In Chippewa, cingob’, white spruce is one of the first edible and medicinal plants I enjoy come spring. Its fresh green tips are a popular forage – a top tip! These next two edible and medicinal wild plants are very similar: white spruce and white pine. They’re named for the white crust that often coats …
In Ojibwe, baakwaanaatig, mainly referring to the berry, staghorn sumac is the “lemonadiest” and most vinegary of edible and medicinal shrubs. Staghorn sumac has been called the vinegar tree and the lemonade tree as its juice can be used as a substitute for vinegar or lemon juice. The “staghorn” part comes from the velvety branches …
In Chippewa, wi’gwass’tig, white birch is not only edible and medicinal, but is traditionally used in many other ways from making canoes to baskets to birch bark biting. I think of it as the craftiest tree! White birch is sometimes called paper birch or canoe birch after two of its many utilizations. Are you curious …