The Land where the Dye Plants Grow

Remnants of the Past

Over around a millennium ago, the people who lived on this land were the Sinagua. We found metates, pottery shards, flint chipping tools, and arrow heads in our yard, indicating that this was one of their camping places. We have found several ruins of their dwellings on the mesa that looks over our valley.

The Sacredness of the Land

Other People have lived on the same part of the Earth as where we live now. This land is Sacred to all generations of Indigenous People - and I definitely sense it. Our relation to this Sacred Land inspires us to live with her, not against her. We are but the temporary stewards. We want to continue to honor her sacredness.

By helping the plants that we care for to continue their beauty in the scarves I craft, I hope to honor the Earth that feeds them, and the air which we all breathe.

What we Found on and around the Garden

  • The Rocks

    This is a rock wall that looks over our property. The tall part on the left is actually free-standing. As an ever-present sentinel, it feels like it is protecting our valley. It has many names like Rabbit Ears, because from a distance that's what it looks like. We have called it Eagle Rock, and from here, it also looks like an elephant! What has it seen over the ages?


    Cliff dwellings on the surrounding mesas are also witness to the daily life of the people living here perhaps a millennium ago.

  • Metate and Mano

    I always wonder when and by whom these were used. I figure that it ground mesquite beans and acorns - and perhaps traded grains like corn or amaranth?

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    Some of the manos I repurpose while working on eco-printing to hold down the material I work with. These manos help me keeping the wind from blowing away the flowers and the fabric I am working with in my outdoor studio. I think of the people who used them before, wishing I could sit down with them and share our stories.

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  • Broken Pottery

    We still find these pieces of pottery as we work in the garden. We also found arrow heads. We were told that our land was used as a campground by migrating groups of the Sinagua People.

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    After a heavy monsoon rain, many artifacts became visible on the surface after a downpour, and when our kids were little, they loved hunting for these hidden treasures.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF OUR INDIGENOUS PREDECESSORS

Sedona Plant Prints acknowledges that we work and gather upon the ancestral homeland of the Yavapai-Apache Nation. We honor, with gratitude, the land itself and the Yavapai and Apache people who have lived here for millennia and who remain a vital part of this community today.