Bastyr's Sacred Seeds Portal

The Sacred Seeds Ethnobotanical Trail is part of an international network of Sacred Seed gardens created to address the rapid loss of biodiversity and plant cultural knowledge. The vision is to build collaborative gardens all over the world that act as “living libraries” and seed banks for local ethnomedicine plants—bringing together botanists, indigenous peoples, herbalists and schools. The Sacred Seeds project is now a part of   United Plant Savers .

During the Covid pandemic, Bastyr University Gardens brainstormed how it could make the Sacred Seed's Ethnobotanical Trail and educational content more accessible.   

We decided to create a dynamic webpage that featured seasonal plant photos and interactive tours, enhance on-site and classroom experiences and create the opportunity to ‘tour’ the trail virtually now as well. We invite feedback and participation to this work in progress.

We chose the Storymaps platform to build the site because it enabled us to create a guided tour of the trail, integrating plant names and photos along the way. We were especially enthusiastic about the platform's capability to incorporate audio files of the plants' Lushootseed/Twulshootseed names. This will not only honor the importance of Lushootseed/Twulshootseed  as an oral language, but also recognizes First Languages’  connection to the land and the inherent knowledge about the land held within these languages. Incorporating audio files of the plants’ names is in development and set to grow over time. 

We hope the Ethnobotanical Trail Storymaps website helps you engage with the plants and beauty of the trail in an immersive way, whether you're visiting in person or online. Please see the Storymaps links below for the different ways to explore the trail and plants.

Future Plans include printed materials for more accessibility options, and interactive experiences for children and adults through our plant quest.

Tour the plants on the Sacred Seed Ethnobotanical Trail either in-person or virtually using the link below to the Sacred Seeds Storymap page where forest and prairie plants are pictured throughout the seasons.

While visiting the trail, enjoy a treasure hunt with 11 clues that will lead you on a plant discovery adventure.

Print this brochure out before visiting in-person and use it to draw and write down what you notice is happening on the trail.

Learn more about plants on the trail through immersive Ethnobotany Adventures. Ethnobotany Adventures can take two forms: Video Field Trips or Written Lesson Plans that can be turned into self-led adventures.

Join us on the trail on a virtual field trip, during which you have the option of creating a booklet that highlights some of the amazing characteristics of plants on the trail.

Written Ethnobotany Adventure Plans give you an outline of an in-person lesson that can be adapted to your group and setting.