In Chippewa, one word for hazel is bagan‘, which means nuts, burs or wood. Beaked hazel or hazelnut is our local edible and medicinal filbert. And it can be used just the same as the store bought one! Like many related (and similarly leaved) trees and shrubs, you’ll find them most along the edges. If …
Continue reading “Beaked Hazel – Corylus Cornuta: Nut of Edible & Medicinal Wild Plants”
In Chippewa, guzigwa’kominaga’wunj, referring to the shad fish spawning when the serviceberry blooms. The English name serviceberry has origins related to when one can finally have funeral services/burial for winters dead. They’re also called juneberries even though you’ll be waiting until the end of June or later for ripe berries. Here around Haliburton, Ontario you’ll …
Continue reading “Serviceberry – Amelanchier SPP.: Early Bloomer of Edible & Medicinal Wild Plants”
In Chippewa, minaga’wunj, blueberry. Lowbush (also called “low sweet”) blueberry is common here, as is velvet-leaf blueberry (vaccinium myrtilloides) which thrives around marshes. I’ve heard a few personal anecdotes from locals about picking blueberries all the while watching a black bear or bears doing the same nearby. The shorter species of “vaccinium” are cranberries and …
In Ojibwe, gawe’mîc, beech is the oldest tree name in the world! It’s also an antique edible and old school medicinal plant. The beechnut tree scarcely grows fruit before it’s 40, 50 years old and produces more with age. Even then, good seed crops won’t happen every year. They tend to hold onto their leaves …
In Chippewa, jingwak’, white pine was the most towering of edible and medicinal plants here 200 yrs ago. Imagine forests of 200-ft tall, 4-ft wide powerful evergreen medicine. Like the now “trending” and controversial sage smudge, pine needles are said to clear negative energy when burned. This tree has so much positive energy. It has …
Continue reading “White Pine – Pinus Strobus: Ontario’s Tallest Edible & Medicinal Wild Plant”
In Chippewa, wi’sugi’mitigo’mic meaning “bitter oak”, red oak is an edible and medicinal tree we’re lucky to have even if just admiring it’s deep red foliage in the autumn. Carrying a piece of oak is said to bring good luck. And it’s a lucky tree to have around for many wild ones. It’s a long …
Continue reading “Red Oak – Quercus Rubra: The Bitter Oak of Edible & Medicinal Wild Plants”
