Late winter is the time when cottonwood buds are ripe and sticky on the trees. It is also the time of cold windy storms that blow Cottonwood branches to the ground. On walks along roadways and stream sides I have been watching and feeling the branches. Looking for large, sticky buds that smell and taste like bitter honey.
I took some moments of my life to harvest the buds off of a huge fallen branch on the side of a quiet street which i live on. I would not of harvested buds close to a highway, or even a busy road. But I am not worried about car pollution when harvesting from a quiet roadside.
After collecting the buds I brought them home and weighed them. Then placed them in a mason jar covered them in 75percent rum. I used a 1:2 ratio. Therefor place 1 part fresh cottonwood buds (grams) in a jar with 2 parts ml of 75%alchohal.
I used a higher percentage alcohol than usual because the buds are very resinous and difficult to break down. Usually I choose to cut up the plants I'm placing in a tincture as finely as possible, but not this time. Because the resin is very sticky and is hard to wash off of knives and cuttingboards. This tincture will last a very long time because of the high alchohal as well as the high resin.
As well as for an excuse to go outside and experience the crispness of winter, I made this tincture to treat a cold. Poplar buds help release soothing mucus, so therefor it is very useful for a painfully soar throat, soar lungs that need an expectorant and the odour of the buds reduce the likelihood of the bugs in your system continuing to thrive and create a second cold.
Enjoy the sweet stickiness of the black cotton wood buds!
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Outdoor Branch Shelters
Today we went and visited a wildfoods man in the Cowichan Valley. Usually when I see him we talk about edible and medicinal plants, including the ayurvedic qualities of the plants, but not this time....
He has been creating sleeping shelters outdoors, that are warm and dry enough to sleep in even through the heavy rains and snowfalls of vancouver island. He has been sleeping in his shelter every night since fall.
This idea came to him when he realized that we are influenced to eat and experience the food which we see when we wake up. If we live indoors we eat stored food because we connect with it before we see living plants. By creating outdoor living spaces we wake up outside, are directly connected to nature and are inspired to eat fresh wild plants. The best food to start the day with.
Today we made a shelter for plants to grow within. We took curved douglas fir branches and connected them together with wire to form a semi circle. Then we connected the semi circle to another, forming the outline of a quarter orange peel. We added a curved middle beam, which we attached with wire to the center of the two larger branches to form the basic structure of the sleeping shelter.
We harvested willow and hardhack branches from the surrounding environment and wove them in branch by branch. Until the shape of a quarter orange peel manifested in front of us.
This shelter was created to help plants grow. By placing the shelter in a south facing open area, it will contain a warm micro climate. The air within the shelter will warm up and allow plants to grow earlier in the year than they would otherwise. It would be useful to place this shelter over a stinging nettle patch, where bamboo shoots break through the ground or any tasty treat you are waiting to see the first signs of this season.
He has been creating sleeping shelters outdoors, that are warm and dry enough to sleep in even through the heavy rains and snowfalls of vancouver island. He has been sleeping in his shelter every night since fall.
This idea came to him when he realized that we are influenced to eat and experience the food which we see when we wake up. If we live indoors we eat stored food because we connect with it before we see living plants. By creating outdoor living spaces we wake up outside, are directly connected to nature and are inspired to eat fresh wild plants. The best food to start the day with.
Today we made a shelter for plants to grow within. We took curved douglas fir branches and connected them together with wire to form a semi circle. Then we connected the semi circle to another, forming the outline of a quarter orange peel. We added a curved middle beam, which we attached with wire to the center of the two larger branches to form the basic structure of the sleeping shelter.
We harvested willow and hardhack branches from the surrounding environment and wove them in branch by branch. Until the shape of a quarter orange peel manifested in front of us.
This shelter was created to help plants grow. By placing the shelter in a south facing open area, it will contain a warm micro climate. The air within the shelter will warm up and allow plants to grow earlier in the year than they would otherwise. It would be useful to place this shelter over a stinging nettle patch, where bamboo shoots break through the ground or any tasty treat you are waiting to see the first signs of this season.
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