Learn how wild herbs, shrubs, and trees are used for edible, medicinal, and craft purposes. Based east of the Rockies out of Haliburton, Ontario, Canada.
In Chippewa, cigagwa’tigon meaning “skunk-like”, refers to swamp red currant, one of our native currants around Ontario. These edible and medicinal plants aren’t the same “currant” you find dried in grocery stores. Currants (ribes spp.) are spattered everywhere around Haliburton county, Ontario. Gooseberry was covered earlier this year and is also a ribes. But here we’re …
Common bracken (pteridium aquilinum) is a popular edible, especially in the far east. But like most edible fiddleheads it’s complicated. Not preparing it thoroughly may be linked to stomach cancer. Common bracken (pteridium aquilinum) is traditionally edible and medicinal in many places, but unfortunately a compound in it is potentially linked to stomach cancer. It’s …
In Chippewa, oza’widji’bik meaning “yellow root” refers to bitter dock (rumex obtusifolius), a nonnative here in Ontario. The nonnative yellow rooted docks, sour and bitter, have a long history of medicinal use. We have a couple dozen (native and nonnative) edible and medicinal docks. Last week’s sheep sorrel is a rumex too, but docks stand alone. …
Sheep sorrel (rumex acetosella) is another tangy nonnative edible and medicinal plant in Ontario. It’s very similar in usage to our native wood sorrel. But it’s an ingredient in the popular and controversial Essiac tea. Sheep sorrel (rumex acetosella) is common here around Haliburton, primarily in ditches and sand flats. This sorrels clusters of reddish …
In Anishinaabemowin, wiingashic/wiingashk syn. bashkodemashkosiw, sweetgrass is one of the four sacred medicines. The other three are asemma (tobacco), bashkodejiibik syn. mashkodewashk (sage), and giizhik (cedar). It’s sacred in the traditional spirituality of various first nations across the Americas. And it’s holy grass in Europe too. Its previous genus, hierochloë is a Greek-Latin combo meaning “holy grass”. …
Also known as male ferns, wood fern’s fiddleheads are toxic. If you’re going to eat ostrich or lady ferns, it’s good to know their look-a-likes like this species! Wood ferns (dryopteris spp.) are toxic lookalikes to our edible ferns (ostrich, lady, the related Christmas fern..) We have numerous species of wood ferns. Common around Haliburton, …