Welcome to Trixies Tongass Tonics

Feel free to use any or part of the harvesting guidelines to develop for your organization.  Email me at trixiekalkins@outlook.com  for a complete document.  Gunalchéesh for harvesting responsibly. 🌿❤️

Out picking elderberry or in our Lingit language,  Yéil.  Traditionally and in modern times we use elderberry to prevent flu, colds, and allergies and for so much more! People make  great jelly, teas, and tinctures too. 

This is red sambucus, the kind we have in Alaska-  We picked these berries in August and plan to juice the frozen berries for simple syrups to mix with other berries to add to Italian sodas, smoothies, and even ice-cream!  Soon,  we hope to offer to restaurants, drive throughs, and other food and drink establishments. Red sambucus aka red elder berries contains cyanide so we are always careful to properly heat or cook them to remove it. Do not worry, the Tlingit people of this land have used this plant since time immemorial. 

This past year, I had the honor to learn from a precious Tlingit elder,  something new about the Elder Trees, about our relationship to them!  As it turns out the Tlingit people know the Elder tree as our oldest relatives and no wonder it is wise and protective. How precious these trees are, to give us, the people if  Tlingit Aani (the lands approximate and aka the Tongass National Forest),  their wisest life lessons and strong medicine?

Stay tuned for lots of sharing what we know and stories about healing. If you are new to us, welcome! We are new to this (commercial) online platform as well. We aim for sharing and learning and connecting to eachother and all that is precious and living around us. Gunalchéesh (thank you in Lingít language) for stopping by.