 2012 For centuries berries have been used for various reasons within many native tribes in the Pacific Northwest such as the Chehalis, Cowlitz, Lower Chinook, Makah, Quinault, Quileute, Swinomish, and the Iñupiat. Each berry has its own unique history that sometimes can be told through native legends, as seen with the salmonberry. According to storytellers in the Chinook First Nation the coyote was “instructed to place these berries in the mouth of each salmon he caught in order to ensure continued good fishing” and for that reason this berry came to be known as the Salmonberry.
Read more: Salmonberry: Food, Medicine, Culture – Part 1
Devon Peña, November 27th, 2012 
The wild strawberry has been recognized and used by indigenous peoples since the dawn of time. Native Americans have valued the wild strawberry as food and medicine, recognizing it as a blood purifier. Native Americans also have a spiritual understanding and relationship with the groundcover plant as illustrated by the Anishinaabe name for the wild strawberry, odeiminidjibik, which translates as “root of the heart” and illustrating the intimacy of the people and this wild berry.
Read more: The Wild Strawberry: a Sacred Purifier
Devon Peña, October 18th, 2012 
This essay by Quita Ortíz on the work of Ralph Vigil and his family to restore traditional food and farming systems in northern New Mexico highlights one of the most significant qualities of acequia agroecosystems, their rootedness and adaptability to place.
Read more: Rebuilding our local food system
Devon Peña, August 23rd, 2012 
Environmental justice is also about our state of mind; biophysical and mental wellness are interrelated!
Read more: Mind Over Matter?
Devon Peña, July 29th, 2012 
HISTORY SHOWS URBAN FARMS CAN FEED CITIES WHILE PROVIDING ECOLOGICAL SERVICES – Perhaps the revival of urban farming will lead not just to a diet for a small planet but a diet for smaller people?
Read more: Urban Farms or Urban Myths?
Devon Peña, July 12th, 2012 
The colonizer’s food is slowly killing us. Food is the weapon of self-destruction the colonizer placed in our hands and sells us at the Super-Size Me fast food joints and convenience marts.
But food is also the solution. It is our tool for liberation, health, and spiritual healing. Deep food is our weapon – the means to move toward autonomy and the renewal of a living traditional community.
Read more: Food is the Solution, Deep Food is Our Weapon
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