Revered Roots: Ancestral Teachings and Plant Wisdom, with LoriAnn Bird

Join us for this free online program from The Plant Initiative!

Learn more about Indigenous ingenuity and the lessons, nourishment, healing, and history of our plant teachers in this conversation with Indigenous Métis herbalist and author LoriAnn Bird about her new book Revered Roots: Ancestral Teachings and Wisdom of Wild, Edible, and Medicinal Plants.

The conversation will be moderated by Keith Williams, a Plant Initiative board member.

Whether the plants have existed from time immemorial in North America or arrived in recent generations, these members of the Rooted Nation are intrinsic to our health and well-being, as individuals and as a community. From plantain, juniper, and ginseng to sweetgrass, strawberries and calendula, appreciating and respecting these plant gifts enriches us with an honorable harvest and the sharing of knowledge.

Revered Roots: Ancestral Teachings and Wisdom of Wild, Edible, and Medicinal Plants, is an insightful reference that narrates the reciprocal relationship with all that exists. This book is an invitation to explore gather, and reclaim this knowledge. The journey begins with remembering our collaboration and responsibility to Mother Earth. It continues with a pilgrimage into Indigenous folklore, practices and identification of medicinal trees, shrubs, herbs, wildflowers, and edible "weeds."

Join us for this free interactive program!

There will be time for questions from the audience following the discussion. This free program will be livestreamed with a link to be sent to participants before the event and will also be recorded and available for viewing online afterwards.

About LoriAnn Bird

LoriAnn Bird is an Indigenous Métis herbalist, educator, and author with a deep knowledge of wild, medicinal and edible plants that grow in everyday spaces. Through LoriAnn's eyes, our immediate surroundings take on a new life and offer a wealth of untapped nutritional and ecological resources.

LoriAnn’s vision is to continually co-create insightful dialogues, to remediate and reconcile with our Indigenous plants as we reintroduce them into our urban landscapes. By sharing and growing these practices, communities can access our true local foods and medicines, which support collective resilience and deep ecological healing for all species.

As a refugee of the Red River Métis Nation, born and raised on the Coast Salish lands of British Columbia, LoriAnn is deeply grateful to live, play and create primarily on the unceded & traditional territories of the Coast Salish Peoples – xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) peoples.

You can access LoriAnn's web site here.

More about the book

With Indigenous Métis herbalist LoriAnn Bird as your guide, connect with the ancestral wisdom of over 90 wild edible and medicinal plants from across North America.

Revered Roots: Ancestral Teachings and Wisdom of Wild, Edible, and Medicinal Plants is a purposeful and powerful reference to the lessons, nourishment, healing, and history of our “plant teachers,” Revered Roots shares guidance on exploring, gathering, and reclaiming these long-revered plants as food and medicine. Separated into two sections, LoriAnn first reveals her own journey to understanding and respecting our plant elders. She offers teachings and lessons about remembering our relationship to the plants around us and our responsibility to the earth that sustains us.

The second part of the book is filled with insightful illustrated plant profiles detailing the identification, uses, and Indigenous folklore of some of the continent’s most treasured ancestral plants. Included are edible and medicinal bark, berries, and buds from trees and shrubs, as well as foliage, flowers, and fronds from herbs, “weeds,” and wildflowers; some native to the continent, others introduced generations ago.

Learn about the gifts our Rooted Nation of plants has to offer, including:

• Evergreen tips from spruces, pines, and firs
• Hawthorn berries, leaves, and flowers
• Plantain seeds and foliage
• Oswego tea leaves and blooms
• Slippery elm bark
• Motherwort flowers, stems, and leaves
• Black cohosh roots and rhizomes
• Marshmallow root
• Cottonwood buds and bark
• Plus dozens more

Reclaiming our natural rhythms and connections to the earth we walk on is essential to our health and well-being, both as individuals and as a community. One simple way to do that is by appreciating, respecting, and seeking to understand the plants around us.