by John Murvin Vicaire

We couldn’t have asked for a nicer day in November than the one we got last Tuesday. It was nice and sunny and unusually warm. This was the fourth time that Karen has made her way up from Maine to share her knowledge with us, but it’s still just the beginning of our learning journey.

The day began by meeting with Karen in Ugpi’ganjig (Eel River Bar). Before setting out on the field in search of aquatic medicines, she showed us some of the medicinal plants she had previously collected with the help of a local community member.

It was amazing to see all the different types of plants being dried or soaking in alcohol to be used as tinctures. These are plants which under different circumstances one wouldn’t think much of. Most of the time we call them weeds, not caring enough even to learn their name.