The Holly Tree

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The Holly Tree

The Holly Tree is a popular sight in Europe and very easy to identify due to its evergreen prickly leaves and red berries. Hollies that are dioecious have separate male flowers on one plant and females on another, but you need both for pollination, resulting in berries. The female plants produce berries, but only if fertilized by pollen from a male plant.  In other words, to produce berries, it requires two plants. So if you plan to buy a Holly tree and want berries, it’s a good idea to buy two, a male, and a female.

Hollies are easy to grow and will grow in sun or partial shade; they prefer moist but well-drained soil. The variegated varieties keep their colours better in full sun. They require minimal pruning, but a good practice is to remove any diseased or wrongly placed branches in the spring. Trim holly hedges in late summer. If you are cutting holly as a festive decoration, pick some sprigs early in winter, before the berries get eaten by birds.

Holly Tree Wreath
Holly Tree Berries

symbolism, mysticism, magic, and lore.

The Holly Tree, renowned for being associated with symbolism, mysticism, magic, and lore, are all based within the realms of nature and are pre-Christian. The Christian symbolism of the Holly tree that is widely used today is of course Christmas, symbolically the blood of Christ turned the Holly berry red as it reportedly was white.

My favourites, the Holly King and Oak King, are personifications of the winter and summer in various folklore and mythological traditions. The two kings engage in endless “battle” reflecting the seasonal cycles of the year: not only solar light and darkness, but also crop renewal and growth. During the warm days of Midsummer, the Oak King is at the height of his strength; the Holly King regains power at the Autumn equinox; then his strength peaks during Midwinter, at which point the Oak King is reborn, regaining power at the Spring equinox, and perpetuating the succession.

Another folklore is to bring Holly into the home at Yule (The Pagan celebration of Winter Solstice); this invites the faerie folk to shelter with you in the cold of winter. But these greens must be burned on Imbolc, also called Saint Brigid’s Day,  in order to ensure they don’t stick around causing trouble all year. But a small branch should be retained and hung outside the house to protect it from lightning.

Also rumoured is that Hollywood gained its name from the Holly Tree. The Holly tree wood is a common wood for making wands, and Hollywood the masters of illusion and capturing the imagination, which when all put together are attributes of magic that are also associated with the Holly tree. Is it true? I don’t know, but it does kind of make sense.

The Holy Tree Holy King Oak King
The King Oak and King Holly

Value to wildlife

Around the base of the Holly tree, where the leaves are thick and extra prickly, it provides good dense cover and good nesting opportunities for birds. Dry leaf litter under the tree and around the trunk is ideal for hedgehogs and small mammals for hibernation.

The flowers provide nectar and pollen for bees and other pollinating insects. The leaves eaten by caterpillars of the holly blue butterfly, along with those of various moths, including the yellow-barred brindle, are a vital food source. The smooth leaves found at the tops of holly trees are a winter source of food for deer. The berries are a vital source of food for birds in winter, and small mammals, such as wood mice and dormice.

 

how to tell male from female holly

The Holly Tree

Myth and Lore

The Fairy Tree

The trees stand on the threshold between our world and the Otherworld. They’re under the protection of the fairies, so you risk punishment if you cut them down. The only time you could bring the branches indoors was on Yule. It spelt disaster to do so at any other time.  No one wants to uproot them without the fairies’ permission.

More articles here

3.9/5

Hawthorn Tree

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Hawthorn Tree Wild Manchester
Hawthorn Fairy Tree

Hawthorn - Bread & Cheese

Hawthorn is a common sight in the British Isles, yet it is often overlooked as a very useful source of food and medicine. The omnipresent Hawthorn announces its awakening from Winter with little snowflake flowers in spring and lipstick red berries in Autumn, just before it goes back to sleep.

The leaves are long, roughly oval and lobed into three segments, dark green above and paler below with a tough feel, the stem is tinged pink. Flowers are five-petalled and white (although sometimes described as creamy and tinged pink); they appear as flat, spraying clusters. Dark red berries appear in autumn.

