Field Notes for August 2025

Welcome back to Field Notes!

August 1, 2025

All summer I've been marveling at the many faces of Clarkia (Clarkia amoena) in our native garden. According to Wikipedia, Clarkia is native to western North America and can be found in the coastal hills and mountains from British Columbia south to the San Francisco Bay Area. This is a wonderful self-seeding annual that attracts pollinators, and thrives in the Bay Area.

The many faces of Clarkia amoena

Clarkia is also known as Godetia and Farewell to Spring, but all species have been reclassified as Clarkia, in the Onagraceae (evening primrose) family. Note that the name "Godetia" was given to  honor Swiss botanist Charles-Henry Godet. "Clarkia" honors William Clark of the Lewis and Clark expedition.

August 3, 2025

My sister, Marianne, is visiting Southeast Alaska this month, and they are having a run of beautiful weather (temperatures have been warmer than the Bay Area some days)! Mom, brother Dave, and Marianne have been enjoying time together with Dad at the Pioneer Home, taking drives, and working on family business. Recently they had a delicious meal at the Salmon Bake, and then took a walk out at the Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center. This brings back fond memories of my summer visit in 2024!

Mom and Marianne at Mendenhall Glacier
(photo from Marianne)

August 6, 2025 🎂

Happy Birthday to my wonderful husband! We celebrated remotely last year, while I was in Alaska. This year we are observing a Week of Celebration! Today we celebrated at Scott's Seafood Grill & Bar, with a delicious dinner, a beautiful sunset, and moon rise over the harbor. Chocolate cake and mint chocolate chip ice cream awaited at home.

 

Moon over the harbor by Scott's Seafood Grill & Bar

August 9, 2025

Naked ladies always start blooming around my husband's birthday. They are native to the Cape Province of South Africa, but have naturalized in Northern California and elsewhere. Strappy green leaves appear in spring and then die back. The flowers appear from the bulb with no foliage in late summer. These bulbs were a gift from gardening buddy, Pam Konigsberg. They have grown in the same spot for years, and have never become invasive.

Naked ladies ready to bloom (Amaryllis belladonna)

A group of Warriner Lytle Buckwheat is planted in the street-side easement. The low growing shrub has finely textured needle-like leaves and globe-shaped clusters of tiny flowers that appear in late summer. This is a California native and quite lovely. Here the buckwheat has surrounded a grass clump.

Warriner Lytle Buckwheat (Erigonum fasciculatum 'Warriner Lytle')

Several groups of California Goldenrod have shot up in a sunny section of the yard. The yellow flower spikes grow to five feet tall, and spread from common rootstock, so can become invasive. California Goldenrod likes to be wet in winter/spring and dry in the summer when it blooms. Goldenrod is a dye plant, so I may harvest and dry the flower spikes for a future dye project (although I'm enjoying the flowers in the garden, so I may wait until next year)!

California goldenrod (Solidago velutina ssp. Californica)

August 12, 2025 - Jökulhlaup Alert

Mom and Marianne have been hiking at Eagle Beach! As you may know, Eagle Beach State Recreation Area and Eagle River are some of our favorite hiking areas in Juneau (located near the Boy Scout Trail hike, another favorite). Eagle Beach is a great place for sweeping views, easy terrain, and lots of interesting birds, sea creatures, and plants to investigate.

Mom at Eagle Beach
(photo by Marianne)

Mom and Marianne (the Chilkat Range is in the background)
(photo by Marianne)

In other news, there is a Flood Warning for the Mendenhall Lake and River, due to a Suicide Basin release of water and ice (called a jökulhlaup). To learn more, see the Juneau Glacial Flood Dashboard. This is a good time to stay away from Mendenhall Glacier!

August 15, 2025 - Be Brave Day 

For this week's hike, Mari, Gaymond and I decided to go to Huckleberry Botanical Regional Preserve, instead of joining the Over-the-Hills Gang hike at Reinhardt Redwood Regional Park. We had just hiked at Redwood in June, so we decided to go rogue and visit its nearby neighbor instead. The Huckleberry Botanical Preserve is tucked between Sibley Volcanic Regional Preserve and Redwood; and is also a good choice for summer hikes, with its shady forest, green understory, and cooling breezes. Gaymond's grandson, Jayden, has already started back to school, so we missed his inquisitive mind and lively conversation!

