NEWS FROM THE HILLS
June slipped silently into our hills last night, bringing rosebuds and warmer days, and blowing the breath of summer over our land. June is the bearer of so many good things—outdoor barbecues, vacation days for the school children, and the first tender young lettuce and green onions from the garden.
She smells sweetly of new mown grass and sweet clover, with the piquant tang of wild onions mixed in the grass. She wears mounds of fresh-cut hay drying in her fields and meadows, and nestles a multitude of wild baby creatures in her arms. June is a pleasurable month here in our hills.
The foamy flowers of the white ash bush are being overtaken by green leaves, leaving behind a faint perfume. The autumn olive (Russian olive) is blooming now, sweetly fragrant. I kept hearing the boys speak of the “olla-molla” tree that was introduced to this region to provide food for the wildlife, and couldn’t figure out what it was. Finally it dawned on me they were saying “autumn olive.”
It is true that the fruit is relished by songbirds, pheasants and quail, and some animals. However, it spreads like wildfire and is a problem for farmers to purge out of their meadows. Like a lot of introduced plant species, it can and does get out of hand.
Leaves are full on the trees now, and plant life is flourishing. The blackberry bloom is heavier than it has been in years. Will it be a blackberry summer? Only time will tell. Hard green apples are forming on the trees, and the grape vines sport miniature pods of grapes. Raspberry vines also are producing tiny green berries. It looks like a good year for fruit.
It is time now to begin harvesting the large leaves of the coltsfoot, to dry for cough syrup or cough drops. They can also be used as a tea. The generic name “tussilago” actually means “cures a cough.” A good cough syrup can be made by steeping an ounce of the dried leaves in a quart of water, boiled down to a pint. When sweetened with honey, it makes an excellent medicine for the relief of coughs, or any irritation of the lungs and air passages.
We heard again from Jackie Winberg of Scott Depot. She is still searching for the mysterious evergreen bush that her grandmother back in Hampshire County used for different injuries. She received additional information from her aunt, who stated that the evergreen bush was only one foot tall, and about as wide. She remembers the leaves as being oval shaped, and about an inch long but not as wide.
The leaves were succulent, and the bush produced white flowers in the spring. The leaves were mashed to a pulp and combined with salt pork (sow’s belly) to make a paste for use as a poultice. They applied it to a wound, covered it with homemade bandages, and left it on for a few days. It worked.
Jackie says that they still use herbal medicine. For very bad coughs, they make tea from white pine needles. (My son-in-law Randy once suggested that I make a cup of hemlock tea for a sore throat. I thought he was trying to tell me something!) Also, for gout, concentrated cherry products are the best remedy there is.
She says, “these medicinal procedures were handed down by an American Indian chief and medicine man in the area,” where her early ancestors settled. She thinks perhaps that the bush in question may have been brought over by her ancestors in the early 1700s. It seemed to be a cure all for many things.
The Lord has provided us with a wealth of natural medicines, if we only had the knowledge of how to use them. In our mountain state, plants and shrubs alike have healing properties that are unsurpassed. Most of us mountain folk know that touch-me-not, or jewelweed, is the best remedy for poison ivy. We merely break the stalk, and rub the juice directly on the rash. It is not by chance that touch-me-not usually grows near a patch of poison ivy.
My niece was treating her small son, who had poison ivy rash all over his tummy, with a weak bleach mixture. I felt that it merely aggravating the problem, and suggested the juice of the touch-me-not. It has always worked for us.
Another remedy is an infusion of chamomile, made with an ounce of the dried flower heads to a pint of boiling water. (This can also be taken internally as a soothing sedative.) Sweet fern poultices are listed as a cure for severe poison ivy.
With all of the cautions being issued about our manufactured medicines, it might be a good idea to get back to the basics and use the things that God has provided.
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