The berries are nutritive and have amazing medicinal properties, as they are considered “food for the heart”. The tree has a strong history with magic and enchantments and has many traditions and folklore associated with it, but then it is after all considered the fairy tree amongst hedge witches.

Hawthorn Berries
Hawthorn

Food Uses

Historically, the shoots and unopened flower buds given name was ‘bread and cheese’. Though much healthier, unfortunately they taste of neither. The berries, known as Haws, are much like mild apples, but the flesh is quite dense and dry. These make a good chutney to eat with cheese and a great ketchup substitute. Haws can also be used in the production of country wines and homemade schnapps. In addition, leaves, flowers, and berries can be used to make a herbal tea.

How to make Hawthorn fruit leather (Reportedly increases sexual fertility.)

This recipe is fairly straight forward to make.

  • Place large quantity of ripe hawthorn berries (haws) in a saucepan
  • Cover in water or apple juice, but don’t add too much as you will need to dehydrate the purée
  • Simmer for about 15 minutes & allow cooling
  • Mash the pulp briefly then rub through a sieve
  • Pour the strained pulp onto baking paper on a baking tray less than 1 cm thick
  • Place in the oven for approximately 2-4 hours. Leave to dry in the oven at its lowest setting
  • Leave until the pulp is dry and leathery and can be peeled off the trays
  • Cut or tear into pieces &  store in an airtight jar
  • If dried and stored properly, they will easily last for a year.

Hawthorn Harvest and Recipes.

Making hawthorn fruit leather

Myth and Lore

The Fairy Tree

The trees stand on the threshold between our world and the Otherworld. They’re under the protection of the fairies, so you risk punishment if you cut them down. The only time you could bring the branches indoors was on May Day. It spelt disaster to do so at any other time. This is why you might often find a lone hawthorn tree seemingly standing in an inopportune place. No one wants to uproot them without the fairies’ permission.

More articles here

3.9/5

Acorn A Great Resource from Oak Trees

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Acorn – Oak

The Oak tree is the most common in Britain, the acorn that has the potential to become a tree have been a source of food and medicine for many cultures around the world throughout the ages.

The trees are a common sight and are all around us; unfortunately, rare are the people who bother with this wonderful resource. The issue with the nuts is not their flavour, but the time and effort involved to make them edible for us humans.

Acorns are packed in tannins; which is a compound that makes them astringent, therefore they must be processed or “leached” to make them palatable.

Medicinal Uses

The oak tree has a long history of medicinal use and it has been valued for its astringent properties. All parts of the oak, including wood, bark, leaves, acorns and galls, have been used for medicinal purposes.

How to Prepare

The Native Indians were experts with Acorn processing or leeching, involving a process of many days hard work to produce an edible flour to make breads, after collecting the nuts they would crack the nut just enough to leave a split in the shell then the nuts were put in fine cloth or nets and put in a running stream for 1 – 2 days.

When the nuts had been leached, the nuts were dried, removed from their shells and crushed into a fine flour.

Natural tannin-leaching can occur in the wild. If you find acorns in the spring under layers of leaves, chances are, the rain water will have leached out some or much of the tannins. In fact, some animals especially squirrels bury their nuts for this very reason!

Food Uses

The nuts are very nutritious and provide a complete vegetable protein, the starch, which is the toughest thing to forage for. Nutty and sweet, they provide an alternative gluten-free version for regular grain flours that contains large amounts of protein, carbohydrates and fats.

Nutritional Profile of Acorn

Though the exact nutrient profile depends on the species of acorn, all are packed with essential nutrients.

  • Vitamin A:
  • Vitamin E:
  • Iron:
  • Manganese:
  • Potassium:
  • Vitamin B6:
  • Folate:

Myth and Lore

In Greek mythology, the oak was a sacred tree associated with Zeus, the supreme god. To this day, Zeus’s oracle in Epirus has the sacred oak in the middle of the grove, and priests would try to uncover messages from the gods by interpreting the rustling of the oak’s leaves.

