From Sp s to Susten ce: A Jo ney of L d d Water

Since moving to Southern Oregon in 2004, the Ashland Food Co-op has been a central part of my family’s lives. For me personally, it has been a place of community solace; a place to come to in order to ground.(I am guilty of stopping in at least once a day!) The feeling of familiarity, of community has always been strong here for me, for so many other Ashland residents, people passing through, and regular visitors to our beautiful town. It is fitting that our Co-op sits atop a body of water that is an historic gathering place as this is what the Co-op has been for 50 years running. Water has always played a significant part of sanctuary; a place of gathering.

Most recent history saw this water as a community spot with families coming, people happy, children splashing, from thousands of years of Indigenous people, to the Victorian era, to the 1970’s moms relieved their kids are occupied. For thousands of years, this water has held itself as a center of the community.

It has been easier to research the history of the water as the Twin Plunges, and more di cult to know the even deeper, richer history of the Indigenous people who gathered at this water as there is very little written history from the Takelma people, the Shasta people, the Athabaskan people. What is known is that for thousands of years this water was regarded as sacred to the land and to those who were the keepers, the stewards; those who lived in natural law with our planet, its elemental structure. The people who intrinsically knew that all water is a gift, and an opportunity for growth through cleansing, nourishment, and gathering.

Carried in the water is an opportunity for rest and replenishment. No spear points nor arrows were found in the years after Europeans settled in the vicinity of the various springs which confirms the oral tradition of a neutral zone.

As this water now sits under the Ashland Food Co-op, we are in a time where the Board of Directors is now asking, “ How do we best honor this space, our community, and the water that is held below?” “How do we honor those who gathered here before us? “Mostly, how do we bring back to light the water that patiently waits below for us to acknowledge the gifts it brings?”

We as the Board of Directors acknowledge that it is a gift to be able to represent the Ashland Food Co-op owners, as well as AFC shoppers, and the Ashland community as a whole, and bring our awareness and gratitude to the water on which this store sits. We ask that as you come into the store, please take a moment within to acknowledge the water that sits beneath. We love our community, respect the Tribes who have been here long before, and welcome your thoughts and wisdom on water, or anything else you wish to share.

Mahalo, Melissa Scudder, AFC Board of Directors