This workshop will introduce participants to an Indigenous North American perspective on salve-making, using animal fats. Covering both precolonial and contemporary Indigenous salve-making processes, this workshop will cover:
-Animal fats as medicines: the benefits of working with animal fats
-How to choose an appropriate animal fat to use for salves (local availability, access, the purpose of the salve)
-Ensuring that we are obtaining all animal products from ethical, sustainable, and legal sources
-Step-by-step processes of how to render and process fat for use in salves
-a few indigenous herbs that are widely available across Canada. and can work well with animal fats in salve-making
-What kinds of conditions an animal-fat-based herbal salve can help us address
-Several step-by-step processes that students can follow in order to make an animal-fat-based salve.

We will also discuss how salve-making with animal fats can be part of a bioregional approach to herbalism. By the end of the workshop, students should have the knowledge necessary to begin working with animal fats and herbs to make salves.