Edible Intertidal

All along the coast of British Columbia, researchers and First Nations are unearthing—or rather “un-mudding”—ancient gardens. Over 2,000 years ago the Indigenous peoples of B.C. created the first marine farms with simple materials to cultivate a staple of the coastal First Nations diet: the clam.

What researchers now call “clam gardens” the Kwakwaka’wakw Nation of northeastern Vancouver Island and mainland B.C. knew as loxiwey. Families managed the intertidal plots and passed them down through generations. After locating a beach with clams, women and children rolled basketball-sized rocks to the edge of the lowest tides to build the walls and cleared the plot from debris. Sediment and mud would accumulate to create the ideal environment for clams to spawn and grow. Once they had established a clam garden, the tidal farmers would use digging sticks to turn over chunks of seafloor and aerate the sand. With rakes, they selectively harvested mature clams into woven baskets and left the smaller ones.