The diet of the old people promoted good health. All people need plants in their diet if they want to be healthy. Our people understood this and made sure that they had a balanced diet, one which included plants as well as meat.

They did not take plants for granted. Plants were living things and so deserved respect. Our people treated food from plants with respect, being careful in how and when they collected plants. If the plants were over-harvested or damaged, they would not grow again.

Our people said a prayer of thanks when they harvested plants. Some leave a little gift in place of the plant. Our ancestors prayed over their food, giving thanks for it.

When gathering some plants, our people went to the place where the plants grew. Each season they harvested what was provided in the wilderness. We did not grow any plants, except for a type of tobacco which we got from the Tlingit. As we saw in the section on Our Country, our climate is very dry. When we learned to garden from non-natives, we often had to irrigate our gardens to make them grow.

Sylvia Albright, in her doctoral thesis, divided our plants into four groups: green vegetables, roots, fruits and berries, and cambium. This is the way that this section is organized, except that "stomach contents" has been added to this list. The following information is listing is a sample of the plants we harvested for food and/or medicine.

Wild Greens

Wild greens were an important part of our diet and are still eaten today. Long ago, we harvested the tender shoots of young plants as they grew in the spring. These were a welcome treat (and still are to this day).

Long ago we collected young plants and carried them in birch bark baskets. These were the only type of basket that we used. When we got pails, and pots and pans from the Outside, we stopped making and using our baskets.

Often we did not make special trips to pick plants. Instead, they were gathered as we walked along. Perhaps we would pick them as we were moving from one camp to another. Or, perhaps, when we were planning our move, we included a trip to a spot where certain plants would be ready for harvesting. Some of the plants that we collected long ago and still use today are:

• Wild rhubarb has stems that taste much like tame rhubarb. Peel the stems and eat the inner part raw.
  
• Pig weed (lamb's quarters) is delicious when picked young. Older plants have a strong taste. They also take longer to cook.
  
• Nettles were used. Again, they were picked young. Young plants do not have nettles.
  
• Sour grass (mountain sorrel) is still used today.
  
• Dandelion leaves are tasty when young. Today these are often used in a salad.
  

Roots were mos t often harvested in the spring when they were tender. Some were harvested from spring to fall. In those cases, they may have been dug when the ground was soft following a rain. A sharpened stick was used to dig the roots. Some roots used were:

• Vetch was a favourite which is still used today. It was peeled and eaten raw.
  
• Fern and other bracken grow from bulbs. The bulbs were dug and baked.
  
• Fern rhizomes were gathered from spring to fall. These were cooked by baking in a small pit under a campfire.

Fruits and Berries

Today we know from science, that fruits and berries are a necessary part of a diet. They contain vitamins and minerals that our bodies need to be healthy. Each year, our peo Dple used to eat fruits and berries which were in season Ñ and we still do today. It is interesting to note that our older people, today, have cravings for the berries that should be ripe at a certain time of the year. Just like long ago, in raspberry season, our older people always took us to go and pick them. We ate as much as we wanted while they were fresh, then the rest were preserved by freezing, canning, or in jams or jellies.

Berry-picking is much more than a time to pick berries. It is also a time for us to enjoy each other's company. Today, if we are out walking in the bush, we often stop and eat our fill of berries of the bush. From talking with older Tahltans, they did this also, when they were young. And so did the "old ones", our parents' grandparents, when they were young. Long ago, berries were dried for later use. That is, we used to dry some berries, since some do not dry well. Soapberries dried well and were a favourite. Soapberries (or Indian ice-cream) was so popular that people made their own soapberry spoons which they carried with them. Some berries are very difficult to dry or are too seedy when dried. Raspberries, for instance, are juicy and have millions of seeds. When the berries are dried, they are difficult to eat because of the seeds. Strawberries are also juicy. Long ago, berries such as these would not have been dried because of the reasons noted. However, today we strain the seeds and dry any berries that we wish.

Above the Stikine

According to Sylvia Albright (1984), there are about 25 different fruits and berries which grow wild in our country. They grow in many places. Ask your mother and father, they know where patches of berries grow. If there are no berries in their favourite patch, they know where to look for them. They will look in alpine areas for moss berries and along roads or sunny slopes for raspberries, and so on.

It has been noted that the climate along the Stikine River is very warm. Many kinds of tame fruits might be grown if the plants were irrigated. Some people do grow raspberries and strawberries in their garden, but most do not. Everyone likes to pick some of the berries that grow wild. The following are a few of the most popular fruits and berries which grow wild in our area:

Strawberries are one of the all-time favourite berries. Perhaps this is so because they are among the first berries to ripen in the spring. They are very high in vitamin C. We did not know this, long ago, but now we do.

Raspberries are possibly the second favourite fruit. It grows in abundance in our country. It is widely used as a jam today.

Cranberries (both highbush and low bush) are prized. The highbush cranberries are easy to find in the fall because of their strong smell.

Soapberries have always been a favourite with most of our people. Some people so not like the bitter taste. Soapberries are said to be high in iron and vitamin C and to aid digestion.

