AANIIN WAABIGWANIIN: hello, flowers!

It's the first day of summer, and wild roses are finally in bloom. In this episode, I ramble about all things roses, except to discuss their actual medicine. Oops! I dry rose hips to put in my winter tea blends because of their immune-boosting abilities, not sure if that is just vitamin C or if there is more to it than that. Like many rose family plants (agrimony, potentilla/cinquefoil, raspberry and other Rubus species), rose is astringent. I guess that is hinted at a bit when discussing roses for skincare, but that also applies when using the hips, petals and even leaves in tea blends. And then there's just the emotional/spiritual medicine of seeing and smelling roses in bloom. You can see some flowers here: #oginiiwaabigwan and check out the fruit here: #oginiig I would love to hear from you! You can use the contact form on my website or record me a voice message at the podcast homepage.  Check out more ojibwemowin (including audio) at the Ojibwe People's Dictionary. The intro/outro music in this episode is royalty-free music called "In the Forest" shared on Pixabay by username Lesfm.

This delicate red and yellow flower is currently dangling above its lacy leaves along trails, roads, streams, and even my driveway - that's where I recorded this episode, and you'll hear the gravel crunch as I dodge mosquitoes and pause for loud cars, but we also get some sweet little creature noise, so it's all good. Misadijiibik means stomach medicine-root in ojibwemowin, but the root, leaves and seeds of this plant have been used by other tribal nations for other body systems, too. I'm more interested in just enjoying the beautiful flowers, mostly to look at, and even for the occasional nostaligic nibble. See them yourself by checking out #misadijiibik on Instagram, if they don't turn up in your wanderings. I would love to hear from you! You can record me a voice message at anchor.fm/marisa-lee Check out more ojibwemowin (including audio) at the Ojibwe People's Dictionary. The intro/outro music in this episode is royalty-free music called "In the Forest" shared on Pixabay by username Lesfm.

Whether you call this fruit serviceberry, saskatoon, juneberry or gozigwaakomin, it is delicious - and the flowers blooming now are a promise of the sweetness to come. Depending on where you live, gozigwaakominagaawanzh is probably done blooming . . . but you can still enjoy photos of it here: #gozigwaakominagaawanzh and check out the fruit here #gozigwaakomin It might be hard to catch their names, when I mention my teachers, so I will include their names in the notes: Misko-anang & Amikogaabawiban (who went by his 'nickname' he said, Amik). This episode was recorded outside, because it was too beautiful out not to - and this was so much nicer than recording in my cold car during the winter. I may continue recording outside, unless traffic past my house gets too busy during tourist season. And uh yeah, about that weekly podcast every Tuesday? I guess I'm not sure what my posting schedule will be. I tend to do everything in short bursts of energy with long breaks in between. I'll find a rhythm and try to be consistent, while also not committing to something I can't keep up with. I would love to hear from you! You can use the contact form on my website or record me a voice message at anchor.fm/marisa-lee Check out more ojibwemowin (including audio) at the Ojibwe People's Dictionary. The intro/outro music in this episode is royalty-free music called "In the Forest" shared on Pixabay by username Lesfm.

Balsam fir is such an iconic north woods tree that I just LOVE. It has a tidy form and an invigorating flavor that help jolt me out of winter blahs. You can see this and other trees by checking out #mitigoog on Instagram, or for just balsam fir, try out #zhingob. This episode was recorded almost a month ago and I just got off-track with posting when my laptop got wrecked. Not because I couldn't post, because technically I 100% could. I was just discouraged - AND distracted with a new obsession, learning how to braid rag rugs. So I think I make some reference to it being January, oh well. I'm just going to do a blitz of mini episodes and catch up on the season I had planned out. I would love to hear from you! You can use the contact form on my website or record me a voice message at anchor.fm/marisa-lee Check out more ojibwemowin (including audio) at the Ojibwe People's Dictionary. The intro/outro music in this episode is royalty-free music called "In the Forest" shared on Pixabay by username Lesfm.

Virgin's bower is a gorgeous flowering vine that can be referred to as biimaakwad in ojibwemowin, which simply means vine. Actually the root biim- describes the action of twisting, as vines twist around trees and other supports, so you'll find that root in words related to moving in a spiral motion and even in the words for vine-like objects such as rope or string. Ojibwemowin is a verb-based language, so nouns are often derived from verbs - what does the thing do? You can see this and other vines by checking out #biimaakwad on Instagram. This plant is most striking in winter, when it's gone to seed, and in this episode I ramble about seeds, promises, and the new year. Tell me about the seeds you're starting this winter, literally and/or metaphorically, by recording a voice message at anchor.fm/marisa-lee Check out more ojibwemowin (including audio) at the Ojibwe People's Dictionary. The intro/outro music in this episode is royalty-free music called "In the Forest" shared on Pixabay by username Lesfm.

This episode is all about goldenrod, giizisomashkiki which means sun medicine in ojibwemowin, the Ojibwe language. I picked this plant for this week because I'm enjoying just a smidge more daylight each day past the solstice, and I like to use goldenrod in herbal tea in the winter (which I try to remember to drink more often).  See my many goldenrod photos on Instagram by looking at #giizisomashkiki and learn more about this plant medicine by checking out a couple of books: Plants Have So Much to Give Us, All We Have to Do Is Ask by Mary Siisip Geniusz Strength of the Earth by Frances Densmore That reminds me, I should have broken down the word parts of the name, giizisomashkiki. Giizis is the sun (and dibiki-giizis is the moon, so you might recognize the ending 'giizis' from ojibwemowin month/moon names). Mashkiki is medicine, and mashk- as a root word refers to strength, like mashkawizi (s/he is strong). Some people say mashkiki, medicine, means strength of (or from) the earth, since aki is the earth - and this refers specifically to plant medicine. Pretty cool, huh?  Check out more ojibwemowin (including audio) at the Ojibwe People's Dictionary. The intro/outro music in this episode is royalty-free music called "In the Forest" shared on Pixabay by username Lesfm.

This episode is all about one of my favorite trees (confession: they're all my favorite) and how it inspires in me a sense of wonder and that feeling of being home. I also gush endlessly (TWICE) about what the tree looks like, but feel free to just look at my many photos of this beauty over on instagram using #zhingwaak  (this ojibwemowin word is in wide enough usage that lots of other people use this hashtag, too!). Here's a link to that blog post I referenced when talking about prezzies, thinking this was where I read about making an herbal salt using pine needles. That does not appear to be an accurate memory, but still there are lots of recipes and good info on this post, so I will share it!  If I ever figure out where I read about pine needle salt, I will link to that, too!  That Vashti Bunyan song I couldn't think of is called "Swallow Song" and the relevant lyrics are and there's an oak leaf turning green into brown // and there's a pine so proud of her evergreen gown looking down // see how fast the winter comes around The intro/outro music in this episode is royalty-free music called "In the Forest" shared on Pixabay by username Lesfm. 

Welcome to this silly little trailer and to a podcast all about plants & ojibwemowin (the Ojibwe language). Thanks for coming along on this learning journey with me.