From techniques for tapping maple trees and harvesting wild rice to extracting dyes from bloodroot to making dishes from birch bark and dolls with cattails, Strength of the Earth details the many uses of over 200 forest and prairie plants. Early twentieth-century ethnologist Frances Densmore recorded traditions and techniques relayed by dozens of Ojibwe women to create this invaluable handbook perfect for readers interested in Native American art and culture, organic gardening, natural remedies, and living off the land. Brenda J. Child offers a fresh introduction focusing on the power of female healers in Native communitie.

Frances Densmore (1867–1957) was a Minnesota-born ethnologist with the Smithsonian Institution who specialized in the study of American Indian culture. Brenda J. Child is an associate professor of American Studies at the University of Minnesota and a member of the Red Lake Band of Chippewa (Ojibwe) Indians.