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ENTRY TYPE: new
WORK TITLE: Can You Hear the Plants Speak?
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WEBSITE: https://www.nicholashummingbird.com/
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PERSONAL
Born in CA; married Monica; children: Tuhui (son).
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer and entrepreneur. Hahamongna Nursery, Pasadena, CA, founder and manager.
WRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Booklist, March 1, 2024, Amina Chaudhri, review of Can You Hear the Plants Speak?, p. 49.
Kirkus Reviews, May 15, 2024, review of Can You Hear the Plants Speak?
ONLINE
Cultivating Place, https://www.cultivatingplace.com/ (November 9, 2017), Jennifer Jewell, author interview.
Nicholas Hummingbird website, https://www.nicholashummingbird.com/ (December 18, 2024).
PBS SoCal website, https://www.pbssocal.org/ (December 18, 2024), author profile.
Hello, I’d like to tell you about my new book called Can You Hear the Plants Speak? It’s about how my great-grandparents, who were Native Americans from southern California, taught me about our plant relatives.
For thousands of years, our Cahuilla and Apache ancestors used the natural world for food, clothing, homes, tools, and medicines – there were no grocery stores! They understood how to take care of their relatives and treat the plants with respect.
My great-grandparents passed these lessons down to me. They taught me to touch the plants gently, and teasing me when I tried to sell every plant - “Look at Nicky,” they would say, “sticking his nose in everything, just like a hummingbird!”
They showed me how the native plants had evolved with the insects, birds, reptiles, and animals. And our people had learned which plants are delicious, which are good when you are sick.
Some of these plants still grow in their traditional lands, but as their lands are more and more taken by buildings, it is important for us to learn to grow them at our homes. (Portrait by Barbara Eisenstein)
Tending the Wild
Nick Hummingbird on Why People Shouldn't Exploit Native Plants
California Native plant expert Nicholas Hummingbird, Cahuilla/Apache, is founder and manager of Hahamongna Nursery in Pasadena. The nursery, in the Arroyo Seco watershed, has four dozen species of plants under cultivation that are native to the L.A. Basin and surrounding hills. Blending commitment to his Native heritage with a desire to share knowledge, Nick is a persuasive spokesperson for the many benefits of native plants.
Co-produced by KCETLink Media Group and the Autry Museum, this six-part multimedia series and one-hour documentary special are presented in association with California Continued, a groundbreaking exhibition now on view at the Autry.
Jennifer Jewell
Nov 9, 2017
INDIGENOUS PLANTSMAN NICK HUMMINGBIRD: HOW PLANTS TEACH US PLACE, HISTORY, RESPECT
The sacred California native white sage (Salvia apiana), a favorite plant elder and teacher for Nick Hummingbird. Photo by Native Hummingbird, all rights reserved.
INDIGENOUS PLANTSMAN NICK HUMMINGBIRD: HOW PLANTS TEACH US PLACE, HISTORY, RESPECT
LISTEN TO THE PODCAST
Among the garden ways that intrigue me – from my earliest memories to now - are those gardening ways of the first peoples of the world. Indigenous plantsman Nick Hernandez (also known as Nick Hummingbird and on Instagram as @_Native_Hummingbird) is of Southern California origin– his garden journey and practice expands on our ongoing conversation about what it means to garden, and why this is so important.
Nick is an indigenous Californian from Southern California, a plant lover, a partner to his wife, Monica, and a father to a very new young son, Tuhui (which means rain). Nick is an educator at heart and a tireless voice and agent of change advocating for California's native plants, animals and landscapes. In his own words: They need his – and all of our - Voices.
Nick and now Tuhui's, ancesteors tended, managed and worked with the plant's and landscapes' seasonal cycles and abundance for their food, utility, meaning and spirit. His work is dedicated to being a voice of education and protection for these plants, these landscapes and these ancient garden ways, encouraging the rising of their voices going forward
“When I talk about community, it’s not just people or races of people,
but an environment of plants and animals, air, water, land -
past present and future generations - that’s community."
- Nick Hummingbird
In the course of our conversation, Nick notes that "Indigenous people are the least consulted group - we are a true minority in our own land - just a couple of million people in over 400 million people. So you think about the human history of our genocide and marginalization and then you think about the environment and you think how do these things correlate and we are the human translation of the environment. We have rivers, lakes, streams, plants, animals and mountains and all of those things have a story. They teach you about place they teach you about history, and morals and values and adherence and respect and love and admiration for them."
In a recent mission statement of sorts Nick wrote: “Everyday I am inspired by those who share an understanding, love and relationship to nature and what we all need as human beings to survive. I am one person and I believe wholeheartedly in everything I try to accomplish for my people, people for me are humanity, plants, animals, air, water, land and the continuation of all of that. I'm proud to be a father of a son who will grow up learning everything I have and building upon that knowledge, I'm grateful for the life that I have. I'm forever in the service of making the world a better place through actions and unrelenting hope.”
As he says, the plants need his voice. As a gardener, I say we all need voices like his. We’ll be right back after a break to hear more.