Huckleberry Trail winds along the canyon

Mount Diablo in the distance, beyond the chapparal (photo by Mari)

We followed the self-guided, 1.7 mile Huckleberry Interpretive Loop Trail (both the Upper and Lower sections). The 21 Interpretive Panels are so informative about the plants and ecosystem of this unique canyon. We learned that the native plant community is found nowhere else in the East Bay and represents a relic plant group similar to plants that originated in the southern coast of California, when its climate was more moist and tempered by the cool coastal fog. The unusual geology of the Preserve also contributes to the plant community (the nutrient-poor soil was once an ocean bottom that has been compressed, pushed up, and folded).

Manzanita trees and shrubs

Fallen limb from a California Bay tree,
with new sprouts in the background  

Mari surprised us with our favorite lemon and ginger cookies from Trader Joes, so we took our usual cookie break at the half-way point. We sat on the bench at Panel 11, surrounded by Canyon Live Oak, Manzanita, and Coast Huckleberry, and enjoyed our snack and companionship.

We returned to the car via the Lower Huckleberry Loop through the bay forest. This portion of the trail has quite a few switch backs and steep elevation changes, both up and down, so it was quite arduous for our 55+ year old bodies. We were grateful to end the hike at TGI Oni Sushi in Montclair District, for restorative Bento Boxes and interesting conversation!

Intrepid hikers (photo by Gaymond)

August 16, 2025

We always see interesting plants, trees, fungus, birds, and other wildlife while on hikes in the East Bay Regional Parks. Huckleberry Botanical Regional Preserve is no exception. The Coast Huckleberry berries were ripe, or on their way to being ripe; as were the berries from a second variety (V. ovatum var. saporoslum). We liked them both!

Coast Huckleberry (Vaccinium ovatum)
(photo by Gaymond)

Following are a few snapshots of plants; clockwise from the top left corner: (1) Pacific Madrone (Arbutus Menziesii) - native to the western coastal area of North America and California, with beautiful, red, shreddy bark. (2) Pacific Poison Oak (Toxicodendron diversilobum) - native to the Pacific Northwest and California; "leaves of three, let it be". (3) Coastal Wood Fern (Dryopteris arguta) - native perennial; notice the spores on the underside of the leaves. (4) Jim Brush (Ceanothus sorediatus) - native/endemic to California. (5) Possibly, California Spikenard (Aralia californica) - native to California, with greenish-white flowers in large ball shaped clusters, and small dark purple or black berries with 3-5 seeds (we saw both).

August 18, 2025

My sister Marianne's family—a son, daughter, and grandkids—have joined the family in Juneau  (missing are a second son and daughter). What a fun opportunity for family members to be together! New activities include exploring and playing at Overstreet Park and taking the tram up Mount Reports. Photos indicate the weather is beautiful and warm!

Playing on a Tlingit war canoe at Overstreet Park
(photo by Marianne)

Harper and Sarah on the Mount Roberts Tram
(photo by Marianne)

Uncle Luc on the Mount Roberts tram
(photo by Marianne)

Ferocious bear cub in the forest
(photo by Marianne)

August 20, 2025 🎂

Happy Birthday to my wonderful Aunt Char! She is so much fun to be with, enjoys puzzles and books, and is wise, kind, and adventurous. We have visited many gardens and garden shows, traveled in Alaska, and enjoyed family gatherings together. She loves her kids and a growing brood of grandkids. She has written her memoirs, gone white water rafting, and has recently gone hot air ballooning! 

Intrepid balloonists (photo from Jen)

What a view! (photo by Jen)

Dye Project: Beet Stems

I recently tried solar dyeing using beet stems (Beta vulgaris) from one of our son's borscht cooking projects. The stems are red, but not as intensely red as the beet roots. I was curious whether the stems would provide the same color. I also wonder whether the dye will be colorfast, or will it fade rapidly with time like the red cabbage. Surprisingly, I have never dyed with beets before!

Solar dyeing with beet stems - day 1

I forgot to weigh the stems before creating the dye bath, but I guestimate they weighed about the same as the fabric - 77 grams. I rinsed the stems with water and gave them a very rough chop.

Beet stems ready to chop

For this project, I used one cotton dish towel that had been prepared as described in Preparing your Fabric (Scour, Mordant, Brighten or Sadden). The towels had been scoured, mordanted with oak gallnut extract, and brightened with alum and soda ash. The weight of fabric (WOF) was 77 grams, or 2.7 ounces. The WOF% was 100% for the approximately 77 grams of fruit. Dyers typically recommend equal weights of fabric and plant material for solar dyeing. I added three teaspoons of alum and boiling water to the jar, and then layered beet stem chunks with dishtowel fabric, and topped off the jar with more boiling water.