When we pick this berry, we often break off the branches and take them home. This is one shrub that grows more branches if one is broken. If we are picking lots of soapberries, we spread a blanket under the bush and tap each branch. The berries fall on the blanket. Leaves and green berries are picked off or the wind blows the leaves away.

Our people used to dry berries. They were used by our families later in the year. Extra dried berries were sold as part of our trade with other native groups. Natives from the coast enjoy this berry. Soapberries do not grow on the coast because it is too wet. Soapberries are also known as "hoosham berries" or "soopalallie berries".

The juice from soapberries is usually whipped with water and sugar to form a pink froth. It is similar to whipped egg white in texture. This dish is known as Indian ice-cream, although it probably should be called Indian whipped cream instead. It is whipped with a beater, or sometimes with the hand (well-washed, of course). Long ago, beaters were made from the twigs of a saskatoon bush.

Blueberries of three heights grown in our country. There are low bush which grow close to the ground and are small. There are a higher bush, but still low. These berries are also larger than low bush. Highbush blueberries grow on shrubs that might reach up to 3.5 m or 11 feet.

The higher bush berries can be picked by putting a blanket on the ground under the bush and tapping the branches. Blueberries were dried or made into squares of berries. They were often cooked with fat or dried mixed with fat.

Saskatoons (serviceberries) were found throughout our country. They were harvested and preserved with the same methods as for blueberries.

Cambium is the inner bark of trees. Our people have always used this as a source of vitamins and minerals. Of course, we did not know that that is what it was long ago. Nowadays only a few people still use this valuable food supplement.

Long ago, the cambium was harvested in early spring when the sap was running. Long pieces of bark were stripped from the tree using some kind of pliers or pullers. Teit reports that these were made of caribou antler. The strips were long, running up and down the tree. The bark was never removed from around the tree, since this would kill it.

The inner layer was scraped into birch bark cups and eaten fresh. The sap from the inside of the bark was licked off also. For use later in the year, the inner layer was removed in long narrow strips and dried. Our older Tahltans remember being given a cup of tea made from these strips. They might have said, "A cup of bark tea everyday kept the doctor away"!

Stomach Contents

In the winter, the contents of caribou stomach was boiled and eaten. Since caribou eat lichens and mosses, this was a nutritious vegetable dish. It was eaten boiled or fried. It is like a sauce. The stomachs of other animals were also eaten, including the moose. We liked to use all of the animal that we could.

Our people believed in preventative medicine. They believed that the best defense against disease or illness was to keep your body in good health. One way is by eating plants which promoted health. They believed that if a person ate a well-balanced diet which included plants rich in vitamins and minerals, they would be healthy. Minor sickness was treated with herbal remedies which helped the body to return to balance and heal itself.

For more serious illness, we had people (shamans) with great knowledge about plants and their healing characteristics. Shamans, or medicine men, would be called upon to help treat the sickness. Using plants for treating illness was only part of how shamans helped people to return to wellness. (See Wellness for more.)

We also believed that plants, especially plants as medicines, are a gift. We must treat them with respect. It was traditional to show respect for these gifts by saying a prayer of thanks. When we were finished with the plant, it was not thrown away. We buried it with another prayer.

Not all Tahltans knew how to use certain plants. Only those who had special training in plants knew how to use all plants. However, each of us knew how to use the more common plants for medicines. These are a few that we still use today:

Caribou Leaves (or Caribou Weed) is our traditional cure-all plant. It is still used today to treat a number of ailments. Each of us has stories of how this plant cured our friend or relative of a serious medical problem.

It can be used as a tisane (a tea that has been simmered for a time) or chewed (for treating a sore throat) or as a poultice on wounds. It can also be mixed with balsam tea to make a more powerful medicine.

Evergreen bark and/or needles are used in many ways, in the past and today. The bark can be simmered to make a tea which is a tonic. The needles, especially the tips, also make a healing tea rich in vitamin C.

The hardened pitch blebs can be chewed until it forms a soft gum, then put on a cut as a poultice. It also helps healing to take place. The pi tch blebs are used as an antiseptic for cleaning open wounds. These are only a few gifts that we get from the evergreen trees.

Juniper branches and berries are boiled to make a tonic to cleanse the liver and kidneys.

Soapberries are one of the plants which is gives us both food and medicine. The berries provide excellent vitamins. Instead of whipping the berries, sometimes the juice is mixed with water and taken as a tonic.

Our people have always gathered plants for food and/or medicine. Today some of us grow gardens to provide us with the vegetables that we need in our diet (and because fresh vegetables are so good!). Some of us still use many of the remedies that are known to our people.

Today we have many ways of preserving our food, including herbs. We can or freeze or make jams and jellies. We also dry food. In the old days, our people used nature's dryer, wind and sun. Today we have electric dehydrators which cuts the time for drying food and still holds the "goodness".

It is interesting to note that many of our traditional medicines, such as pine bark, are being sold in health stores as "natural herbs", in pill form. Some people believe that pills are not the answer; that the natural herbal remedy should be prepared at home from the original ingredients.

Preparing the herbs from scratch is thought to be better than the pill form by some because there are other ingredients that make the medicine stronger. Also, this is the way the gift was given to us, you must unwrap it (prepare it) yourself for it to be most effective. Of course, you may decide for yourself, since only you know what is best for you.