WILD ABOUT OJAI: Environmental Learning Series
CHUMASH ETHNOBOTANY
Plant Knowledge Among the Chumash People of Southern California
Part I SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 8th 10 AM- 12 PM
JAN TIMBROOK
OVLC Offices 370 W Baldwin Road, Bldg. A4
Part 2 SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 9TH, 9 AM-11 AM
LANNY KAUFER
VALLEY VIEW PRESERVE
“Appreciation of Chumashan peoples’ lives and cultures requires some understanding of their relationship to the environment in which they lived. Food, medicine, raw materials for making clothing, shelter, all kinds of tools and utensils, religious paraphernalia, and other items essential to existence – all these things were derived in a fairly direct way from the natural world. And, in one way or another, virtually everything Chumash people made and used involved plants. Plants truly were everywhere in Chumash life, not only in daily activities but also in thought, philosophy and ways of viewing the world. How people thought about plants, named, classified them, and wove stories around them – these are just as fundamental part of culture as how they used them.” Jan Timbrook, author of Chumash Ethnobotany.
Join Jan Timbrook in the OVLC Offices at 10 AM on Saturday February 8th for a fascinating exploration of how the Chumash peoples used and thought about plants. Then on Sunday February 9th join Lanny Kaufer for a very Special Herb Walk on the new Valley View Preserve. A biologist and retired science teacher, Lanny been leading Herb Walks — native plant interpretive walks and hikes — in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties since 1976. An anthropologist and ethnobotanist, Jan is Curator of Ethnobotany at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History. She has been with the museum for more than thirty-five years and is one of the top experts in Chumash studies. She has collaborated on four books, and has authored a dozen scientific papers on topics ranging from herbal medicine to environmental management by the Chumash.
This double Wild about Ojai event is free to members and students and $10 for non-members. Become a member today! A family membership is just $35 per year. Registration is required as space is limited. To register contact Marti Reid at 649-6852 ext. 2 or marti@ovlc.org