‘Medicinal plants grow all around us’
Traditional medicine being taught over 10-month course
Walking down Charlotte Street you may not realize you are surrounded by plants that can be made into folk or traditional medicines.
“There’s an abundance of medicinal plants down there, you may not want to use them, but they are there,” said Amber Tapley, a folk herbalist based in Sydney.
Recognizing which plants growing wild in Cape Breton is one of the things Tapley is teaching in her 10-month Ancient Ways Medicine Making course.
Ten people, the maximum number Tapley can take, signed up for the course that teaches how to recognize plants that can be used for traditional medicines, when is best to harvest them and how to use them.
“(The goal is) to really remind people that they can be empowered in their own health care and preventative health care. And to really connect people to the environment around them,” said Tapley, a single mother of two.
“We all know Cape Breton is beautiful, but we don’t all know there’s a lot of medicinal plants that grow all around us.”
Tapley, originally from New Brunswick, is passionate about traditional folk medicines and has been studying the craft for 12 years. Through her company, Blackbird, she makes various medicines and remedies without harsh chemicals, including a natural bug repellent as reported in the Cape Breton Post.
“Obviously I love plants and I love plant medicine. I’ve been studying this for so long now I just felt like I have a lot to share,” said Tapley, who is also a registered massage therapist, birth doula and infant sleep educator.
Students in the course, which was open to women only, praise Tapley for her teaching methods.
“Amber has a really good way of talking about the scientific side of the plants and their uses as well as the spiritual side,” said Zahira Alvarado, who is originally from Montreal but now lives in Sydney.
“I’m very happy with (the course). We did plant walks … Amber’s really in depth about the plants and she answers
lots of questions,” said Jordan Barnes, from North Sydney.
Tapley made this course for women only as a way to bring like-minded women together and to honour tradition.
“It’s often been a women’s type of tradition and I want that to continue. You know, I want mothers to be able
to teach their children. And where we are usually the primary caregivers it’s a pretty amazing gift we can give to mothers to be able to teach their children as well,” she said.
Alvarado runs an at-home day care and said she uses a lot of what she learns in Tapley’s course, which started in Jan., in
her programming.
“The kids just love it,” she said.
Tapley is also bringing the love of plants to young learners this summer with a week-long course and plans on running the Ancient Ways Medicine Making course again.