Diana Violet Bird reaches for a rosehip as she patiently teaches her nine-year-old daughter how to forage for edible wild plants in the forest.
“When the flowers fall off, you get what’s called a rosehip,” she told her. “Rosehip is so good for you — it is medicine.”
Bird, who is from Montreal Lake Cree Nation in Saskatchewan, grew up in the boreal forest and has been foraging for decades. She learned the skill from her mother and is now passing it onto her daughter.
This year, though, there was little food to gather, after the province was hit by a deep freeze and then a severe drought — extreme weather events that are expected to worsen with climate change.