Trees in Winter

Posted by Violet Snow Jan 22, 2007

Trees are easy for people to connect with because they have trunks, like we do, they stay alive in winter, and many of us have memories of climbing trees as children. In addition, some of them are edible or medicinal. Pines and hemlocks (no relation to poison hemlock) can be used to make tea that is high in Vitamin C, tonifies the body, and is used to prevent colds.

If you want to make tree tea, begin with a field guide to make sure you have the right species. (See the article Pines, Conifers, Evergreens for basic information on identification.) None of the conifers are toxic except for yew, which has red, berry-like cones and is used as a folk remedy for cancer, but the mildest-tasting species are white pine and hemlock.

You can chew on the needles to get a sour burst of Vitamin C and that lovely pine fragrance. To make tea, pick some twigs and needles (one handful per cup of tea), chop them up, and put them in a clean, wide-mouthed jar. Fill the jar with boiling water, cap, and steep for fifteen to thirty minutes. Strain out the plant matter and drink the pale green tea.

Once you’ve made tea from a tree, you’ll look at that tree differently. It becomes a partner or an ally. You might want to spend some time standing under it, studying the patterns of the bark. If it’s a pine, brush the soft needles against your face. If the tree is tall and still has low branches, you can climb it, even if you’re an adult. There’s nothing like sitting thirty feet from the ground, surrounded by green, and looking around from a new vantage point.

Deciduous trees are interesting in winter too, because buds, which have been on the twigs since summer, are different for each species and offer a means of identification. We’ll get to the buds in a future article.