Nick - just 28 years old - has a passion for plants and purpose that just lights me up. His clear insight into how the history and future of indigenous peoples is analagous to the history and fate of our natural areas was one of those moments in an interview conversation in which I could physically feel my own awareness and understanding expand.
Indeed all of our relationships to our lands, and to the peoples of those lands, can and should tell us a great deal about how we see ourselves – and how we see the future of this great globe. In his own gardening and cultural journey, Nick acknowledges how plants have saved him - several times over.
How many times have each of us been saved by the plants of our places?
As our conversation made clear, Nick is an active, ardent member and supporter of the cultural resources of his area. When people ask him how they can learn more and be more supportive themselves, these are the organizations he recommends looking into:
Wishtoyo Chumash Village
News from Native California
Mak 'Amham
California Indian Basketweavers Association
FNX TV
Run 4 Salmon, Winnemen Wintu Tribe
Yurok Designs and Photography
Intertribal Youth
Aqua Caliente Cultural Museum
Nick regularly collects and shares native plant seeds with others, this fall he listed these seeds as available:
Monkey flower (mimulus aurantiacus)
California poppy (eschscholzia californica)
Bladderpod (isomeris arborea)
Common yarrow (achillea millefolium)
White sage (salvia apiana)
Black sage (Salvia mellifera)
Common buckwheat (Eriogonum fasciculatum)
California black walnut (Juglans californica)
Foothill needle grass (Stipa cernua)
coastal sunflower
(Encelia Californica)
Arroyo lupine (Lupinus succulentus)
Birds eye gilia (Gilia tricolor)
Tansy leaf phacelia (Phacelia tanacetifolia)
Desert bluebells
(Phacelia campanularia)
California bay laurel (Umbellularia californica)
Jojoba (Simmondsia chinensis)
Brittlebush (Encelia farinosa)
Available for California peeps only, $3 each or 2 for $5 or 5 for $10.
For more information on Nick, his seed and plant sales, his ethnobotanical classes or hikes, follow him on Instagram: @_Native_Hummingbird
Join us!
Hummingbird, Nicholas CAN YOU HEAR THE PLANTS SPEAK? Harper/HarperCollins (Children's None) $19.99 4, 16 ISBN: 9780063221284
An Indigenous gardener matures--and vows to protect the environment.
The young narrator spends summer days with loving great-grandparents who impart important lessons: "These trees are our ancestors" and "We thank them with a song, a blessing, and a few drops of water." From mountains to rivers, every part of nature is alive, and the child learns to listen to the plants, who offer food, promise to quench the little one's thirst, and provide smoke to "lift your prayers to heaven." As the youngster grows, so does the surrounding cityscape, silencing the animals and plants. The now-adult protagonist wanders, alone and lost--before coming across a tiny plant sprouting from the gray concrete. Inspired, the narrator decides, "From one, I would grow many." Trees and flowers fill the pages. Later scenes show the protagonist with a young son, who also learns to listen to the wisdom of the plants. Hummingbird--a descendant from the Cahuilla nation of Southern California's Inland Empire and the Apache nation of New Mexico--and Wasson matter-of-factly emphasize the importance of respect for the environment. Goodnight's (Chickasaw Nation) realistic art complements this tender story. Soft, natural colors add warmth, while leaves and acorns adorn the endpapers, underscoring the themes of growth, compassion, and strength. In the backmatter, the authors note that plants, like animals, can go extinct; they leave readers with suggestions for growing native plants in their own homes and backyards.
Heartfelt reflections on the importance of kinship with nature. (resources) (Picture book. 4-8)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2024 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
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"Hummingbird, Nicholas: CAN YOU HEAR THE PLANTS SPEAK?" Kirkus Reviews, 15 May 2024, p. NA. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A793536996/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=2af9b955. Accessed 23 Oct. 2024.
Can You Hear the Plants Speak? By Nicholas Hummingbird and Julia Wasson. Illus. by Madelyn Goodnight. Apr. 2024. 40p. Harper, $19.99 (9780063221284). K-Gr. 3.581.
In this book, author Hummingbird, who is of Cahuilla and Apache heritage and an expert in native plants in California, calls on readers to "take a walk" back into his childhood, when he spent summers with his great-grandparents in an unnamed rural area, watching and learning from the fauna and flora around him. He also listened to the teachings of his elders, internalizing the importance of regarding all living things with consideration and care. When the land he loved was paved over and his great-grandparents passed away, Nick felt lost. Adrift, he wandered the city and listened. He heard the plants calling to him to gather their seeds and plant them, thereby countering the devastation of urbanization. The back matter includes ideas for how to cultivate plants in even the smallest areas, along with the sage advice about slowing down to take care of them and learn from them. --Amina Chaudhri
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2024 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist/
Source Citation
Source Citation
MLA 9th Edition APA 7th Edition Chicago 17th Edition Harvard
Chaudhri, Amina. "Can You Hear the Plants Speak?" Booklist, vol. 120, no. 13, 1 Mar. 2024, p. 49. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A786417505/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=3c07b903. Accessed 23 Oct. 2024.