ONLINE SPEAKER EVENT — Learning and Loving Our Watersheds: Mokelumne River and East Bay Converge

When: Tuesday, November 14, 2023

Time: 7:00PM - 8:30PM

Where: Online

Join us for an exciting evening as Wholly H2O returns to its roots by exploring where East Bay tap water comes from and what our better management of local rainwater and stormwater to benefit our watersheds looks like. (Hint: it also benefits the ecosystem you're living in!)

Where Does Your Water Come From? | Nina Gorden-Kirsch (Home 2 Headwaters)

In July 2022, Nina Gordon-Kirsch walked more than 240 miles, tracing the Mokelumne River - the river that provides tap water to the East Bay. She left her home on Lisjan Ohlone land (Oakland) and 33 days later, she arrived on Washoe land, at the headwaters of the Mokelumne River in the Sierra Nevada mountain range.

We'll explore the incredible journey of the Mokelumne River and its significance to the East Bay. Discover the river's hidden treasures, from its pristine waters to the diverse wildlife it supports. Learn about the river's historical and cultural importance, and how it continues to provide a precious gift to our community. All ticket sales from this event will go towards water education in Bay Area schools. Help support this education by coming to the event or by donating here: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/home2headwaters

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Green Infrastructure - Keeping Water in the Watershed| John Steere, AICP Contra Costa County Watershed Planner, Hidden Hero of the Greenbelt

How does managing rainwater and stormwater benefit local watersheds in the East Bay? While flow from the Mokelumne River watershed may be the source of the SF East Bay tap water, the entire East Bay is a floodplain for the many creeks flowing from the hills. At the same time, much of this area is covered with impermeable pavement, sidewalks and buildings, disallowing the natural infiltration into soil as needed to clean water naturally. Learn about the stormwater management projects John has overseen to benefit the local watersheds by keeping rainwater/stormwater in the ground.

This event is a fundraiser for both Wholly H2O and Home 2 Headwaters! It is free to attend, and we ask for a donation if you can. To sign up for this event, use this link or the "register" button above.

BAY STREET AND MOUTH OF TEMESCAL WALKING WATERHOODS TOUR

When: Saturday, November 18th, 2023

Time: 11:00AM - 12:30PM

Where: Bay Street, Emeryville, CA (specifics emailed upon registration)

Explore the hidden history of Bay Street at the mouth of the Temescal Creek in Emeryville with Wholly H2O! While many may think of Bay Street in Emeryville as a convenient upscale shopping mall, did you know that it is actually built on top of a Lisjan Ohlone sacred burial site? During this in-person tour, we'll investigate the pre-history of this area during the last ice age, investigate what Lisjan Ohlone's lives might have been like along the Bay's shoreline, and shed light on how colonists changed Bay Street to become the hub of consumerism we see today. In addition, we encourage you to check out this tour on Pocketsights!

If you are in need of free tickets, contact: info@whollyh2o.org

To sign up for this event, use this link or the "register" button above.

Historical Feast: A Bay Area Indigenous Diet Deep Dive

Giving thanks, the Ohlone way — an exploration of Indigenous food culture and diet

Having stuffed turkey for dinner this November 23rd? Cranberry sauce? Maybe you’ll even be whipping up a batch of fresh mashed potatoes and warm gravy. Whether or not you plan to celebrate Thanksgiving this year, the iconic holiday and its related foods have long dominated public conversation in the U.S. — it's one of the country’s oldest celebrations and a hallmark of American tradition. Every November, millions of American families gather ‘round and feast on classic harvest foods and autumnal treats, telling stories of the Mayflower and Plymouth Rock. But we often neglect to discuss the other side of this story — Indigenous history and culture. There is so much more to America’s culinary background than potatoes and pumpkin pie, so this month, in honor of the upcoming season of giving, we’ll be exploring the history and significance of the Bay Area Ohlone’s food and diet. 

Mural of an Ohlone Village / Ann Elizabeth Thiermann, MFA, California Muralist

Most Americans know the old Thanksgiving tale — in 1621, pilgrims from England were struggling to survive in “the New World” when the Wampanoag people came and helped them out, and they all celebrated their new friendship with an autumn feast in what became known as the First Thanksgiving. Though this story is fun to tell around the dinner table, it is a romanticized version of Thanksgiving’s origins that ignores the larger, detrimental impact that colonists had on Indigenous communities. While this newsletter won’t be focusing on the unfiltered history of Thanksgiving, about which you can read in this Business Insider article, we will be highlighting Indigenous stories to bring visibility to this often overlooked and underrepresented aspect of contemporary conversation and modern retellings of American history. 

Food plays an integral role in our everyday lives. It’s an especially important element of culture, which is partially the reason why Thanksgiving has been so everlasting. But despite the close link between humanity and sustenance, we are surprisingly disconnected from what we eat nowadays. We often don’t know where our food really comes from, or what foods are/were naturally abundant where we live. 

As far as the Bay Area goes, the rich biodiversity present in the region has provided ample food sources for Indigenous communities for thousands of years. The tribes that have occupied the Bay Area region are numerous, and you can learn more about them here. We will be focusing specifically on the Ohlone people, which itself is an umbrella term used to describe 50+ distinct tribes that have lived in Northern California’s coastal regions for over 10,000 years. The Indigenous group that occupies what is now the East Bay Area — or Huichin territory— is the Lisjan, a Chochenyo-speaking tribe. Because of a lack of solid preservation of recipes due to the colonization of Indigenous people by Spanish missionaries, and similarity between diets among the various tribes under the Ohlone name, information specifically on the traditional Lisjan diet is somewhat limited, so this newsletter will be focusing on the broader dietary staples of the Ohlone as a whole. 