It is no coincidence that oak trees are more prone to lightning strikes than many other trees. This is because of the tree’s high water content and the fact that they are frequently the tallest living things in the landscape. More articles here.

Sweet Chestnut

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Sweet Chestnut

Every October – December, Echo (our dog) and I pay the chestnut trees a visit looking for fallen nuts, but we have to be quick, or the squirrels will have had their fill and left nothing but empty shells. We have five Chestnut trees in our local park (Wythenshawe Park) at least five that I have found there maybe more, but we can regularly get as much as a carrier bag full of nuts. We bring them home and roast them in the oven with sea salt and fresh butter, but it’s just as easy to roast them on an open fire and eat them fresh out of the shell, they taste like a sweet potato and are delicious, crushed up and mixed in with sprouts and chopped up bacon lardons.

 

Where to find them

It’s a safe bet to say you will have Chestnut trees in your local area, especially in parks and woodland, but you can also buy Chestnut trees from your garden centre, as they seem to have gained popularity to plant in large gardens. They are fast growers and all chestnuts are large trees, most topping 20 metres, with some varieties reaching 40 metres.

You can eat and make purée, sweet candies or just no messing straight from the shell,  here are some recipes for Chestnuts that can be found here .

Tip: Before going to collect Chestnuts be sure to take gloves or risk prickly fingers.

Food Uses

Harvest in October – December the nuts are ripe when they drop from the trees as the chestnut burrs (the outer spiny skin) burst, but some nuts will need removing from their skin. Wearing strong gloves, pull open the burrs and remove the nuts. Chestnuts are be kept in the fridge to prevent them from drying out.

Candied Chestnuts Recipe

Health benefits of Chestnuts?

  • Digestive health – chestnuts reduce cholesterol levels and stabilize blood sugar levels. They also reduce the risk of constipation and intestinal complications such as diverticulosis.
  • Increased brain function – chestnuts contain fat-soluble B vitamins that promote healthy skin, produce red blood cells and improve brain function.
  • Increased energy levels – chestnuts contain high amounts of carbohydrates, which are needed for short and long term energy. They also help with nervous system function.
  • Stronger bones – chestnuts contain copper, which is a trace mineral that enhances bone strength and boosts the immune system.
  • Decreased risk of developing disease – chestnuts contain manganese, which is a trace mineral that fights off free radicals in the body and reduces the risk of heart disease and cancer. It also plays a key role in the ageing process and helps prevent blood-clotting.
  • Do not contain gluten – chestnuts are of great benefit to patients with celiac disease, which is a disease that upsets the small intestine.

History

The sweet chestnut was held in high regard in ancient Greece and was a delicacy reserved for the elite. Honey was made of it, while numerous therapeutic properties were attributed to the chestnut. There are many recipes described in ancient literature and the sweet chestnuts are frequently mentioned in works by ancient Greek writers such as Homer, Xenophon and Hippocrates.

 

Middle ages

By the end of the Middle Ages the chestnut had a bad reputation and was associated with indigestion, headache, flatulence and an increased sex drive. Due to the huge increase in population the sweet chestnut became in certain parts of Europe the people’s food number one. Because the chestnut tree is an easy and rapid growing tree, he was planted everywhere where no other crops, such as cereals, wanted to grow. This harmed the quality of the nuts that became vulnerable for diseases. Fortunately, today’s chestnut again has a sound reputation. More articles here.

