The pacific northwest strawberry.

The pacific northwest strawberry.

Vanilla Leaf - nature’s bug repellant

Miner’s Lettuce - the lettuce of the Salish Sea

Salmonberry flavours range from bright, fruity, and citrusy to deep and earthy.

Qwa’pulhp is one of the most powerful and widely respected medicinal plants found along the B.C. coast.

This common aquatic plant is a staple food for many Coast Salish Nations.

Camas is native to the endangered Garry Oak ecosystem, primarily found in the Gulf Islands and southern Vancouver Island.

Historically used by Coast Salish Peoples for medicinal purposes, though it can be toxic if not prepared properly.

Nodding Onion (Allium cernuum) is a native perennial herb with slender, grass-like leaves and drooping clusters of pink to white bell-shaped flowers. Found in open woods and rocky slopes, it emits a mild onion scent.

Labrador tea holds deep cultural and medicinal significance among Coast Salish peoples. Traditionally, it has been used as a remedy for colds and sore throats. The leaves are often brewed into a tea, valued for it’s healing properties.

The Honourable Harvest - An excerpt of the book Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer

Turkey tail mushrooms are small (1-4 inch) shelf mushrooms that grow from decaying deciduous and conifers logs. The tops of their caps are hairy but smooth, and beautifully striped with just about any colour!

Overall Shaggy Parasols are delicious and one of my favorite edible mushrooms. They have a beautiful texture and flavor, almost meaty, and are of course filled with vitamins and minerals from the forest.

The oyster mushroom arranges itself as shelves growing off dead trees, usually deciduous, Red Alder (Alnus rubra) being the most common host in the Salish area environments.

Morels are a fire-loving fungi, meaning you will likely find them in burnt forests most abundantly in the spring following a summer fire season, however, it is possible to find them outside of burns in the spring.

Ghost pipes are a very unique and special plant. They were once classified as fungi as they have no chlorophyll (giving them their pale colour) and thus do not photosynthesize for themselves. They have since been classified as plants…

You will find chanterelles growing from the ground, in a variety of different shapes and sizes but usually with caps 2-6 inches in size. They may be bright yellow-orange (Cantharellus cibarius) or white-soft pink (Cantharellus subalbidus).

Bull kelp, a fast-growing brown algae, can be recognized all over the West Coast, especially in the Salish Sea.

Elders from Penelakut and Galiano Islands share knowledge of wild food foraging and ways in which harvesting practices are being impacted by changes in both the climate and the social landscape.