Beet stems - day 14

I steeped the dishtowels in the beet stem dye bath for two weeks, making sure to rock and rotate the jar daily to distribute dye and fruit evenly. Over the course of the two weeks, the color turned from a lovely pink to a brownish pink.

Hang to dry

As with previous solar dyeing projects, I squeezed out excess dye, rinsed the fabric, and then ran it through the washing machine without detergent and hung to dry. After waiting two weeks to set the dye, I washed the fabric with a mild textile soap [like Synthropol or Professional Textile Detergent (a.k.a., Dharma Dyer's Detergent)] and hung it out to dry. The result is a pale shade of brownish-gray (with a possible tinge of pink in certain light). It will be interesting to see how colorfast the dye is over time.

Beet stems produce a shade of brownish-gray

Ethnobotany: Kanaka Maoli Kapa

Our theme this year is "Ethnobotany and Dyeing with Plants", with the goal to learn more about how several indigenous people groups use plants and natural materials to dye fabric or objects. So far we have learned about the Tlingit people from Southeast Alaska (see Ethnobotany: Tlingit's and Dyeing with Plants) and the Muwekma Ohlone people in the Bay Area (see Ethnobotany: Muwekma Ohlone and Basketry). This time, I want to learn about Hawaiians in preparation for a future trip to Hawaii. My research lead me to the Kanaka Maoli people (the name used by Hawaiians for themselves).

The Kanaka Maoli are descendants of the Polynesians who migrated to the Hawaiian Islands around 300-450 CE. The Polynesians were seaworthy people, with exceptional navigation skills that included using the stars, and knowledge of ocean currents and avian migration routes. The journey could take up to two months, so they had to bring the supplies needed for basic survival during the journey. They also brought plants that were especially important to their way of life (called canoe plants to distinguish them from plants native to Hawaii). From the Polynesian Voyaging Society website, I learned about modern wayfinders who replicate voyages made by the ancient Polynesians.  

Kapa barkcloth - National Park Service
(photo in public domain)

Hawaiian Kapa

The Polynesians brought with them their cultural knowledge of making barkcloth. As the name suggests, plant fibers are beaten into a sheet of cloth. Similar processes are used around the world to produce cloth. Different names may be used by culture, language, or specific location, such as tapa (the Pacific Islands, or Polynesia), masi (Fiji), siapo (Samoa), ngatu (Tonga), hiapo (Niue), Aute (Aotearoa), and Lubugo (Uganda). In Hawaii, barkcloth is known as kapa, or "beaten thing". Kapa was typically made by the women, but the men played an important role in cultivating and harvesting the wauke (the paper mulberry tree), and creating the tools needed to beat and embellish the cloth.

Traditional Hawaiian kapa collected around 1884 (Peabody Museum)

Kapa was used for clothing, bedsheets, birthing cloths, and funeral cloths for cremated ashes. With European influence, cotton fabric and other materials were introduced, and kapa fell from use for about 100 years. The knowledge of plants, tools, and processes used to make kapa became lost.

Within the last 60 years, kapa and kapa making has experienced a Renaissance. Hawaiian craftspeople, such as Moana Eisele, Dalani Tanahy, and Marie McDonald, revived the art form. They learned by studying barkcloth in museums and barkcloth making around the world; planting trees that were no longer cultivated; and by experimenting. Now this knowledge is being passed to subsequent generations.

Contemporary Hawaiian kapa created by Dalani Tanahy (screen shot from
Hawaii's Cultural Renaissance: The Return Of Kapa Makers, ~marker 40 )

Hawaiian Kapa Making

Kapa making starts with growing the wauke, or paper mulberry tree (Broussonetia papyrifera), and crafting the tools that are needed. Wauke is native to East Asia and was brought to Hawaii by Polynesians as a canoe plant. Other plants and trees can be used, and are used around the world, but the Polynesians felt that wauke makes the best kapa cloth.

Saplings are harvested when they are just under eight feet tall. The outer bark is stripped from the wauke sapling using a shell or similar tool. The inner bark is then stripped from the core, using a sharp tools such as a shark tooth knife. The strip of inner bark is about three or four inches wide, and placed in water to keep it moist.

Harvesting the inner bark of a mulberry sapling
(photo from Kapa Hawaii website)

The inner bark is beaten to prepare the fiber for kapa making. A strip is placed over a wide wood beam and pounded with a wooden beater. During the pounding process, moisture is released and the strip of inner bark widens up to four times its original width. Each beater has a purpose in this process. The pounded inner bark is placed in water to ferment for up to two weeks. Fermentation breaks down the fibers and connective tissues to soften the strips.

