Keewaydinoquay Peschel

Ethnobotany and education Peschel said that she apprenticed with an Anishinaabe medicine woman Nodjimahkwe beginning at age of 9. Peschel studied education and taught science while raising her children. At the age of 57, she decided to further her education, realizing that people would listen to her more if she had a more advanced degree. She received a Master of Education Degree from Wayne State University and finished all coursework for a Ph.D. in ethnobotany at the University of Michigan.

Career She was awarded the Michigan Conservation Teacher of the Year in 1975 for her "Outstanding Work in the Field of Conservation". In the 1980s, she was a lecturer at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and taught classes in ethnobotany and philosophy of the Great Lakes American Indians. She was consulted for many books, including several on Great Lakes Indigenous plant use.

She lived in Ann Arbor, Milwaukee, Leland, and Garden Island. She wrote many books on herbs, Native American medicine, and Native American legends for children and adults.

Keewaydinoquay founded the Miniss Kitigan Drum. In 1990, Miniss Kitigan Drum became a nonprofit organization, based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin with Lynn Simonsen Noel as its principal officer. In 1985, Keewaydinoquay and Miniss Kitigan Drum were under investigation by the sheriff of Charlevoix County, Michigan, due to the death of one of the group’s members during a “vision quest”, which involved a three-day fast and sessions in a sweat lodge, on Michigan's Garden Island. The death was deemed accidental, and no charges were filed.

Death and legacy Peschel died on July 21, 1999, in Leland, Michigan. Lee Boisvert also edited Cedar Songs, an autobiography about her adult life, released by Trafford Publishing in 2013.

Publications Puhpohwee for the People: Anarrative account of some uses of Fungi among the Ahnishinaubeg by Keewaydinoquay, Botanical Museum of Harvard University, February 1978 Peschel, Keewaydinoquay M. (1987) "Dear Grandfathers", excerpt from Truth Is Stranger Peschel, Keewaydinoquay M. (1998) Puhpohwee for the People: a narrative account of some uses of fungi among the Ahnishinaabeg Peschel, Keewaydinoquay M. (1979) "Directions We Know: Walk in Honor" in Miniss Kitigan Drum, Garden Island, MI Peschel, Keewaydinoquay. (1978) Jawendamowin Nah: Happiness in the Half-World?/My Reverend Grandfather Challenges Coprinus Atramentarius. Botanical Museum of Harvard University. Peschel, Keewaydinoquay. "The Legend of Miskwedo". Journal of Psychedelic Drugs, 11(1-2):29-31, January–June 1979. Peschel, Keewaydinoquay M. (2006) Stories from my Youth. University of Michigan Press Peschel, Keewaydinoquay "Nkomis" (1977) Mukwah Miskomin or KinnickKinnick "Gift of Bear". Miniss Kitigan Drum, Garden Island, MI Peschel, Keewaydinoquay "Nkomis" (1978) Min: Anishinabag Ogimaawi-minan / Blueberry: First Fruit of the People. Miniss Kitigan Drum, Garden Island, MI