Nurturing Native Roots at Pie Ranch
Article by Laura Ness | Photography by Deborah Luhrman
This is a story of healing, of understanding, of love of the land, of developing trust and nurturing the common bonds of humanity. It is a story of respect for the one and only home we all share. Perhaps it is also a story of how divergent cultural priorities can be aligned to preserve this planet, or at least one small, beautiful slice of it.
On the grounds of Pie Ranch in Pescadero lies a garden of native plants with deep cultural significance. Designed and laid out by Amah Mutsun tribal member Matthew Lopez, the garden is a circle with four pie-shaped slices representing different important plant groups: crafting plants, healing plants, nuts and berries, and grassland foods. Its pathways include fascinating signage that explains the history of the Amah Mutsun people and ways the plants were traditionally used.
“We agreed that Pie Ranch would be a center for the history of the [Amah Mutsun] tribe to share with the thousands of people a year who visit us, and shine a light on the work the tribe is doing.”
—Nancy Vail, Pie Ranch
The purpose of the Amah Mutsun Native Garden is to help preserve the culture and traditional ecological knowledge of Indigenous peoples who once dwelled here on the windswept Pacific Coast among meadows, redwoods and chaparral. Creating and tending the garden has been life changing for all involved.
Nathan Vasquez, an Amah Mutsun tribal member, has been working on the garden since 2016—planting elderberry, rosehips, huckleberry and grasses used for food, basketry, medicine and ceremony.
“It’s been a learning experience for us, as we were regaining lost knowledge through archeologists and botanists,” he says. “We hiked and drew and wrote down the Native and scientific names and uses. We gathered seeds and plants and took them to UC Santa Cruz, where we babied them until they were ready to transplant.”
Rick Flores helped the tribe source plants for both Pie Ranch and a similar garden in San Juan Bautista. He’s director of horticulture and steward of the Amah Mutsun Relearning Program at the UC Santa Cruz Arboretum and says the gardens provide multiple benefits.
“Traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) shaped ecosystems and plant communities here on the Central Coast prior to European arrival,” says Flores. “The Amah Mutsun are working to revitalize their culture through the relearning of TEK, while at the same time that knowledge is relevant and needed today to inform contemporary restoration and management practices.”
There are no known descendants of the tribes that once called this land home. Their fate was sealed by disease, forced work at Mission Santa Cruz and violence. The Amah Mutsun tribe was under the sphere of influence of Mission San Bautista, but here at Pie Ranch can leave a legacy for many coastal Indigenous tribes who regeneratively farmed and replanted the land in unique sustainable ways.
“Our people survived by intermarrying with Mexicans,” says Vasquez. “We were given Spanish names at the missions and tried to blend in, because as Indians we had a price on our heads.”
Vasquez has been involved with the tribe since fifth grade, but a camping trip to Pinnacles National Park with a UC Berkeley archeologist proved eye-opening.
“It gave me the real true knowledge of who we were,” he says of the trip with the tribe’s Native Stewardship Corps. “We learned that some plants are used for basketry, while others are medicinal. Elderberry is popular in tinctures and teas, and the shoots were used for bows and arrows. It is beautiful to learn!”
“I learned through archeologists the truth about who we were. My grandfather’s mother was from Santa Cruz and his family had Navajo heritage. Growing up, I thought we were Mexican.” Proud of his heritage, he is passing it on to his children, who frequently camp with him at Pie Ranch, where he hopes to build a traditional tule hut.
As a non-federally recognized tribe, the Amah Mutsun have no formal landholdings. But their Land Trust provides a critical way for young adult tribal members to connect with their tribal homelands.
“Every tour and conversation about food, farming and land begins in the garden. It is a physical representation of our collaborative work together.”
- Nancy Vail, Pie Ranch
Pie Ranch’s Nancy Vail and her partner, Jered Lawson, have been stewards of Pie Ranch since 2003. They knew of the Quiroste and Cotoni tribes that once inhabited the area, but had never met any of their descendants.
In 2013, Lawson and Chairman Valentin Lopez of the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band connected while serving on an advisory committee of the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District. Learning that Pie Ranch lies within present day Amah Mutsun territory, Lawson and Vail felt a responsibility to be in solidarity with the tribe and work together.
“Chairman Lopez came and walked the land with us multiple times,” says Vail. “We acknowledged that it could take a while to build trust when so much was historically broken, but we mutually agreed we wanted a partnership.” They created a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) and on August 14, 2014, held a sunrise ceremony with food and prayer. Work on the garden began.
“We agreed that Pie Ranch would be a center for the history of the tribe to share with the thousands of people a year who visit us, and shine a light on the work the tribe is doing,” she says. “Every tour and conversation about food, farming and land begins in the garden. It is a physical representation of our collaborative work together.”
“Land rematriation is part of the heart of the conversation,” adds Vail. “Nationally, we need to reckon with the harms inflicted on Indigenous peoples and give land back to tribes when and where possible.”
Lawson hopes the project will encourage other coastal landowners to build bridges for cultural access, health and healing. “We are looking at codifying this MOU into a cultural easement like the Amah Mutsun have with Mount Umunhum. The tribe should have access on a permanent basis,” he says.
Vasquez agrees, “The younger generation is coming into tune with the way we need to live with the land. They have a real understanding of how the system works. If you have land, you can feed your children, and they can feed their children.”
May the healing, now begun, continue.
If you go: The public is invited to visit Pie Ranch and participate in volunteer workdays in the garden on the third Saturday of every month. Volunteer workdays at the San Juan Bautista garden take place on the second Saturday of every month. Learn more at amahmutsunlandtrust.org/events and PieRanch.org
This story is a collaboration with Edible Monterey Bay. Originally published in Edible Silicon Valley magazine, Issue 34 pg 23 as "Nurturing Native Roots". View this story in our digital edition here.
Laura Ness is a longtime wine journalist who contributes regularly to Edible Monterey Bay, Spirited, Los Gatos Magazine and the Wine Industry Network, sharing stories of the intriguing characters who inhabit the world of wine and food.
