For more than 200 years, the Makah people have grown a unique variety of potato in the rain-soaked far northwestern corner of the continent. This week, I was given two boxes of these special spuds. The fascinating story of the Makah Ozette potato delivers not just a gardener’s treat, but more importantly a cross-cultural reminder that generosity is at the heart of human flourishing.
Potatoes (like peanuts, tomatoes and llamas) originated in South America. Most of the varieties we know today came to us via the samples taken to Europe, grown there and then brought to North America.
But the Makah Ozette potato came directly up the West Coast with Spanish explorers. They established an outpost near Neah Bay around 1791, complete with potatoes in their garden.
They quickly abandoned the fort, but some of their left-behind potatoes sprouted.
The Makah people noticed. They cultivated and preserved the potatoes for hundreds of years.
Yvonne Wilkie, a retired teacher of the Makah language and culture at Neah Bay, is a longtime grower of the Makah Ozette, which in their language are known as Qawic (pronounced Kaowitz).
In an interview with agricultural adviser Caitlin Blood, who teaches at a charter school in Tualatin, Oregon, Wilkie said growing and gathering your own food is part of self-sufficiency. She remembers her grandmother growing them.
“The Makah Ozette is an important aspect of our culture, and something that I want to see passed on in our community,” she said. “I am excited that other people are wanting to learn about them.”
She said Makah gardeners share their harvest, including seed potatoes.
“Everyone exchanges food often,” she said. “It’s about giving and not taking. There are so many people who grow them now, and it just pleases me that there are people who want to pass it on.”
I first learned about the Makah Ozette potatoes in an online advertisement. I was fascinated by the idea of a potato that over hundreds of generations of growth and selective harvest had come to flourish in our wet, wooded area. I also thought these bulbous fingerling potatoes were just really cool.
I researched buying them but they were hard to come by. I posted online asking if anyone would sell me a few.
I received a reply from a Montesano gardener named Tracy Ridout, who works in maintenance at the Grays Harbor County Fairgrounds. He said he’d hook me up.
We met up last week, and he more than followed through on his word. He gave me two boxes plus a big dose of enthusiasm.
To him, it’s just paying a gift forward.
His journey started four years ago, when a Master Gardener named Cindy Burton gave him three little potatoes. This trio of tiny taters opened a new chapter for Ridout’s lifetime hobby of gardening. He harvested 45 pounds the first year and has grown many hundreds of pounds more each October since. He gives most of them away.
“It’s my privilege to share!” he said.
Brian Mittge is a mediocre but enthusiastic gardener. Contact him at brianmittge@hotmail.com.
