On Sundays, August 17 and August 31, the Alameda Native History Project will host Acorn Harvest Training, a hands-on, field-based workshop rooted in Indigenous tradition and ecological stewardship.
Participants will learn to identify local oaks, distinguish between red and white oak by leaf shape, bark, and acorn characteristics, and understand the significance of mast years in acorn production. We will explore how acorns nourish entire ecosystems, not just people, and why respectful harvesting ensures that “all flourishing is mutual.”
This training is grounded in the Honorable Harvest, a principle passed through generations:
Take only what is freely given.
Never take more than you need.
Give thanks, and give back.
Our harvesting protocol reflects these values. We use low-impact wooden acorn tenders, tapping branches lightly. No climbing, pruning, or mechanical shakers. Only acorns released by gentle taps or natural fall are gathered, and our collective harvest is capped at less than 15 percent of the seasonal crop, well below ecologically safe limits. Viable acorns we do not keep are buried nearby, replenishing the seed bank and echoing the work of squirrels that help oak forests regenerate.
These sessions are not about extraction. They are about building a respectful, living relationship with the land. The work is grounded in Traditional Ecological Knowledge and supported by the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe, which recognizes the importance of restoring Indigenous foodways as a living practice of cultural sovereignty and environmental stewardship.
People who signed up for the Indigenous Land Lab and the Acorn Harvest using our volunteer form received text messages with exclusive offers for free tickets. If you would like to join us on the harvest, and receive exclusive offers and special invitations such as private willow harvests and other events at the Indigenous Land Lab, sign up at https://nativehistoryproject.org/volunteer.
Space is limited for each session to ensure a meaningful and safe learning environment.
We’re reconnecting with land, deepening relationships, and bringing more people into that process. The Alameda Native History Project is expanding its reach, partnering with libraries and organizations across Alameda, Contra Costa, and Santa Clara counties to support land-based learning and reopen Indigenous foodways that have been silenced, but never lost.
If you would like to partner with us, please take a minute to read and understand the Working With Us page before reaching out.
We are excited to be working with all of our new partners around the San Francisco Bay Area. And we look forward to announcing more events as we get further in to the harvest season.
Library Partnerships That Build More Than Granaries
This month, we’re collaborating with the Alameda County Library on two public events that center Indigenous knowledge and invite families, elders, and young people into relationship with the land.
On August 9, we’ll be at Centerville Library for the Acorn Mini Festival, a family-friendly gathering that includes crafts, games, and granary building. Participants will learn about acorns and oak trees while engaging in activities that reflect generations of care and connection. Acorns are the most important food stock for California Indigenous people. They’re a gift from the oaks, and they feed the land, the animals, and us.
Then on August 27, we’ll be at San Lorenzo Library to lead a hands-on Acorn Granary Workshop, where participants will help construct a traditional storage structure. These granaries are part of a food system that sustained Indigenous people through the winter and protected what the land had given. We’ll also share about harvesting practices, oak identification, and what it means to be part of this cycle today. A follow-up acorn processing workshop will take place in the fall.
Public institutions have a responsibility to support cultural visibility. These library partnerships are an example of what it looks like when that responsibility is taken seriously.
Willow Harvests
This work is grounded in Traditional Ecological Knowledge. Every willow reed we gather, every acorn we collect, comes from a relationship. These aren’t activities designed for show. They’re teachings that carry responsibilities.
On August 7, we’ll hold an invitation-only Willow Harvest at the Indigenous Land Lab, a protected area with no cell service, no pavement, and no spectators. Everything we bring in, we carry. Everything we take, we give back for. This harvest is about learning through presence and care, not documentation.
Use the Volunteer Signup Form and check the box for “Indigenous Land Lab” to get early and exclusive invites to events like the Willow Harvest, Pine Bough Gathering, Berry Picking, or More.
On August 24, we’ll host a public Willow Harvest for people who are ready to engage with seasonal cycles and learn the protocols that come with them. These reeds will be used to build future granaries.
We’re holding an Acorn Harvest Training on August 17 in Alameda. We’ll cover identification of red and white oak species, how to read the land for timing, and how to harvest without harm. We teach what the Honorable Harvest requires: you take only what’s given. You use everything you take. You care for what feeds you. You give back.
This isn’t about reviving lost traditions. It’s about repairing relationships that were interrupted. And healing ourselves.
Reopening Indigenous foodways means returning to ways of being that are grounded in reciprocity, intention, and care. Returning to wellbeing by turning away from over-processed sugars and engineered fats that our bodies were not intended to eat, and which do not fulfill our most basic nutritional needs.
The work is Indigenously-led and Tribally-aligned. It’s built to last, shaped by those who hold cultural memory and who live in relationship with the land. It’s not a trend. It’s a commitment.
And we are inviting you to join us in these once-in-a-lifetime opportunities to take part in traditional California Indigenous activities in a respectful and appropriate way, while providing a tangible tribal benefit to the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe of the San Francisco Bay Area.
