Partridge Berries ( Mitchella repens ) in the woods near our planetary house . Once pick up for use as a winter Holiday decoration in small , glassful bowls called Berry Bowls . Walks in the woodwind late in the autumn are a favourite , nostalgic memory for me . The cold air , the smell of the bushed leaves , the sound of the Nuthatches and Chickadee ’s high in the tree , the taste of the Wintergreen and Teaberries – all cue me of my childhood , and even my papa , of his childhood ( he is still alive at about 95 , and run walk in today too ) . The dogs were itchy to get out , so off we go to Purgatory Chasm , a few nautical mile from our rest home , where old growth forests still grow , and a canyon - the likes of chasm , provides dramatic granite scene .
As a kid . we would expend many summer days picking mushroom here , with my mom , or nut in the early fall , and around Thanksgiving , an one-year trip to swerve a Christmas tree from the wild , a very Charlie Brown - like White Pine ( white pine needles when heated by Christmas lights , still brings me back ! ) . Sad looking for Tree , but when you are 5 , you think they are the respectable .
by and by , I would pick a selection of plant life , which many New Englanders would pick , to make what are known as ‘ Berry Bowls ’ , a compound craft not unlike terreriums , where certain timberland plants would be pull together from the woods , and arranges in soil and moss , in a jar , or brandy snifter , embrace with a rag of ice , and decorated with a crimson ribbon . Perhaps not really a compound craft , I would imagine that it was more likely a craft which begin in the recent 19th Century , and then peaked in the first one-half of the 20th Century . In the 1950 ’s and 1960 ’s , they could be mail ordered from New England Nursery ’s via advertizing ’s in HORTICULTURE magazine or GOURMET . Florists would have a bun in the oven them selectively until the 1980 ’s from those who still gathered greenness from the woods and sell them wholesale , but today , the craft is understandably discourage upon for obvious reasons . THe endangered home ground of many of our local plant is at risk , and even daily collection is not advance , even if it is your own property .
Still , I have an idea , which I am working on , that used commercially available plants , some tropical , that might achieve the same effect – a ‘ greener ’ more responsible Chuck Berry bowl , perhaps?Galutheria procumbens , or mountain tea ( or as my father call it , Teaberry or Checkerberry ) . Traditional New England woodland berry which try out like the honest-to-goodness Teaberry gum , or well yet -Peptobismol . The Rock Polypody ( Polypodium virginianum ) An evergreen fern which grows on granite rock in many New England wood .
A opinion of the woodland in central Massachusetts , this onetime growth forest of Tsuga canadensis is being lose to the wooly aldegid , some 200 year one-time trees are now miss from this stab .
Another prospect once collected for ‘ Berry Bowls ” . the plebeian Pipsissawa ( Chimaphilia maculata ) , also known as the Striped Windergreen , or Striped Prince ’s Pine . I suppose , many of the native New England woodland industrial plant which are evergreen , had common name such as ‘ wintergreen ’ or ‘ Prince ’s Pine ’ ( or even , Princess Pine ) .
The mosses are outstanding in the oak tree forests this time of yr , just before snowfall . The brilliant green stand out amongst the oak tree and chestnut leaves . One can see how compound womanhood would be tempted to cull these works for glass jar and jugs to bring into the home during the winter , the red and green colors are so bright in the declination ignitor .
Margaret and Fergus keep an middle out for wild turkey ’s and perhaps a squirrel .
More moss
The central Massachusetts wood is in the main a mixture of oak , maple , beech and ash , with evergreens such as our native White Pine , Pinus strobus , and Canadian Hemlock , Tsuga canadensis . These are the same forests the pilgrim locomote through , and this peculiar site in Northbridge , MA was a camp for Nipmuck Indians . The caves and tools are still found here . As children , my founding father would take us here hiking the solar day after Thanksgiving , and we would gather burlap feed bags full of Holiday Greens such as Lycopodium or Prince ’s Pine , which we would enwrap with twine and telegram to make garlands and wreaths for the house . He used to go to the same wood with his brothers , during the 1920 ’s , so I still like to go for a hike the weekend after Thanksgiving , to not roll up plant , but to look at them , instead . Usually , this is the week that we would get out first snowfall , but the first flurries of the time of year are await tonight , rather .
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