Photograph 2021.003.005

"The Earth provides us with so much, not only food. It is a connection to our Ancestors, for they passed down their knowledge as we followed to gather, their stories associated with gathering, what to look for, where to look for it, how to prepare, how to preserve, forever tattooed in our DNA to carry forth. Our bodies remember without us even realizing all this is within us. I love this life, knowing I may not have language, but my Ancestors gently guiding me, us as we walk forward."

-Nancy Yeaton, Nanwalek

"Cillqaq contains high levels of Vitamins A and C and can be eaten as fresh as you are picking them. You can prepare them by steaming them or adding them to any of your dishes with greens, such as asparagus which is pretty comparable to eating fireweed shoots. You an also pickle them, add them to stews, and pack them down for the winter in some tasty seal oil (yum!). The leaves can be used in salads, and Janice Schofield even suggests using them to make tea (Discovering Wild Plants, pages 155-57)."

-Nancy Yeaton, Nanwalek