Cultural Kitchen Restoration

My project for this quarter was "Cultural Kitchen Cleanup and Repairs." The Cultural Kitchen, near the Campus Community Farm, is a space dedicated to the cultural practices of the EdCC indigenous population, and a space where campus and community members can gather to prepare food in some traditional indigenous manners. The space was in need of some upkeep, and service-learning parties were held to learn about the history of the space, do some restoration, and informed about future opportunities to engage with the space.

My duties included washing and water-proofing stake poles upon which salmon is traditionally cooked, and aiding in planting Lady Ferns, a native plant.

 Pole stakes, shown here mounted and freshly cleaned.

A closeup of the stake hole surrounding a traditional fire pit,

located in the kitchen.

The stakes were washed with soap, water, sanded down, and waterproofed with vegetable oil. It is important for the integrity of the poles to be maintained, as the space is used often for cooking demonstrations. Salmon (usually King or Coho) are flayed and mounted on the poles to be smoked by the fire,

 A garden of Lady Ferns, created by the volunteers that day.

For the Lady Fern garden, a space was designated on the outskirts of the sitting area for a group of ferns to be planted. I, along with a few others, gathered stones and sticks to mark and guard the area from potential trampling, while other volunteers replanted the fern sprouts from pots. Some of the traditional uses of Lady Fern include medicinal treatments for sore throats, coughs, and a purgative for those afflicted with intestinal ailments.

I enjoyed volunteering at the Cultural Kitchen a great deal, as I've had a hand in the past with its initial construction, which has now evolved into maintenance as it evolves as a business and place of teaching on campus. At its core, the role of the Cultural Kitchen on campus is to preserve traditional knowledge, especially of Co-Salish cultures, relating very heavily to the greater Salish sea (or Puget Sound) community. In regards of my service to this place, I see it as significant to maintaining my bonds with the indigenous community, and for others to establish and strengthen theirs. Not many people are aware of the history of the land they are on, and the story of indigenous peoples dates back far longer ago than the entirety of the United States.

Though what I've discussed so far is mainly in the realm of Anthropology, the Cultural Kitchen relates to Animal Biology on an ecosystem scale. There is a great emphasis on the awareness of and preservation of native wildlife, both animal and plant. A sandtrap is installed at the Cultural Kitchen to capture the tracks of wildlife that runs through the farm area, a wildlife camera mounted on a tree facing it, and initiatives to plant native species (as demonstrated by the Lady Fern.) The space offers insight on what kind of animals we may be unknowingly interacting with directly on campus, and carries implications for how human activities (student, staff, faculty, etc) may affect them.

Some questions that have been raised based on my experiences with the kitchen:

• What are intersections of the kitchen with other disciplines on campus, as seen by others? (Based on the history of the site there are several--anthropology, ecology, horticulture, biology, construction, among others, but I would ask this of many people in many different disciplines)
• How can the kitchen be integrated into curriculum?
• There are some styles of cooking not specifically Co-Salish, such as the Cobb oven, which is more common to Southwestern tribes. What other cultures traditionally use Cobb ovens, or make use similar traditional cooking techniques demonstrated in the kitchen?
• What other things can the kitchen install moving forward, architecture or plantwise? A gutter system was installed with another, earlier group of volunteers, while the Lady Ferns were planted by my group.

I participated in this project on March 10th, from 9am to 12pm. The organizer is Juliene Wall, the Cultural Kitchen Coordinator (juliene.wall@email.edcc.edu)