A guide back to the medicine

A guide back to the medicine

A group of women scaled down a steep embankment toward the shoreline of the St. Lawrence River, where a freshly cut white willow tree waits below. Armed with pruning shears, they clipped slender branches and carried them back up the slope. Jasmine Jimerson inspected each piece before peeling away strips of greenish-brown bark. The bark slid off cleanly, revealing a smooth, white wood underneath. “It’s pretty satisfying,” she said. The pieces of …