I learned from my uncle, Alex Guno Sr., and other people in the Nass Valley. I found out that my late great-grandmother, Florence Burton, did similar things when she was alive. In a wild medicine tea gathering, one woman explained how stinging nettle tea helped her with her allergies. At the time I had hay fever, food allergies, and was allergic to dogs and cats. She said that drinking stinging nettle tea during allergy season, and over time, would help reduce allergies and inflammation in the body. I’m not affected by most of these allergies anymore after drinking wild a medicine tea blend with stinging nettle in it for a couple years. 

Currently, we live in Prince Rupert. My daughter has significant medical needs. Back in 2017, she ended up in hospital with pneumonia multiple times. I knew that fireweed tea helps with lung congestion and that cottonwood bud salve with pine pitch works to reduce congestion and pain from coughing. Through using traditional medicine, in combination with antibiotics, she hasn’t had pneumonia since. Another community member had a rash on his legs for years. He tried all sorts of prescription medication. But when we gave him the salve, it cleared the rash. For me, it just reconfirms that the natural medicine around us works. Sometimes, it works better than Western medicine. It addresses our body wholistically. It makes me feel good. It makes me proud to be working with wild medicine. 

There is a process to harvesting traditional medicine. You have to have intention. I’m a spiritual person; I say prayers and smudge before I go out. We go to places off the beaten trail, where no animals or humans have been. It’s about being respectful, taking only what you need, thinking about the people who the medicine might be for. I leave an offering of either tobacco or other medicine to show appreciation to Mother Earth. 

Gathering is a good stress reliever. It’s peaceful and brings me joy. I feel like I have a connection to my grandmother and those who have gone before us. I feel that I’m doing a good service for others by making medicine for them.