Fire from the Land
On New Years Eve, a group of women and girls hiked out, seeking fire from the land. We started the day, as always, with a thanksgiving circle. We gave thanks to the land and stated our intention to gather Mulefat. In our gathering, we intended to give back to the plant by cutting out the dead branches and opening the way for new growth.
By the end of the day, everyone had gathered enough dead, well-seasoned mulefat wood to make multiple fire kits. We had cut back many more dead and rotten branches, and looking at the shrubs I got the feeling of relief, of breathing easier. The wind could now play freely through the green, supple branches.
Besides materials to keep our central fires burning bright, the greater gift to us that day was getting to connect with the land itself. On our way, we sighted a golden eagle leaping from the crown of an ancient valley oak, a reminder of the power of wild places like this one. We also sighted countless ground squirrels, turkeys, acorn woodpeckers, lizards, and of course spectacular scenery.
This particular place is land where coyotes serenade the dawn, golden eagles scan for prey from high rocky crags, and mountain lions pace the drainages at dusk.
Huge sycamores cradle blue boulders in their roots, standing against the winter rush of the creek. Ancient oaks drop acorns that sustained Indian villages just a hundred years ago and on back into ancient history.
Uniquely useful and edible plants, thriving in relationship with Indian people for millennia and now languishing in disuse and decline, hang on in pockets here. This is truly a special, magical place. And the rest of the Bay Area can be this magical, too.
The native California landscape requires tending. And tending a landscape requires a community. By holding fire from the land as a communal value, by going out to the land and gathering and tending in support of that value, we’ve taken a small step, as a community, toward restoring our relationship with the land. Thank you Riekes Nature women!
For anyone who’s interested in learning more about tending the wild and restoring Mulefat and other natives to your backyard or open space, here are some resources:
Tending the Wild, by M. Kat Anderson.
How to Grow Mulefat, a creek restoration guide from the San Diego Sierra Club
Directory of Native Plant Nurseries in California
Urban Creeks Council, an organization dedicated to restoring an managing creeks in the San Francisco Bay region
