Befriending The Boreal: An Invitation To Get To Know Our Beloved Elder, Sister Balsam Fir

The first installment of this series offers an Invitation to get to know our beloved elder sister who is called Nimisenh in the Anihshininiimowin language

Balsam Fir

She is an ancient being that has provided (and continues to provide) medicine, food, building/weaving materials, spiritual healing and habitat for countless beings (including humans).

She offers her powerful aerosolized medicinal compounds to alter the composition of the entire atmosphere of the Earth (cleansing pathogenic organisms and pollutants from the air so that we can breath easy). You can sense the gifts she shares when you walk amongst her family and feel the blessings she provides to the air for her kin.

I grew up around her in the high alpine of BC and was introduced to her more prolific and ancient relatives in the north of Ontario where she has offered her gifts to many peoples for time immemorial. Now our kin is under threat by the imperialistic conquests of corporations claiming to be about “sustainability” and needs our help. Below I will provide some information from several books so you can get to know our elder who the Ojibway people call Nimisenh (which translates to “Elder Sister”) and/or Ingiigido’agg which translates to “She Speaks For Us” and “She Who Stands At Prayer For Us”).

a Balsam Fir (Abies balsamea) near Quiniscoe Lake in Cathedral Lakes Provincial Park, BC, Canada.

close up of new Balsam Fir (Abies balsamea) growth tips (having been exposed to snow in June and expressing Anthocyanin in the foliage as a self defense mechanism).

close up of new Balsam Fir (Abies balsamea) growth tips (having been exposed to snow in June and expressing Anthocyanin in the foliage as a self defense mechanism).

close up of Balsam Fir (Abies balsamea) foliage with morning dew drops in BC

Newfoundland Balsam Fir on Atlantic shoreline

Next, an excerpt from Arboretum Borealis: A Lifeline of the Planet

by Diana Beresford-Kroeger :

Next an excerpt from Plants Have So Much to Give Us, All We Have to Do Is Ask : Anishinaabe Botanical Teachings

by Mary Siisip Geniusz

Next an excerpt from The Boreal Herbal : Wild Food and Medicine Plants of the North

by Beverley Gray

Next an excerpt from The Healing Trees : The edible and herbal qualities of Northeastern Woodland Trees

by Robbie Anderman

So now you can see that our Elder Sister Balsam Fir showers us with so many gifts it is embarrassing. We humans are as one of the spoiled younger siblings in a vast and illustrious family of beings that call this Earth Home. Let now choose to us use the gifts of language, movement and intellect that so many humans covet as distinguishing us as “superior” to take action to stand up and protect our elders in this time when our young human family has lost it’s way.

Thank you for taking the time to read this post and taking the time to get to know our elder sister Balsalm Fir.

Next week we will be getting to know another cherished member of the Boreal that I have come to respect and admire a great deal, she is our elder sister Larch or Tamarack (who is called Mashkiigwaatig in the Anihshininiimowin language).

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Let us join our hearts and minds as one now to give thanks to our resilient and learned elder sister Nimisenh for all the many gifts she shares with our Human Family. While she is resilient in the face of the harsh climates of the North she is fragile in the face of human greed. May we draw inspiration from her resilience as well as very vulnerability as we dig deep to wear our hearts on our sleeves and make choices that embody love for our Mother and respect for our fellow beings. So it is and so it shall be.