Lowbush blueberry AKA “low sweet” blueberry (Vaccinium angustifolium) 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. There’s a myth (I originally believed!) that blackflies pollinate blueberry …
Stinging nettle (Urtica dioica) tends to make a bad impression on first meeting, as the name suggests. But there’s way more to this needled edible and medicinal plant. The sting never lasts long for me, but I’ve heard of it lasting for days for a rare unlucky few. It’s recommended you wear gloves to harvest …
Yarrow (Achillea millefolium) is a “wounderful” edible and medicinal herb. A yarrow salve for healing cuts and scrapes was my first ever herbal medicine maker’s recipe! Yarrow is another European import. It’s most descriptive folk name is woundwort. It’s not the only “woundwort”, so cheers for Latin names. On the same note, it’s been called …
In Chippewa, ini’niwunj meaning “man like”, common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca) is a monarch of the edible and medicinal wild plant kingdom. Let’s cultivate this king of herbs for the butterflies more than we eat it, please! Milkweeds folk names are somewhat all over the place, as there are tons of varieties, and many probably don’t …
In Chippewa, wi’gwass’tig, white birch (Betula papyrifera) 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. Edible …
In Chippewa, wiisagibag meaning bitter leaf, also wiisagijiibik meaning bitter taproot and gi’ masan meaning big stickers. Common burdock is an edible and medicinal wild plant that will stick with you. It’s a favorite of mine! Burdock’s (Arctium spp.) folk names are predominately along the lines of burr-this or that-burr, like burrseed for instance. Which …