CANOE JOURNEY HERBALISTS

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Canoe Journey Herbalists (CJH) is an Indigenous centered, community supported project that connects Indigenous community with herbal medicine—bridging access to plant resources and traditional healers, as well as operating a yearly mobile community clinic on the largest gathering of Coastal Salish people, the Intertribal Canoe Journey. 

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Community support is at the heart of their work. GRUB has been collaborating and supporting this amazing work for years. CJH has hosted many medicine making workshops in the farmhouse, GRuB’s Wild Foods and Medicines program interns support growing medicinal herbs for their project, CJH uses Tend, Gather and Grow Curriculum for their Indigenous Herbalist Pathway, and we recently collaborated with CJH to make medicines for the Yakama herbal support kits.

This year, when CJH was adapting their work in response to the pandemic, participants in their Indigenous Herbalist apprenticeship program spoke to feelings of overwhelm and insecurity in these times of COVID. Rhonda Lee Grantham (Cowlitz) remembered and drew inspiration from when she was a recipient of GRuB’s backyard gardens and the incredible access to growing food and education that bolsters food sovereignty. CJH busily got to work distributing container gardens to Indigenous community members—encouraging a return to the soil, to tending medicinal plants, and to breathing in intention. We look forward to continuing to work in collaboration with CJH!

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Funds raised on September 10 will support this program as they continue making medicine in service of Indigenous healers and community.‍

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