The Elemental Blog

Snow Berry - Corpse Berry

The rain today has made the world muted with greys, greens and dusky purples. The last of the Snowberries glow from delicate branching twigs.
Called the Corpse Berry by some families of the First Nations, one can see why in this dim light, for the beries stand out in an eerie manner in the dim undergrowth. One can make up a fairy-tale with this plant to be sure. Of course I had to make my drawing far more dramatic than it is.

The berries are edible but bitter and considered toxic in large quanitites (I'm just repeating what I read in a parroting Internet fashion. If you actually check around, the Canadian plant toxicology site only mentions one reference from 1979 that one child vomited... So to what degree of toxicity the berries hold, it is not clearly stated.) Anyway, the whole shrub was used as one would use a medicine cabinet in our modern day. From its berries, leaves, and roots (depending on which part of the plant for the complaint) sore eyes could be soothed, cuts and sores treated, fevers abated, hair washed, armpits deoderized, and itchy skin cleaned.  

And let's not omit the laxative effect.

I shall keep my eye on the cluster at the bottom of my garden to not only enjoy the blooming of its delicate pink flowers against the small blue-green leaves come summer but also to enjoy the knowledge that such a healing plant skirts the borders of my yard.

Rain Watching

My finely honed abilities for guessing at a field guide were correct. There is RAIN. It started heavy in the night and continues through the day. This is my version of a Nimbostratus cloud. Yes, you may well be amazed at my keen attention to lack of detail...any detail...or any kind of general effort... But there is a reason for this, fellow cloud lovers; it has no discernible puffy appearance of a rainy thundercloud (its rainy brother), but it makes up for that with its immense coverage and uniform mass and lots of decided, no nonsense rain that is continuous....like today.

Cloud Watching

I am back from Peru to be greeted by very lovely weather indeed. This whole past week has been marvy here, but I notice today there are clouds creeping in. According to the "National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Weather"(phew), altocumulus clouds may occur anywhere (Nooo, think of the children!). They accompany the more important moving weather systems. IF they only last a few hours or cover only a small portion of the sky, they don't seem to indicate a system moving in. They are just messin' around up there for fun (my words, not Audubon's). If, however, these clouds show up for an extended period of time, which these ones have, I've been seeing them for most of the day, then there will be "moisture".

Iduna's Tree

I have the good fortune to have two apple trees in my back yard. So here is a painting of one of them with the sky in her hair.

I was reading in, "Plant Lore, Legends and Lyrics":

In remote districts, the farmers in Herefordshire, Devonshire and Cornwall still preserve the ancient customs of saluting the Apple-trees on Christmas Eve. In some places, the parishioners walk in procession visiting the principal orchards in the parish. In each orchard one tree is selected as representative of the rest; this is saluted with a certain form of words, which have in them the air of an incantation, and then the tree is either sprinkled with cider, or a bowl of cider is dashed against it, to ensure its bearing plentifully the ensuing year. In other places, the farmer and his servants only assemble on the occasion and after immersing cakes in cider, they hang them on the Apple-trees. They then sprinkle the trees with cider, and encircling the largest, they chant the following toast three times: -

"Here's to thee, old Apple-tree,

Whence thou may'st bud, and whence thou may'st blow;

And whence thou may'st bear Apples enow.

Hats full! Caps full!

Bushel, bushel, sacks full!

And my pockets full too!

Huzza! Huzza!

After this the men dance around the tree, and retire to the farmhouse to conclude, with copious draughts of cider, these solemn rites, which are undoubtedly relics of paganism.  (pg. 219)

This appeals to me in so many ways, cider, bowls holding cider, apple trees on Christmas Eve, the word "copious" to describe the quantity of cider and most of all, saying, "huzza, huzza!"

 

Painting with Ants

Painting in the garden near an ant's nest can be very tickly... and they are so nosy. "Are you done with your coffee cup?" they ask, crawling all over it. "Hey, it's gone cold. Heidi, did you know your coffee has gone cold? What's in here? Is this your paint box? It is so messy. Why are all your colours messed together? That can't be right. We don't do it like that. Here, let us get a 14th opinion. You should get some fresh water. You can't be painting with such dirty water. Since we are here, we are going to check the pigment per water ratio. Oh, do you mind fishing us out? Thanks so much. Heyyyy, this is a nice paintbrush! Sable right? We know our stuff. What are you painting? BUTTERCUPS?!! Those don't look like buttercups.

What! Why are you flicking us off? Can't you take some criticism?"

 

New Life

Watching the baby birds learning how to fly is quite heart-warming. Using the protective lilac shrubs as their playground, the youngsters flap furiously from branch to branch, all clumsy and feather-pointy, chirping madly the whole time.