{"id":26611,"date":"2024-07-12T18:00:32","date_gmt":"2024-07-13T00:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/abundance-in-the-alpine-crow-canyon-holds-webinar-about-wild-food\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T23:42:59","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T05:42:59","slug":"abundance-in-the-alpine-crow-canyon-holds-webinar-about-wild-food","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/abundance-in-the-alpine-crow-canyon-holds-webinar-about-wild-food\/","title":{"rendered":"Abundance in the alpine: Crow Canyon holds webinar about wild food"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Reyna
Reyna Banteah uses Pueblo farming techniques on her Ts\u2019uyya Farm, which she named after the Zuni word for hummingbird. (Photo courtesy of Reyna Banteah.)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

Two women who have devoted themselves to learning and living with the land spoke about it recently during a webinar sponsored by Crow Canyon Archaeological Center. Their secret? Cultivate a relationship with the plants you pick and listen to them.<\/p>\n

Every Thursday at 4 p.m., the archaeological center outside Cortez hosts a free, one-hour webinar<\/a> to broaden and diversify the community\u2019s knowledge of the past, present and future of their home.<\/p>\n

The series covers different topics each week, and on June 27<\/a>, the conversation centered on wild food and foraging.<\/p>\n

Reyna Banteah and Katrina Blair took turns presenting and answering questions about locating edible food sources outdoors, how to properly harvest what you find, and the multifaceted nutritional and medicinal values of wild food.<\/p>\n

\"Katrina
Katrina Blair\u2019s lifelong study of wild plants began as a teen. One summer, to fully focus on wild food sources, she camped and lived off the land. (Photo courtesy of Katrina Blair.)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cWhen we eat like a wild animal, and we\u2019re eating so direct, like earth to mouth, the vitality and nutrition is at its peak,\u201d said Blair, who wrote a book on wild food and now teaches sustainable living in Durango and around the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery time we cook or process it, we lose things. And then we pack it, ship it, store it. It (nutritional value) just keeps going down.\u201d<\/p>\n

Picked from the ground, dandelion greens have more calcium than milk and are packed with iron. Thistle roots regenerate liver cells. Rose hips, the fruit of wild roses, have vitamin C, Blair said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s such a wealth of these trace minerals in all the wild weeds and native plants,\u201d Blair said.<\/p>\n

Turtle Lake Refuge<\/a>, a nonprofit wild food cafe in Durango, cooks and prepares wild food sourced locally.<\/p>\n

The cafe has lunch on Tuesdays and Fridays, and frequents the farmers market, where it offers rose hip granola bars and thistle chai teas, among other things.<\/p>\n

The more you\u2019re outside, around the environment you want to harvest in, the more you can learn how to identify the edible plants and notice the abundance around you, said Banteah, who\u2019s from the Pueblo of Zuni in New Mexico and started Ts\u2019uyya Farm<\/a> in Albuquerque.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to feel like we\u2019re part of the environment we live in,\u201d Banteah said.<\/p>\n

That way, we\u2019re able to appreciate all the land does for us.<\/p>\n

In Zuni culture, for example, people share a deep kinship with corn. They regard it as a protector.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s even a specific clan for corn. It provides the sustenance that we needed to get to this point,\u201d said Banteah. \u201cCorn has always been a special part of our food ways.\u201d<\/p>\n

Banteah said it\u2019s important to protect these teachings, but it\u2019s also important to make sure younger generations know about plant knowledge and Native culture.<\/p>\n

\"Wild
Wild foods at a past workshop. (Photo courtesy of Crow Canyon Archaeological Center.)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

On Aug. 28, there will be a wild food and cuisine workshop<\/a> with a field trip to the San Juan Mountains. Banteah and Blair will teach attendees, joined by Rebecca Renteria, the American Indian Initiatives outreach coordinator at Crow Canyon, which is hosting the event.<\/p>\n

The intention is to help folks see the abundance in the alpine around them and to teach how to prepare these wild foods.<\/p>\n

The more we can eat from our home and build understanding of how we can keep the earth healthy and how it keeps us healthy, the better, Blair said.<\/p>\n