4" Californian White Sage Smudge Stick / Bundle

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Salvia apiana is perennial within USDA Plant Hardiness Zones 8 to 11. Although some sources list it as tolerating Zone 7, which has an average annual minimum temperature of 0 degrees F, we are more confident in its ability to withstand the Zone 8 average minimum of 10 degrees F. Of course, temperature is just one of many factors affecting winter survival. If white-sage cooking is to be revived in Southern California, this type of legislation probably needs to pass. The region’s Native cooks are brimming with new ideas on how to use traditional, local ingredients. Recipes ranging from chia power bars and terpary tarts (from Craig Torres, a Tongva cultural educator) to cholla bud succotash and nopales stir fry (from Lorene Sisquoc, a member of the Fort Sill Apache tribe with Mountain Cahuilla heritage) have gained visibility in recent years. But if recent trends continue, soon there won’t be enough white sage left to make so much as a weak, faintly peppery-sweet cup of tea.

White Sage The Origins, History and Traditional Uses of White Sage

With any sage — and especially drought-tolerant types —avoid creating soggy conditions. Let the ground dry out a bit between each watering. According to the late Tongva elder and cultural educator Barbara Drake, centuries of colonization have made it impossible to fully know how important white sage was in historical Native Californian foodways. But from European texts, oral traditions, and some surviving practices, we do know that Native Californians had incredibly varied diets based upon careful management of wild plants and game. They ate mesquite pods and agave leaves, wild cherries and berries, and every bit of the cactus. And acorns. So many acorns. Mashed into jellies, cooked into porridge, or ground into flour. Gilberto Morales, a chef in Baja California who works with local Kumeyaay ingredients and techniques, has called acorns “the rice, or the wheat” of the region. When container planting, never use regular garden soil. Choose a sterilized “soilless” potting mix that contains organic matter but is free of pathogens, weed seed, and toxins. “Low fertility” sages like Salviaapiana prefer a mix with minimal nitrogen. Also, avoid high sand or vermiculite content. Although sand drains well, it doesn’t provide the good aeration Salvia apiana roots need to breathe well. Vermiculite is great for aeration, but it retains too much moisture for low-water plants. The plant communities where Salvia apiana naturally occurs include coastal sage scrub and chaparral areas. The coastal sage scrub area is dry but foggy and has shorter plants than those in drier, inland chaparral. Plants in coastal scrub areas are drought deciduous types. This means that instead of remaining full and green during summer, they generally lose their leaves at that time. In contrast, chaparral plants are evergreen and generally have tough leaves that aid moisture retention. So, White Sage might act deciduous in one location and evergreen in another. To this day, Southern California tribes still use Salvia apiana for smudging, a spiritual practice in which they burn fragrant leaves from the plant — singly or in bundles with other plant materials — to create sacred smoke during purification and healing ceremonies. Historically, Southern California native peoples also relied on it for basket-making material, food, and medicine.We’re losing native plants and environments on high speed,” says Rose Ramirez, a Chumash- and Yaqui-descended basket weaver who works to raise awareness of white sage exploitation. “It hurts Native Californian people.” Weshoyot Alvitre, a Tongva artist, has argued that the destruction of white-sage lands amounts to cultural genocide. Poachers are routinely found with hundreds of pounds of white sage during busts. Pollinators love mint family plants, particularly Salvias, which are also referred to as the “true sages.” When in bloom, Salvia apiana is a busy, buzzy species that attracts hummingbirds, bees, butterflies, and other insect pollinators. Our small-group adventures are inspired by our Atlas of the world's most fascinating places, the stories behind them, and the people who bring them to life. Some Roman Catholic Churches attended by Native Americans regularly use smudging in religious services according to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Ad Hoc Committee on Native American Catholics. The Conference’s report, Native American Catholics at Millennium, was published in 2000 and can be accessed here. Artemisia ludoviciana— sometimes called Louisiana Sage, Montana White Sage, Prairie Sage, and Silver Sage — is primarily a religious and medicinal herb central to Plains Indian culture.