Pine Tree

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Pine Tree

The Pine Tree is one of the most resourceful trees I know, fresh pine needles make a refreshing cup of tea that is full of vitamin C, the Pine Cones have their uses too as it has been reported ancient tribes used them as combs / brushes and not forgetting the delicious pine nuts hidden within. Pine cones are a familiar sight at Christmas and used as decorations, they also make a great item for arts and crafts and the possibilities to make art from them are endless, I have used them in the past to make miniature trees for a train track diorama, and they looked great. In bush craft and survivalist communities, they are a great resource to make a resin glue and a preserver for wood, which comes in handy when making tools and other useful items. Pine resin can also be used to seal wounds which is especially handy if you don’t have the material for stitches.

Therapeutic benefits of pine

Pine trees have long been an ingredient to prepare herbal tea. Indeed, its benefits are known to treat:

  • – rheumatism and wounds that are rebellious to healing (in the form of lotions and creams)
  • – common colds and pulmonary tract mucus lining inflammation (in the form of inhaled vapour treatment).

Pine tree is particularly recommended to treat diseases resulting from nerve malfunction, neuralgic disorders and rheumatism.

Relaxing in a bathtub with pine tree extracts is for sure beneficial to your health.

To best appreciate its health benefits, keep the least tender shoots from your collection of fresh young shoots, and add them to the hot water. Use a cloth pouch to make it easy to pick the leaves out later and throw them to the compost.

It is possible to bathe in water infused with pine as described above, but inhaling the raw power of a pine tree forest in nature is another experience altogether.
Indeed, if you’ve got the chance, go for a walk in a thick pine tree forest, and gulp the air into your lungs. It is loaded with pine extract, a lemony camphor-like fragrance.

Pine glues in the wild

Pine trees are a great resource in the wild.  You can make cordage out of the roots, tea from the needles, and pitch or tar from the sap.  Pine resin is also flammable and can be used as an accelerant in fires for short, powerful bursts of heat. The  sap also contains compounds which prevent the growth of microorganisms, making it a great sealer for open cuts or deeper flesh wounds.  Pine resin is easy to carry, too.  Chip a hardened piece off a damaged pine tree and later, when you need to put it to use, heat it over a fire to convert it back into its liquid (easily usable) state.

How to make pine pitch glue

Here’s how to use Pine resin in a homemade glue recipe.

  1. Collect the resin from a pine tree.  Here’s a method to tap a pine tree to obtain the sap from a tree.
  2. Melt the resin.  If it ignites, blow out the flame and move the container to better control the heating process. Try to not overheat the resin, as the compounds can be destroyed the longer they are subjected to heat.
  3. Add 1 part hardwood charcoal powder.  This helps temper the resin and reduces its stickiness.
  4. Add 1 part filler material.  This can be ground plant material (crushed to a fine powder) or rabbit or deer scat/droppings (dried and ground up).  In a pinch, you may also substitute sawdust, bone dust, or animal hair.  The filler material helps strengthen the glue compound.
  5. If you wish to make the resultant glue more flexible, so it can be easily worked, add one part fat, tallow, or beeswax to the mixture.
  6. Mix thoroughly.
  7. Apply using a stick.

After the glue hardens, it will resemble hardened glass.

Dried pine pitch glue can be reheated to convert it back to its liquid state.  Dip a stick into the mixture and remove, allowing the glob of glue to harden on the stick.  Re-dip the stick to add additional layers of glue (as it cools, you may wish to roll it between your hands to compress and shape it).  The finished lolly of pine pitch glue is ready to be stored and carried with you, ready to be reheated when needed.

Spiritual Meaning of the Pine Cone

The pineal gland is a remarkable feature of the human experience. Nestled in the brain between the two hemispheres, it is a source of endless intrigue in the realm of mysticism. Sometimes the Pineal Gland is referred to as our “third eye” the “dream centre” or my favourite, the “mystic seed.”

The Pineal Gland is shaped very much like the pine cone and lies at the centre of our brain and is intimately linked to our body’s perception of light. The Pineal modulates our wake-sleep patterns and circadian rhythms.

It’s totally fascinating that both the pine cone and the Pineal Gland not only look like each other but are also light sensitive. More articles here.