North Waters Wildcraft

North Waters Wildcraft Kyle is a Carrier First nations from Fort St. James, grew up deeply connected to nature, influenced by her great grandma.

Passion for traditional foods & healing led her to create products inspired by the land, sharing its beauty & wisdom with others.

The Great No-See-Um vs. Benadryl Camping Adventure 😂Last weekend, I was camping… and if you know me, you know I am aller...
08/19/2026

The Great No-See-Um vs. Benadryl Camping Adventure 😂

Last weekend, I was camping… and if you know me, you know I am allergic to mosquito repellent. 😩

For years I toughed it out—long sleeves, long pants, and sometimes even a bug net over my face. But eventually the repellent started making me physically sick, so now I basically just dress like I’m preparing for a polar expedition in the middle of summer. 😂

Well… swimming, camping and having a blast makes staying completely covered a little difficult.
Enter: the no-see-um/blackfly. 🪰
One little bite later and I woke up the next morning with my eye completely swollen shut. 😳

So, for only the second time in my entire life, I took a Benadryl.
ONE.
Not two.

Because one Benadryl apparently said, “You’re done for the day, Kyle.” 😂💤

I woke up around 5 a.m. and, being the considerate early riser I am, I ever-so-gently woke my sister Tasha up to come with me to the bathroom.

Yes… 5 A.M.

She is NOT a morning person. 😂

When she realized what time it was, I’m pretty sure I narrowly escaped being abandoned as grizzly bait. 🐻🤣

Anyway, coffee and breakfast are essential parts of my morning survival plan, so we decided to sit in the truck and maybe try to get a little more sleep.

The cabin had been beautiful… but apparently it had also been personally designed by the Summer Heat Department. 🥵

So Tasha got comfy, closed her eyes, and tried to sleep.
Meanwhile, I was wide awake, desperately needing coffee and breakfast. 😂

Thankfully, I had my first-aid kit and took the Benadryl… then remembered we had each brought a cranberry-orange muffin.

Breakfast! 🙌

Now, if you know me, you also know I have the arm span of a T-Rex. 🦖😂

So there I was, quietly stretching, twisting, wiggling and practically climbing through the back seat trying to reach my muffin on the floor.

Tasha opens her eyes:

“WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?” 🤣

I was laughing because I was trying SO HARD to be quiet.
She finally rolls over, grabs the muffin and hands it to me like she’s dealing with a toddler.

“There you go.”

Problem solved.

Except… my nose was plugged from the allergic reaction, so I couldn’t even chew quietly with my mouth closed.
Tasha: “Seriously, Kyle?!” 😂

At this point we were both laughing so hard that being quiet was officially impossible.

Eventually she closed her eyes again.
I ate my muffin, drank some water, had my Benadryl…
…and then suddenly…

my eyes got HEAVY. 😴

I tried sitting back.
Nope. Uncomfortable.
Needed a pillow.

Did I care enough to find one?
Absolutely not.

I sat straight up, my head slowly dropped forward…
…and I started SNORING. 😂😂😂

Tasha was officially DONE.

But honestly, I was helpless. I had no fight left in me.
The Benadryl had won.

I slept for about two hours like a baby. 💤
When I woke up, Tasha was asleep too, and I thought, “Okay! I’ve wasted enough of my day. Time to get up!”
So I climbed—actually, let’s be honest—FELL out of the truck.
Her truck has a lift kit.

I’m 5'3".

You do the math. 🤣
I ever-so-gently closed the door, trying not to wake her…
…and then practically RAN with the joy of a child on Christmas morning toward the bonfire.

Because finally…

☕ COFFEE.

And eventually everyone else started stumbling out of their sleeping quarters like confused little zombies.
Meanwhile, I was sitting by the fire, drinking coffee, swollen eye and all, thinking:

“Yep… this is camping.” 😂🔥☕️

Sometimes the best camping stories aren't the adventures you planned…

They're the ridiculous things that happen when a tiny blackfly, one Benadryl, a cranberry-orange muffin and a T-Rex-armed woman collide. 🤣


Tasha Loyie

08/18/2026

Definitely an event I'll do again!! Thank you Celeste Forbes for putting this together ❤️

08/18/2026

🐺🥛 Wolf’s Milk?! Nope… Slime Mold! 🍄✨

Spotted this wild little beauty yesterday—Wolf’s Milk slime mold (*Lycogala epidendrum*)!

Despite its name, there’s no milk, no wolf, and technically… it isn’t even a true mushroom!😂

💗 When young, it can look like tiny pinkish “puffballs” filled with a milky-looking goo. As it matures, it turns darker and eventually releases its spores into the forest.

🌲 Fun fact: Slime molds aren’t plants, fungi, or animals—they’re their own wonderfully weird group of organisms that spend part of their lives moving around and feeding on microorganisms!