White Sage, Salvia apiana - Calscape White Sage, Salvia apiana - Calscape

Southern California tribes that have a long history of nurturing White Sage include the Cahuilla, Chumash, Kumeyaay, Luiseno, and Tongva. How to Grow Sacred White Sage (Salvia apiana) NATIVE HABITAT In its plant profile of Salvia apiana, the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) notes that the plant also is found in Southern California’s yellow pine forests and desert scrub lands. NRCS also states that it “generally” grows at elevations from 300 to 1,500 meters (about 980 to 5,000 feet). However, an even better solution may be to raise your own if you live in an area where growing conditions are right for Salvia apiana. A Tale of Two Sages & Smudging Controversy Two kinds of fragrant, drought-resistant plants are known as White Sage — Salvia apiana and Artemisia ludoviciana. Whereas Salvia apiana is a member of the mint-family ( Laminaceae) that is only native to California and Baja, Mexico, Artemisia ludoviciana is part of the aster family ( Asteraceae). Most of North America is home to A. ludoviciana, which is sometimes called White Sagebrush. DeerInWater points out that the overuse of California White Sage is partly due to people nationwide wrongly thinking that Salvia apiana is the only White Sage used in Native American spiritual traditions. One traditional smudging plant he suggests becoming acquainted with is, of course, Artemisia ludoviciana, which the Potawatomitribe grows in its garden. He emphasizes that “California sage cannot handle everybody’s spiritual needs.”The article is based on an interview with Kaya DeerInWater an assistant at the CPN community garden. DeerInWater notes that agricultural industry producers of Salvia apiana centered in Southern California aren’t growing the plant sustainably. They harvest “entire hillsides and large acreages at a time to meet customer demand.” He adds that this clear-cutting of the plants at their base doesn’t allow for continued growth. If rainfall is light after planting, provide regular watering to help establish roots. Figuring out how much watering is necessary can be difficult at first, because the root ball of Salviaapianadries faster than its surrounding soil. Here’s a helpful article about what to do if dry root ball occurs. After all, would it be okay if the Christian-communion ritual of dipping bread or wafer-like hosts in a wine filled chalice began trending at dinner parties or cultural events like art shows? This sage grows slowly, so you can expect it to take two to three years to reach a maximum size of about 36 inches wide and tall. When in bloom from spring to summer, its height can reach 60 inches. White Sage ( Salvia apiana) is a shrub that is endemic to low elevations of the coast, hills, and valleys of Southern California and Baja, Mexico. These areas have Mediterranean-style climates where winters are wet, summers are dry, and temperatures are moderate year-round.

California White Sage - Gardenia

Sage is a cleansing and purifying herb and can be used to help break up feelings of negativity. Traditionally, it's regarded as being able to open people up and bring about the ability to have a greater connection with the sacred world. But teas aside, most of these foodways faded throughout the 1900s, like many others, in the face of America’s relentless push towards cultural homogeneity. In the 1950s especially, the U.S. government launched a concerted effort to burn away Native identity, systematically ending state recognition of tribes, selling off their lands, and coercing or outright forcing many to move to urban centers, where most could no longer access their lands or the local ingredients that grew upon them. That’s happened a lot,” she adds. The appropriation of white sage and smudging in New Age beliefs has led to unsustainable demand. This article focuses on proper cultivation and use of Salvia apiana, the only kind of White Sage we grow at Flowers by the Sea Farm. It is also the only plant detailed in our accompanying Guide to Growing Sacred White Sage. White Sage is not a successful houseplant, because it needs full, direct sun and excellent air circulation.Juniper Ridge started as a company at a farmers market at Berkeley, California in 1998. And everything they make comes from the mountains or the deserts of western USA.They are obsessed with natural aromatics and also obsessed with the preservation of the wilderness. All of their aromatics and herbs come from the wild and are always sustainably and responsibly harvested. They donate 10% of their profits to defending western wildernesses. Native activists have mostly tried to curb the over-exploitation of white sage through public education and pressuring commercial users and retailers. They have had some success—albeit usually with people who were already inclined to care. “I spoke to a man from the Tohono O’odham Nation in Arizona who’d been using white sage,” says Ramirez. “He was flabbergasted—in total pain. He didn’t know.” The same forces, however, boosted the visibility of another Native Californian use of white sage: smudging. Many Native communities across America have traditions of burning sacred materials to cleanse spaces, heal bodies, or sanctify events, but most traditionally used their own valued regional plants, such as cedar to tobacco. As Native people were pushed into Los Angeles, they adopted the use of white sage. (Although it was hard for many people to get fresh sage to use as food, the city was close enough to sage grounds to get bundles of dried leaves and stalks.) Eventually, smudging with white sage took on symbolic value as a pan-Native American act of unity, resilience, and resistance.