I want to share a story with you about my Grandmother’s Grandmother. She was a healer and a midwife at the turn of the last century, right here in Southern Alberta.
How excited I was, as a Herbalist trained in Western & North American herbal medicine, to discover that Marie Rose had kept a recipe book with her own herbal remedies! Reading her thoughts through journals and commentaries stored in the Glenbow Archives inspired me to reawaken my Metis heritage through my work as a herbalist. Marie Rose’s Elderberry syrup was the first in a line of healing herbal formulas, based on the plants used as foods and medicines in Alberta during my GG Grandmother’s lifetime.
These remedies are created in the spirit of remembrance and gratitude for the Herbalists and the Plant Teachers who have gone before me, and taught me everything I know. They are bottled with the same playfulness I enjoy exhibiting in all of my labels. On the outside of the bottle is something beautiful – on the inside is ‘Bonn Michinn‘ (“good medicine” in Michif) for your body and soul.
I hope you will enjoy the soothing and comfort of these traditional remedies, and in so doing, remember the infinite Love that our Grandmothers & Grandfathers hold for us. Marsee mes aamii!