Unlocking Nature’s Apothecary

Nicole Apelian, Ph.D., herbalist and wilderness skills expert, took control of her own health and wellness —and conquered a debilitating diagnosis

WRITTEN BY Ryan Cashman

On the north side of Vancouver Island, alone in the biting cold of a coastal Canadian winter, Nicole Apelian found herself in a predicament. While gutting a salmon she’d caught to eat, she’d cut deep into the forefinger of her left hand. The wound was to the bone and had all the potential, if not properly treated, of leading to infection.

Fortunately for Apelian, this was not to be the case.

Learning From the Land

Nature had always been with her.

“I was always a feral child,” she said with a chuckle. Her childhood had been one filled with the joy of natural discovery. Whether she was off hiking with her family or running through the neighborhood of her hometown of Worcester, Massachusetts, the outdoors was always near.

Nature followed her move across the country to the West Coast, where she earned both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in biology. Yet for all her appreciation and time spent outof-doors, Apelian did not learn what it took to truly connect with nature until she journeyed to Africa in the 1990s as a member of the Peace Corps. Operating as a game warden, she explored the wilds of southern Africa, tracking lions and a variety of other wildlife.

In Botswana, Apelian encountered the Kalahari San Bushmen, one of southern Africa’s last remaining indigenous hunter-gatherer tribes. “I learned everything from them,” said Apelian. So entranced was she by their culture that she based her entire doctorate in cultural anthropology around her experience with the tribe. Going far beyond a simple academic interest, however, Apelian became incredibly close with the members. She began learning the fundamentals of wilderness survival, so indicative of life in the bush. She learned the language of birds and how different calls alerted one to the presence of specific animals. She learned to forage for medicinal plants. She learned how to start a fire by friction. All of these skills, derived from thousands of years of gathered wisdom, provided Apelian with an arsenal of survival knowledge, as well as a deep sense of place and purpose, the likes of which she had never before experienced.

Far away from that African landscape, huddled in her makeshift shelter on Vancouver Island, Apelian tended to her lacerated hand. Calling upon her knowledge of foraging for medicinal plants, she got to work. “When you know what’s there, you look at the forest in a