Pounding kapa with wooden beater - National Park Service
(photo in public domain)

Wooden kapa beaters
(photo from Kapa Hawaii website)

The second beating is when the kapa is actually made—the softened strips are pounded into sheets. The water is squeezed out of a strip and it is placed over the wide wood beam. The strip is beaten with a grooved beater to join the strips together and to spread the fibers wider and thinner. The length of the bark cloth is set at about six feet, but the width is flexible, such as 36 inches.

Adding a watermark
(photo from Kapa Hawaii website) 

During the last beating, a watermark pattern can be added. Once finished, the kapa can be used as is or decorated with dyes, stamps, feathers, shells, or leaves. The resulting cloth is meant to be used for ceremonies or for the activities of everyday life. The cloth is said to embody the spirit of the wearer (and the the kapa maker).

Decorating kapa cloth with dye (Photo by John Hook)

To learn more, I recommend watching Hawaii's Cultural Renaissance: The Return Of Kapa Makers (Perspective, Handmade In The Pacific, 2022). The video follows kapa maker, Dalani Tanahy, through all the processes of kapa making—growing and harvesting wauke, carving beaters and stamping tools, pounding the inner bark into barkcloth, gathering material for dyes, decorating the finished cloth, and using the kapa in a ceremonial dance.

Dye Sources

The Kanaka Maoli Hawaiians created a broad spectrum of dyes that were used to decorate the kapa barkcloth. Dye sources included plants, and materials such as soot, mud and clay, and octopus ink. Natural additives included seawater, coconut water, lime, and egg whites. The Kanaka Maoli were master artisans and scientists, developing a wide palette of color from the plants and resources available, and they continue to innovate and expand the art today. For my own quick reference, the following table provides a summary of some of these dye sources, grouped by color. 

Kanaka Maoli Dye Sources - Hawaii

Color	Dye Source	Notes
Red Dye	Indian Mulberry	(Noni) The root boiled with lime made from coral produces a red dye.
	True Kou	(Kou) The leaves produce a reddish-brown dye.
	Banana	(Mai'a) The flower petals produce shades of red, depending on factors like pH, fabric, and the mordants used.
	Hawaiian Raspberry	(Akala) Produces a brilliant red dye (once used to adorn Hawaiian royalty).
	Ohelo	The berries produce various shades of red dye.
	Candlenut	(Kukui) The sap produces a red or reddish-brown dye.
	Alaea	The iron-rich native red clay mixed with sea salt creates a red dye.
Purple Dye	Banana	(Mai'a) The flower petals produce shades of light magenta, depending on pH, fabric, and the mordants used.
Blue Dye	Uki	The berries produce shades from purple-blue to a true blue (with added lime).
Green Dye	Uki	The berries produce shades of green, depending on the area from which it comes, growing conditions, soil quality, and the age of the plant.
Yellow Dye	Indian Mulberry	(Noni) The inner bark of its roots produce a yellow dye; the root bark produces a dye with a tinge of golden yellow.
	Ma'o	The flowers produce a yellow dye.
	Turmeric	(Olena) Young, underground stems produce a bright yellow dye.
	Hawaiian yellowwood	(Holei) The mottled gold fruit produces a yellow dye.
	Kukaenene tree	The bark produces a yellow dye.
Orange Dye	Turmeric	(Olena) Steamed young, underground stems produce an orange dye; steamed mature, underground stems produce an orange-gold dye.
Brown Dye	Candlenut	(Kukui) The bark produces a brown or reddish-brown dye.
	Milo	The inner bark produces a yellowish-brown dye.
Black Dye	Candlenut	(Kukui) The roots produce a black dye; the charred nut shells and soot from burned nuts also produce a black dye.
	Day Octopus	(Octopus cyanea) Produces black ink that can be used as a dye.

Decorative Sources

Decorative elements included dye and objects such as feathers and leaves. Paint was made from dye and applied with brushes and stamps. Additionally, the second beating of the kapa cloth was done with finely carved beaters that produced a distinctive texture or watermark on the kapa surface.

Hala brushes for painting kapa designs
(Hawaii State Art Museum)

Paint brushes were made from dried hala seeds, and used to apply dye to the surface of the kapa barkcloth. Stamps were made by carving designs on strips of bamboo and used to apply dyed patterns to the surface of  the kapa. Other objects were used to apply designs, such as shells, or plaited strings and ropes used to splatter dye.

