By the Same Author:
A Line to Murder
Murder: When One Isn't Enough
Wynter's Way
Parlor Girls
The
roast is in the oven, the potatoes are peeled, and the dog and I are hiking in
the woods. Winter-woods walking is different from summer hiking. For one thing,
it’s easier to see the dead leaves, twigs, plant stalks, and animal droppings which
nature is gradually turning into rich, forest compost. Unexpectedly I spot a
lone oak leaf carried by the wind clear from the other end of the county where
they’re native. However, mostly our trail is covered with maple leaves, many
still retaining their color. As a child, I ironed maple leaves with wax paper
to help them retain their beauty. Four years ago, University of Washington
scientists got a grant to check the possibility of tapping big leaf maples here
for syrup. Two good reasons to love them. Watch out Vermont.
After drying up
in summer heat, moss has returned, thanks to recent rain. Moss has been used
for everything from surgical dressings by World War 1 doctors, to diapers by
Native Americans. It’s a lovely contrast to gray-green bits of fallen lichen. I’m worried,
though, because where I walk, moss is losing a competition to a ground cover
I’ve been unable to identify.
The
dog chases a squirrel into a cluster of Oregon Grape. Both the Indians and the pioneers
used it for medicine, food, and dye. But where we’re walking, there’s more
salal than Oregon grape. Salal has sticky berries which, when very young, I
used to put on my earlobes. The Indians were more practical, turning the berries into cakes, or drying them to treat
indigestion, colic and diarrhea, and respiratory diseases such as colds or
tuberculosis. I’ve had salal berry pie; it’s very dense. Not to ignore the
Oregon grape, though. It also had its uses, mainly to fight parasites and
viruses.
The woods have lots of green, my favorite
color. Sword ferns snuggle against Douglas firs which the Salish Indians used to
ward off ghosts. When we bought our house, there was a copse of all these
natives but it lacked two types of trees: cedars, which I brought in, and madrona
which are notoriously difficult to propagate. My family had a number of elderly
Indian friends who told me their women used madrona’s orange berries to make necklaces
and various decorations. I recently learned that once dried, the berries have
hooked barbs which latch onto animals for migration. How cool is that? Along
our forest trail, the madrona’s peely-ochre trunks stand out among the green.
Eventually,
my dog and I break out of the trees and into a clearing where we pass a spread
of the ground cover, kinnikinnick. Before tobacco became the go-to plant
for Old World smokers, they sought out the nearest patch of kinnikinnick,
a word that actually means “smoking mixture. Some articles I’ve read claim it’s
becoming endangered. And my hike is endangered, too. Sadly, the sight of it
means our walk in the woods is over. So, back to the kitchen I go.
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Interesting exploration. No woods close enough to my house to hike without taking a car to reachthem. My walks are along the sidewalk past neighbor's gardens and some are spectacular though not so much now that winter is still with us.
ReplyDeleteSuch a varied flora makes a hike interesting. Here, in Arizona, the desert plants are sparse, but in the spring, the desert blooms in yellows, pinks, and purples. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteYour hiking area sounds enchanting. I had to google some of the plants! Reminds me of the 'hawberry,' which is only found on Manitoulin Island, the largest freshwater island in the world, located in Ontario, Canada.
ReplyDeleteThanks for so much information on the plants you point out on your walk. I had no idea salal had berries! As a florist, I used salal in my floral arrangements. The rich green color of those leaves offer a lovely background to spotlight the flowers in the arrangement.
ReplyDelete