Nature never stops surprising me. 🌿✨

08/18/2026

The edible stages of the False Solomon's Seal plant from the spring shoots, summer blossems, to fall berries perfect for juicing or making jelly!


08/16/2026

👻 Ghost Pipe (*Monotropa uniflora*)

This strange, ghostly-white woodland plant has a long history in traditional herbal practices. Indigenous peoples and later herbalists used it in various preparations, particularly for pain, toothache, nervous complaints, and spasms.

Despite its ghostly appearance, it’s not a fungus—it’s a flowering plant that lives in partnership with fungi beneath the forest floor. 🌲🤍

A fascinating plant with an even more fascinating history.

Sometimes I think life is a book…Not a book we get to read from beginning to end, but one where we are given pieces of t...
08/11/2026

Sometimes I think life is a book…

Not a book we get to read from beginning to end, but one where we are given pieces of the story as we go.

We live one chapter, turn the page, and move forward… never knowing when we will be brought back to a place, a person, or a memory from an earlier chapter.

This weekend, I found myself standing in one of those places.

A place that feels like a piece of my family’s heart still lives there.

A place where my great-great-grandparents once lived. Where my great-great-uncle Richard Austin and his siblings grew up. A place where I spent so much of my own childhood.

A place where I caught my very first fish. 🎣

That little fish is still dried and tucked inside my photo album — a tiny treasure from a little girl who had no idea just how important that moment would become.

And now, years later, I returned to that same place with family.

The same river.

The same land.

The same house holding stories that reach back through generations.

And perhaps the most emotional part of all… this is also the place where my father's ashes were spread.

Standing there again made the past feel strangely close.

As my uncle told stories, I could almost see them happening.

His memories seemed to unfold around us like an old film playing on the riverbank.

I could picture him washing his hair on the dock while minnows swam through it.

I could almost hear the laughter from boat rides through the rapids.

I remembered being little and experiencing that first terrifying feeling of drowning — the kind of childhood moment that stays buried somewhere inside you, only to surface decades later when you return to the place where it happened.

I thought about my grandparents.

Their school days.

Their strength.

The hardships they endured.

The tragedies they survived.

The kind of life that demanded toughness in ways many of us will never truly understand.

History was not always kind to the people who lived here.

It could be harsh.
It could be unforgiving.
It could take more than it gave.

And yet, when I look back at their lives, I can't help but think…

**Maybe they were never poor at all.**

Maybe they were rich in the things that cannot be measured.

Rich in family.

Rich in knowledge.

Rich in stories.

Rich in the river that provided food.

Rich in the land that provided medicine.

Rich in the forest, the animals, the berries, the plants, the water, and the seasons.

Rich in knowing how to live with the land rather than simply live upon it.

Fishing.
Trapping.
Hunting.
Foraging.
Travelling the river.
Sharing what was caught and gathered.

Living through hardship, but still finding reasons to laugh.

Still finding beauty.

Still finding ways to care for one another.

Still finding a way forward.

And perhaps that is what makes this place so incredibly special to me.

It isn't simply a house.

It isn't simply a river.

It isn't simply a piece of our family trapline.

It is a living thread connecting generations.

The people who came before me.

The little girl I once was.

The woman I am today.

And the family who stood beside me this weekend.

For a moment, it felt as though all those chapters existed at the same time.

The past wasn't gone.

It was right there in the stories.

In the laughter.

In the river.

In the old house.

In the memories.

In the silence between conversations.

In the feeling I carried in my heart.

I left that place feeling a little different than when I arrived.

Maybe because sometimes we don't realize how much of ourselves is tied to the places that shaped us until we return.

Sometimes you have to go back…

Not because you belong in the past,

but because the past helps you understand who you are in the present.

This weekend was sentimental.

It was emotional.

It was beautiful.

It was bittersweet.

It was a whirlwind of memories — some told through words, some remembered through photographs, and some that simply lived in the feeling of being there.

And I feel incredibly blessed.

Blessed to have known these people.

Blessed to have these memories.

Blessed to have family to share them with.

Blessed to have walked the same land generations before me walked.

And blessed that, somehow, life brought me back to this chapter.

Because maybe that's what life does.

It starts stories…

and then, somewhere down the road, it brings you back to finish a chapter you didn't even realize was still being written.

This weekend felt like coming full circle.

And I think I'll carry the feeling of it with me for the rest of my life. ❤️🌲🎣🛶

Some places you visit.
Some places you remember.
And some places become a part of you forever.

Off on holidays for a bit! Will post when im back! 🏞
08/07/2026

Off on holidays for a bit! Will post when im back! 🏞

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2793 Range Road
Prince George, BC
V2N1M1

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