Ozette Potatoes - Washington's oldest Potato species and the history behind it

The Ozette potato, Solanum tuberosum, or more locally known as Makah Ozette or Anna Cheeka's Ozette, is the oldest grown potato species in the Pacific Northwest. This plant was grown and cultivated for over two centuries by the native Makah tribe. To learn about the potato, we first must learn about the people who used it as a primary agricultural food source for so long.

The Makah (which translates to "the people who live by the rocks and seagulls") people have been living in the Northwest tip of the Olympic Pennisula for around 3,800 years. The tribe lived around what is now Neah Bay, Washington. They built their villages and longhouses out of the local populations of Western Cedar tree. The Western Cedar was vital to their way of life. They used its bark to make water-resistant clothing and bags. They used trunks to make canoes and roots to make baskets. 

A Makah Settlement (1900)

The Makah diet consisted of mostly seal, fish, shellfish, and whale with Ozette potatoes as a filler or side. Tribeswomen also harvested nuts, fruits, and edible roots and plants. They also hunted occasionally for local deer and elk populations. The Makah people grew primarily Ozette potatoes. 

The origin of the Ozette potato is from early historical accounts of Spaniards who arrived in the NW in the late 18th century. The Spaniards built Fort Salvador Fidalgo, now Neah Bay in 1792. The gardens at this fort contained several 'New World' plants such as potatoes and tomatoes, with one of these potatoes being the Ozette potato. In the 1860's, a schoolteacher who lived among Makah, James Swan, indicated that the potato was a staple of the tribe's diet. The potato was exclusively grown in Makah gardens until 1980 when it was marked by a seed vendor in Idaho. 

A phylogenetic study done at the Washington State University showed that the potato may have directly originated from South America while all other potato varieties arrived from European imports. 

New Manager Bio: Trystan Rackham

Hello all! My name is Trystan Rackham and I am a new garden manager for this semester. I am very excited to work in the garden this Spring. There are a few exciting projects on the horizon that I am trying to organize so I am excited to be a part of the garden management team! Here are a few things about me to better know me:

I am a senior working towards my BS for Environmental Science. I have academic and research interests in specifically climate change and ecological impacts of climate change, but the environment in general is what I care about most. I am not originally from the Pacific Northwest like most of the other garden managers. I came to Saint Martin's University from Pennsylvania. When I was younger, I never lived in the same place for long because my father was in the military so we moved around quite a bit to places like Hawaii, Utah, Colorado, and then several places in Pennsylvania itself. So I am more or less an "implant" as people call it.

Me at Elwha River last February

When I was younger I didn't really have a large outdoor life due to my parents also not having a large interest in the outdoors. However, as I grew older and even to the present, I love going on hikes and spending my time outside. I've always had a connection to the earth and that's only increased as time goes on. Around the time I was in middle school, my faith evolved from Roman Catholic (my mother's beliefs) to Norse Pagan or Asatru (belief in the Aesir, or belief in the gods). So my religious beliefs and my interest in nature blend really well and it definitely serves as a motivation for my aspirations and interest in the environment.

I don't have a ton of gardening experience, but I was in 2016's Fall UNI101 Oikos floor class with Catherine, a former garden manager and in that class we did a lot of work in the garden, so that was a great experience and I wanted to use those skills I learned from that class more.