Tanina Williams has been learning about traditional plants from her mother, Saopolaz, and as a culture teacher at Signal Hill Elementary, she passes along all kinds of insight, wisdom and cultural understandings to students.

As much of her teaching has moved online, we are fortunate enough to be able to drop in on her virtual classes!

Here, she shares about dandelions, which can heal warts, make tea, or jam.

She also shares what happened when she learned there wasn’t an Ucwalmciwts word for dandelion.

She also shares how to thank the plants, when you harvest or forage. “When the bear catches a salmon and drags it into the forest to eat it, it leaves parts of the salmon into the ground, and that benefits the whole forest.”

It’s a way of saying thank you for the Creator for giving what you need to be healthy, it’s showing appreciation. Make an offering of water, or tea, or sing a song, or tell a story. Sharing something good.

This lesson was inspiration and at least one kindergarten/grade 1 class made themselves a batch of dandelion tea.