December #HOTM = Pine, Spruce, and Fir!
We aren’t the only ones featuring pine this month! Check out this article by one of our herbalist mentors, who is so incredibly knowledgeable and thorough: The Medicine of Pine by Juliet Blankespoor. Enjoy her pine/catnip/peppermint tea recipe!
Dr. Nicole's family loves to tromp around the woods to harvest the perfect, fragrant spruce for their Christmas tree, and always stop to hug their favorite giant Ponderosa in McCall (it takes 5 people to encircle it holding hands!). But we really started learning about the magical medicine surrounding us after opening The Vervain Collective in 2019.
We regularly chatted with our customers and students about the abundant “weed” foraging opportunities all around our neck of the woods: cottonwood buds in the middle of frosty winter, cleavers and stinging nettle in the spring, St. John’s Wort in June, elderberries and morels in fall, the bounty was endless! But it was during the pandemic when folks started calling and coming in looking for pine needles for immune support. The internet was brimming with the news that white pine needles are an excellent source of vitamin C, and are brimming with antimicrobial volatile oils that protect respiratory health. When we got these calls, we would gently suggest that they walk out their door to gather some for free, but so many callers were looking for “official” pine medicine so they said they’d just call around to other shops. That’s when we really started to step up our game in the quest to convince people that effective medicine and healing modalities don’t have to have a pricetag or a SKU.
From Western White Pine (Pinus monticola) to Ponderosa Pine (Pinus ponderosa) to Lodgepole Pine (Pinus contorta), we are living in the midst of a joyful symbiotic abundance of natural healing plant medicine! Here are some fun botanical identification skills to keep in mind on your next hike:
pine comes in packets (2 or more needles bundled together at a fascicle)
spruce is spiky, but fir is friendly and soft.
EW! Stay away from YEW! Yews (Taxus spp.) can be deadly and have flat, needle-like leaves and produce red berries, while pines have longer, clustered needles and do not produce berries.
No matter how clever your mnemonic devices are, always make sure to properly identify any plant before ingesting!
We hope you have a chance this season to head out into the forest (or your favorite local park) and appreciate Idaho’s evergreens beyond their role as a temporary Christmas decoration. Try a cup of foraged pine needle tea while you watch Idaho Public Broadcasting’s latest episode of Outdoor Idaho celebrating Idaho’s official state tree, the Western White Pine (Return of the Giants) or come into the shop for some fabulous pine medicine and candles to light up your winter evenings!
Comments