Healing Garden

ḳʷoˀdáḳɫi s chíbakab -- Welcome to Chemakum! We are standing on the territory known as Tsemakum on the first settler maps. This is the home of the Chemakum people from time immemorial, and the place for which the town of Chimacum, and our School District, were named. Please visit the Chemakum website to learn more about the past, present, and future of the Chemakum people. It is also the traditional land of the S'Klallam people. Many other Native Peoples lived, traveled, and traded here, including the Snohomish, Makah, and Twana / Skokomish.  

Indigenous Ancestors of this region did not plant and grow gardens; they gathered, harvested, and practiced controlled burns, tending, shaping, and cultivating the ecosystems of this land to support human communities as well. They might have referred to the Chimacum Valleys' prairies as t̓siḳ̓áti chikʷósh álita - “land for growing food," aˀápatlo t̓siḳ̓át - "land belonging to plants,” or t̓ot̓sipátyaḳʷ - "sprouting / rearing plants meadow." 

The landscape looks very different today, with farms, working forests, businesses, and communities sharing the Chimacum Valleys. But there is still much to learn from the Chimacum Creek watershed, and the plants, animals, and keepers of traditional knowledge and wisdom that have always called it home. This Healing Garden is the culmination of a place-based, project-based, year-long learning adventure led by Garden Educators Valerie Randall and Katie Jagger, with fourth and fifth grade students in Mr. Reed's, Mr. Orr's, and Mrs. Johnson's classes. It is the result of a deep study of the native plants of the Olympic Peninsula, including their natural history, and traditional edible and medicinal uses. With consultation from teacher and biologist Kit Pennell, master herbalists Shatoiya DeLaTour and Nicole Larson, and landscape design coaching from Candice Cosler, students researched, selected, and imagined this Healing Garden space where students, families, friends, and community members can gather, explore, learn, share stories, spend time in the company of plants, and be refreshed in body and mind. 

We envision this Healing Garden will be tended, revised, harvested from, and cared for by many Chimacum students in the years to come!

This project was made possible by funding from the NOAA Ocean Guardians Schools grant; the Rotary Club of East Jefferson County; the Port Townsend Food Coop's GROW grant, and the Community Wellness Project.