It’s time to re-indigenize ourselves. To know the ground on which we tread. To really know it.
 
This quiz is adapted from Indigenize! but there are several more such as this one and also this one. This post and macro photos contributed by Rachael Rice. 

MAKING CONNECTIONS

 
1. Where does the water in your house come from? Trace the water you drink from rainfall to tap. Where did the cloud gather its moisture?
 
2. Where does the water go that drains from your sink? What about the water (& other stuff) leaving your toilet?
 
3. Choose a favorite meal and trace the ingredients back through the store…the processing plant…all the way to the soil. How many people, states, or even countries helped produce this meal? What went into the packaging and transportation of its ingredients? How many of the ingredients could you (did you?) get locally or even grow yourself?
 
4. What kind of energy do you primarily use? Where does it come from? Trace the path of energy that powers your home from its sources to you.
 
5. When your garbage is thrown away, where is “away”?
 
6. What are the primary sources of pollution in your area?
 
7. What are the major natural sounds you are aware of in a particular season?
 
8. What agencies are responsible for planning future transportation and land use in this area?
 
9. List three critical environmental issues in your area. What can you do to help?
 
10. Draw a map of your territory, the areas you travel regularly – without using human markers like buildings or street names.
 
 

EARTH

 
11. What primary geological events or processes that shaped the land where you live? (Extra Points: What is the evidence?)
 
12. What soil series are you standing on?
 
13. How has the land in your area been used by humans, over the last two centuries?
 
14. Who lived here prior to white settlement, and what were their primary subsistence techniques?
 
15. What was the vegetation type in this area prior to white settlement?
 
16. Where is there wilderness in your bioregion?
 
 

WATER

 
17. What is the elevation above sea level where you live?
 
18. What is the average annual rainfall for your area? What was the total rainfall in your area last year?
 
 

NEIGHBORS

 
19. What Spring wildflower is consistently among the first to bloom where you live?
 
20. Name seven common trees in your area. Which ones are native? For the others, how did they get here? Why were they brought?
 
21. Which indigenous people inhabit(ed) your region before you? Are they still here?
 
22. What were the primary subsistence techniques of the culture that lived in your area before you?
 
23. Name five edible wild plants in your region and their season(s) of availability.
 
24. Name three medicinal wild plants in your region, and what they can be used for. BONUS: which parts are the most effective (stems, roots, fruits…)?
 
25. Name seven mammals common to your area. Which are native and which are new here? From where did they come? Which animals are extinct from your area?
 
26. Name ten birds common to your area. (Extra Points: Which are year-round residents? Which are migratory?) (For the EXPERT: Where do the latter winter over?)
 
27. If you have deer in your area, when do they rut, and when are the young born?
 
28. Name five grasses in your area. Are any of them native?
 
29. Name four wild mushrooms that grow in your area, two edible (only if you are an expert) and two poisonous.
 
30. Describe the defense techniques used by three different other-than-human beings living in your area. (Examples: camouflage, poison, thick skin, thorns…)
 
31. What are the major plant associations in your region?
 
32. What plant or animal is the “barometer” of environmental health for your bioregion? How is it doing?
 
 

SKY

 
33. Sitting in your living room, point North.
 
34. How recently was the Moon full? What phase is she in now?
 
35. On what day of the year are the shadows the shortest where you live?
 
36. From what direction do winter storms come in your region?
 
37. How long is the growing season where you live?
 
38. How has the typical weather changed in your area since you were born? (Ask an older person to remember weird weather.)
 
39. Name one constellation or star that comes out only in winter, and one that comes out in summer.
 
 

FIRE

 
40. When was the last time a fire burned in your area?
 
41. What caused it?
 
42. How did the land change after that? What grew back first, second, third? What bugs, birds, and animals followed?
 
43. How is fire dealt with where you live? (Controlled burns, completely prevented, seasonal controls – what sort?)
 
44. What are three of your favorite songs to sing around a campfire?