For our final lesson, we watched four generations of contemporary Ohlone women talk about the legacy of the oak tree and its cultural importance to their family and to their people.
In the kitchen classroom, we made acorn brownies featuring acorn flour gathered and processed on Chumash land and a tea highlighing native plants. Weeks ago, the second and third graders learned that the Spanish named the territory that is now San Francisco “Yerba Buena” after the fragrant wild mint they found growing everywhere. We finally got to harvest our own kitchen classroom garden yerba buena for our tea!
While our tea steeped, we played the game of staves, an Ohlone game of chance that traditionally uses elderberry or willow sticks. We used popsicle sticks, but it did not lower the stakes and there was heated competition to see who at each table could get to five points first. Due to our limited access to ovens, each class made a batch of brownies for the next class or for the community, a nice symbol for the way history and legacy works. What we create today we pass on to those who come after us.