How to Get Involved
We’ve launched a new sign-up form to help grow our regional network of volunteers and supporters. If you’ve attended a past event or want to be invited to upcoming harvests, teachings, and builds, we invite you to sign up and stay connected.
Alameda Native History Project is a fiscally sponsored organization. All donations are tax deductible.
Your donation will help us reopen Indigenous foodways, and produce culturally relevant, nutritious, traditional food–at scale–for the first time in over 300 years.
Where your funds go:
Safety Equipment & Supplies We provide a safe platform to reopen Indigenous foodways
Heat Safety
First Aid
Shade Structures
Volunteer Care Essentials for Outdoor Work, honestly viewed as another part of “Safety”
Hydration (Water + Electrolytes)
Protein Bars and Energy Chews
Rest area supplies (Folding chairs, Cooling towels)
A Never-Before-Seen Map of Alameda’s Indigenous History
Can you imagine elk running down Park Street?
Cotton Tail Rabbits hopping among giant Live Oak trees on Grand?
Gathering blackberries at Chochenyo Park? Oysters on Regent? Making tule boats at Alameda Point?
This map combines historic elements to tell the story of Alameda before.
Developed for elementary and middle-school students to learn about local indigenous history: this map shows Alameda–before it became an island–with selected plants and animals that lived and thrived here.
These plants and animals include: Wildcats, Ducks, Blackberries, Deer, Flamingoes, and more!
This map includes the historic wetlands of the Bay Area; and the Oyster Reef zones in Alameda, two never-before-seen layers of local history (until now.)
This map is a tool that can help people imagine the ecosystems organizations like the Wild Oyster Project, and Save The Bay are working towards saving and restoring.
Imagination is one of the strongest tools in the decolonization toolbox.
One of the ways the Alameda Native History Project “Decolonizes History” is by developing, producing, and distributing accurate, relevant, and interesting educational materials for Classrooms, Community Centers, and Institutions.
The Alameda Native History Project offers updated, often novel, and never-before-seen images, maps, and infographs about the Indigenous History of this place we call the “San Francisco Bay Area”.
Our continued impact will be measured by the number of classrooms we connect with the maps and information educators want and need to fill the gaps in existing curriculum regarding local indigenous history.
This will result in students who can finally receive the answer to the basic questions about Native American History. Questions, which–until now–have simply been glossed over or ignored in mainstream, sanitized, Social Science, History, and Arts & Humanities curriculums.
The proceeds of this fundraiser will go towards putting one of these maps in every core/history class and school library in Alameda.
If you make a minimum donation of $25, and include your mailing address in the comment on this donation form (your comment is private), you will receive a Historic Alameda Ecology Map.
5% of the cost of printing will go back to local Alameda schools.*
You can have a direct impact on Decolonizing History, too!
By providing tangible support for our mission, you can be the reason why people know this is Ohlone Land; why that makes it our responsibility to be good stewards to the land; and how important it is for us to respect Indigenous knowledge and lived experiences, and advocate for the return of sacred places, tribal objects, and ancestral remains.
Alameda Native History Project is fiscally sponsored by The Hack Foundation (d.b.a. Hack Club), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit (EIN: 81-2908499).
*5% of total cost goes back to school via printer’s giveback program on a per transaction basis. We choose the Alameda school recipient.
“You Don’t Know Jack About Native America / Stop giving money to organizations and ’causes’ you know nothing about. / Research your Land Acknowledgment before you profess it.” Title art for @AlamedaNativeHistoryProject on Instagram.com.
Stop giving money to organizations and “causes” you know nothing about.
Non-profit organizations cannot be tribal governments. (The exercise of Tribal Sovereignty is not a charitable purpose.)
Organizations, like Sogorea Te “Land Trust” claim to be devoted to returning native land to native hands….
But which tribes are these organizations actually associated with?
Real Tribal Governments:
Will be able to break down their history with facts, and evidence;
Are recognized in Treaty–even if the government won’t recognize their own treaties. (And they have a documented reason for why they are not mentioned in Treaties. [e.g. Tribal Warfare, Government Favoritism of One Tribe Over Another, etc.])
Hold elections.
The last point is super important. You can’t call yourself a Tribal Chairperson if there was never a vote. And, especially, if your Tribal Government is really just a corporation.
If the “Tribal Government” you’re working with has never petitioned for Federal Recognition from the Department of the Interior; that’s a red flag.
If the California Tribal Government you’re working with claims to be a California “State-Recognized Tribe“; that’s blatantly false.
California does not have a Tribal Recognition Process.
The California Native American Heritage Commission does not have the authority to recognize tribes. Only the Bureau of Indian Affairs can do that. [Absent certification as a Tribe by the BIA, no action to protect tribal lands may be maintained, United States v. 43.47 Acres of Land, 855 F. Supp. 549, 551 (D. Conn. 1994)]
Research your Land Acknowledgment before you profess it.