Carved bamboo stamps used to apply dye to kapa
(Hawaii State Art Museum)

Kapa was also decorated with feathers, especially for the feather cloaks and capes used by Hawaiian nobility. The feathers were collected, attached in bundles to a fine netting of fiber, and then attached to the kapa in overlapping rows.

Cloak and Helmet of feathers for a chief
(Bishop Museum Oahu, Hawaii)

Summary

This concludes another brief ethnobotany tour, this time for resources used to create, dye, and decorate the beautiful Kanaka Maoli kapa cloth from Hawaii. I hope to visit the Bishop Museum on Oahu one day, to see for myself exhibits of kapa samples, and the tools and plants used in kapa making. It would be an extra thrill to try beating kapa myself. I'm also inspired by the creative use of plants and materials to produce such a wide range of colors!

This also concludes our high-level series on the ethnobotany of three distinct groups: Tlingit (Southeast Alaska), Muwekma Ohlone (San Francisco Bay Area), and Kanaka Maoli (Hawaii). I had planned to learn how different indigenous groups used plants to dye fabric, but soon realized that not all groups needed to dye fabric. Instead, I expanded my original vision to how people groups brought color and texture to basketry and barkcloth, using plants, mud and clay, octopus ink, and soot. There is always more to learn!

Learn More

• Hawaii's Cultural Renaissance: The Return Of Kapa Makers (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=guSPppwqXqk). Perspective, Handmade In The Pacific, 2022. Video follows contemporary kapa maker, Dalani Tanahy, through the process of growing and harvesting wauke, making tools for pounding and printing, beating barkcloth, gathering dyes plants, and decorating the finished cloth. Also discusses the challenges of reviving the art form.

• Hawaii Dye Plants and Dye Recipes (https://www.amazon.com/Hawaii-Dye-Plants-Recipes/dp/0824806980). Professor Emeritus Val Krohn-Ching, University of Hawaii Press, 1980. Fabric artist shares recipes and experimental results of using kapa dyes to dye wool. 

• Kapa. Hawaiian Skies, 2015 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWk1lfZ7XPo). Three kapa practitioners are reviving the ancient art of kapa making: Moana Eisele, Dalani Tanahy, and Marie McDonald. They advocate using the cloth as it was intended, and not just creating art or museum pieces.

• La'au Hawai'i: Traditional Hawaiian Uses of Plants (https://bishopmuseumpress.org/products/laau-hawaii). Isabella Aiona Abbott, Bishop Museum Press, 1992. Describes the native and exotic plants used by Hawaiians. Of special interests for this topic, see the chapters on "The First Hawaiians and their Plants", "Clothing and the Making of Kapa", "Cordage for All Occasions", "Household Furnishings", and "Warfare and Chiefly Regalia".

• Natural Dyes, Paints & Colors. Kapa Curious website (https://www.kapacurious.com/dye). Learn about natural sources of Hawaiian colors. 

• Plants of Old Hawaii (https://www.amazon.com/Plants-Old-Hawaii-Lois-Lucas/dp/0935848118). Lois Lucas, Bess Press (Honolulu, 1982). Joan Fleming, illustrations; and Julie Williams, poems. Describes the twenty major plants that the original Hawaiians brought with them from the South Pacific (canoe plants vs. native plants). Written for elementary children, but a good quick-start for anyone.

• Polynesian Voyaging Society website (https://hokulea.com). The society's mission is to perpetuate the art and science of traditional Polynesian voyaging and the spirit of exploration through experiential educational programs that inspire students and their communities to respect and care for themselves, each other, and their natural and cultural environments. Learn about modern wayfinders who replicate journeys made by ancient Polynesians.

Also learn about the recently relaunched Moananuiākea Voyage (2023 to 2027). The  original launch took place on June 29, 2023 at Statter Harbor in Juneau, Alaska (see Hōkūle'a Departs Juneau Launching Moananuiākea Voyage) in a cross-cultural Pacific Rim ceremony.

• "Shades of the Past" (https://www.mauimagazine.net/shades-of-the-past). Sarah Ruppenthal, No ka 'oi Maui Magazine, 2019. Ethnobotanist Lisa Raymond's garden is filled with Hawaiian plants that are used to make dyes. Early Hawaiians developed techniques to extract dyes from a vast number of native plants, and used the dyes to decorate kapa.

• The Ancient Hawaiian Art of Bark Cloth (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5nCKvz83No). Great Big Story, 2019. A cultural practitioner on Kauai, Sabra Kauka, teaches Hawaiian children the arts of their ancestors, including kapa making.