Home page

Text size

E-mail this page

TSIIGEHTCHIC/ARCTIC RED RIVER - Alistine Andre lifted up a four foot tall spruce tree onto the table at the Gwich'in social and cultural institute in Tsiigehtchic. With a pair of clippers she began cutting the branches from the young tree.

"You're going to smell the branches in a few minutes," she said as she placed them in a pot of boiling water on the stove.

Using clippers to clear away the branches, Alistine Andre prepares to harvest the inner bark from a spruce tree. The bark can be used as a traditional medicine if harvested properly. - Brodie Thomas/NNSL photo

"It helps clear the air," she said.

Andre was delivering a presentation on traditional medicine to a group of about 10 people during the last weekend in September. The lesson was on the medicinal powers of spruce bark.

Andre said she learned about the bark's medicinal powers from her friend Ruth Welsh.

"She gave me the first little piece and it was the best thing I'd tasted in a long time," said Andre. Since then, she has been showing others how to harvest it.

The tree she brought to class is not very old. As she clipped off branches she explained that you should only take what you need when harvesting.

"I try to be in a thankful state of mind when I take the tree," said Andre.

She said she usually leaves an offering of matches or tobacco behind when she takes a tree.

Andre said you can also take a piece of spruce bark from a fully grown tree just by scraping away the outer bark.

After clipping off the branches and placing the boughs in boiling water, Andre began to scrape at the top layer of bark with her knife.

The bark she wants is the soft fibrous material just below the surface. Not the flaky outside, and not the core of the tree either, but a clean white layer of bark.

After a few minutes with the knife she held up a flat white strip of bark that looked like a stick of gum.

"This is my favourite medicine," said Andre as she offered pieces of the bark around the table.

Aaron Josie, 7, didn't hesitate to pop the bark into his mouth.

"Do I bite it?" he asked.

"Yes, you chew it like gum," said Andre.

He then started chomping away happily. He thought it tasted pretty good.

Cheyanne Andre wasn't as impressed with the flavour.

"It tastes strong at first," said Cheyanne.

The spruce bark is harder than a stick of gum, but still fairly soft. It has a slightly sour taste, but also bitter at first. After a few minutes the flavour is more enjoyable, and there is a hint of a sharp scent, like mint or pine.

As you chew the taste becomes milder and the scent helps to clear your airways and sinuses, not unlike a cough drop.

Andre said the bark is not used to treat any specific sickness. Instead it can be used whenever you are feeling under the weather. She said spruce cones and branches can also be boiled with water to make a spruce tea.

Before teaching the class, Andre warned that if you are not completely certain about the plants you are using for traditional medicine you should not be using them. She said even a simple spruce tree can be confused and she recommended asking an expert if you're not sure.