It was Indigenous traditional medicine that helped heal painful burns on my arm after nothing else would work. The salve I used was made from several plants people consider hideous looking weeds, plants you can find everywhere that contain so many healing properties. But my story is so minor compared to many.
Did you know that Indigenous medicine has helped people for centuries? Some of the first European settlers were cured of debilitating diseases because of traditional medicines, like the cure for scurvy. I've met people who have helped recover from colds by drinking conifer tea. One of the most well-known cough syrups on the market, Buckley's, is based off Indigenous knowledge, using Balsam fir sap. This sap can also be used as a disinfectant for open wounds. The knowledge and healing in the plants around us are limitless, even in the ones considered eyesores. All we have to do is learn.
This is exactly what traditional medicine gardens are there for, like the one in front of the Indigenous wing of Sault college. This garden offers a wealth of knowledge and healing herbs for the entire college, but very soon its knowledge may be lost.
Due to its location, it's difficult for Sault college to mow the grass around the area. It's, therefore, been requested that the garden be moved but this would be disastrous! Not only would all the medicine currently growing in the garden have to be destroyed, the new location is substantially smaller, with insufficient sunlight and poor growing conditions. There's no guarantee the garden would even survive!
For these reasons, we are proposing an alternative solution. We, the students at Sault college, are going to create a Gardening club with the specific tasks of maintaining the grass surrounding the medicine garden and the garden itself. Operating during the spring, summer and fall months, after the snow has melted, and run by a traditional Indigenous elder, students will use personal tools brought from home to maintain the area to the aesthetic standard of the college while simultaneously teaching students about the importance of traditional Indigenous medicine.
Sign on to support our idea and help save the medicine garden! (If you're a student at Sault College, please give your school email)