Indigenous food at Café Ohlone / Thomas J. Story, Sunset Magazine

Part of understanding the Ohlone’s diet involves knowing the Bay Area’s historical geography. Before colonization and development, the Bay Area was lush with forests, marshes, grassland, mountains, and coast, which provided a plethora of nutrient-rich plants, fungi, fish, and animals. The Ohlone place a big emphasis on connection with the land, believing that if they care for the land and only take what they need, the land will take care of them in return. So, they did not farm, herd animals, or attempt to mass-produce food, rather they gathered the meat and plants naturally available. 

Rivers and streams provided the Ohlone with an abundance of salmon, trout, and sturgeon, as well as various species of waterfowl, such as geese and ducks which they hunted using masterfully crafted nets. The Pacific Ocean was also a major food source; the Ohlone caught saltwater fish, collected shellfish (including clams, mussels, oysters, and abalone -- which was of particular importance for its spiritual significance and use in ceremonial jewelry-making), and gathered seaweed, which was dried and occasionally used as a seasoning. The Ohlone also hunted sea lions and seabirds like heron and pelicans, and collected meat from beached whales. 

The Ohlone’s hunting was not just reserved for the coast; they often hunted small animals on land, typically squirrels and rabbits. Communally, they hunted game like elk and deer, and were even thought to have hunted grizzly bears, though the validity of this is still debated. The Ohlone also caught quail and other bird species. 

While the Ohlone ate a variety of animal meats, their diets were mainly plant-based. Nuts, seeds, berries, and leafy plants were significant dietary staples, and the Bay Area provided a copious amount of edible species. Because of this, their gathering followed seasonal changes.

In winter, the Ohlone gathered various mushrooms, like porcini and chanterelle, as well as seaweed. During this period, the Ohlone also ate foods that had been dried or smoked previously in the year.

As spring approached, herbs and plants were collected and prepared in a number of ways depending on the plant, including boiled, cooked, mixed into salads, or steeped for teas. Some of these spring plants include yerba buena, sage, clover, miner’s lettuce, dandelion, sorrel, milkweed, poppy, and watercress. 

Continuing into summer and the warmer months, the Ohlone collected bulbs and roots like the mariposa lily bulb, soaproot, wild onion, and cattail and a variety of berries: wild strawberries, blackberries, elderberries, and currants. Berries were sometimes made into sweet ciders, and gathered buckwheat and chia seeds were made into porridges and seed cakes called muyyen in Chochenyo.

For the Ohlone, autumn is the time of nut and seed gathering. Sokóote, a type of fruit from the bay laurel tree was enjoyed for its aromatic smell. Bay nuts, hazelnuts, black walnuts, and pine nuts were also commonly gathered. One of the most notable foods of the Ohlone was also gathered in the fall: acorns. Acorns are an extremely important part of the Ohlone diet, and they were used in a variety of ways. After being leached of their natural tannins (which contribute to their bitter taste), they could be grinded into a paste, added to porridge, milled into acorn meal for bread and cakes, crushed and mixed into soups, and dried to be eaten later on. 

Acorn gathering was a significant facet of Ohlone culture; poles were used to shake acorns from the oak trees in which they grew, and were caught and collected in woven baskets. It was a tradition, complete with celebrations, dances, and social gatherings. Oak trees were plentiful in the Bay Area, and came in different varieties, the four most popular being the coast live oak, valley oak, tanbark oak, and California black oak. 

A tasting spread at Café Ohlone / Edible East Bay

Though the colonization of the Indigenous communities led to a major loss of Ohlone tradition, including food and recipes, there are still people working to keep this culture alive. Café Ohlone in Berkeley is a supper club established to shed light on Indigenous stories and food, and reintroduce Ohlone people to their culture, serves Ohlone foods and educates patrons on Ohlone history. This unique restaurant combines traditional Ohlone fare (alongside other, less-traditional food groups) with storytelling to create a unique dining experience for people from all backgrounds. You can learn more about their food and background through this great article by Edible East Bay. In addition, the Sogorea Te’ Land Trust, an organization led by Indigenous women, has been working for almost 10 years to reintroduce the Ohlone to Bay Area land and increase Bay Area Indigenous visibility in the mainstream. And of course, WhollyH2O’s Walking Waterhoods Tours dive into more Ohlone history if you’re interested. 

This November, enjoy your holiday traditions, but also give thanks to the people that have cared for this land for millennia. That might mean adding an Ohlone dish like this nutty acorn bread to your Thanksgiving spread, supporting Indigenous businesses/nonprofits, or simply educating yourself on and acknowledging the importance of Indigenous history in America, and uplifting Indigenous stories whenever you can. 

Give Thanks!

Our lives depend on healthy watersheds, and Wholly H2O depends on YOU!

Our important (and fun) work takes cash, plain and simple. Will you help us keep our events and yours coming? Please use the link below to flow some cash in our direction!

Wholly H2O couldn't run without the work of our talented volunteers. We have a bunch of unique opportunities throughout the year, such as podcast producing, accounting, and content editing! Take a look at our Volunteer Match to learn more!

We are especially interested in these two roles:

• Two additional editors for Walking Waterhoods tour content
• Videographer and Editor for Watershed expert videos