Welcome to Seeds of Pewen

My name is Jorge Brana, I have been teaching survival skills to adults and children for over 20 years. I would like to offer workshops for people looking to learn more about fire, water, shelter and food in all their most basic forms.

What is the Pewen (Peh-when) tree?

The Pewen tree, also known as the monkey puzzle tree, is the hardiest of the Araucaria araucana species. It grows in extreme mountain conditions and can be as tall as 150 feet and 6 feet wide. The Pewen is venerated by the First Nations people such as the Pewenches “People of the Pewen”, Mapuches “People of the Land”, and Araucanos, in my home country of Argentina. Due to the prevalence of similar species in ancient prehistory it is sometimes called a living fossil, having remained an important source of food for the indigenous people and animals for thousands of years. The Pewen is not only a food source as it also provides shelter, medicine and preserves the history of the people that have lived among it since the beginning of human inhabitancy.

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