Waves of Change: Meet herbalist and forager Monica Cady

Waves of Change is a new online interview series highlighting the diverse faces and perspectives shaping the environmental justice movement throughout the Great Lakes region.

This month, we spoke with Monica Cady, a member of the Sault Tribe of Chippewa who is a forager and herbalist living in Hessel, Michigan — a place that is part of her tribe’s ancestral homelands in what is now known as Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.

Listen to the full interview

“By protecting the plants and learning about them, it is my way to decolonize, reclaim and rewild the land and learn what my ancestors ate,” she said.

As far as environmental justice and herbalism, Cady forages completely sustainably.

“I aim to be very low-impact and do everything in season,” she said. “You can’t even tell I’ve been there.”

You can find Cady on Instagram @Chanziwi.

Learn more about the featured organizations:

• Beyond Pesticides
• United Plant Savers 
• Upper Peninsula Native Plants
• Upper Peninsula Environmental Coalition
• Oil and Water Don’t Mix
• Joseph Pitawanakwat’s Instagram

Learn more about the featured stories:

• The Black Snake Threatens Turtle Island

Catch more news at Great Lakes Now: 

Nibi Chronicles: The art of Ojibwe linoleum

I’m working to revitalize an Indigenous language and bring it into the future

Featured image: Herbalist and forager Monica Cady. (Photo Credit: GLN)