I think I’m going to go home this weekend to pick up my leftover blocks of wax and candlemaking gear. I want to go back to the Rabbithole or some other forest paths I’ve found on campus and collect the season’s last bayberries!
Bayberry candles are my absolute fave and making the connection between your favorite scent and a native plant that grows in all the most familiar land is a great feeling. Fruits are produced in fall and winter, which means I really need to get a move on, although I have terribly pervasive memories of the Rabbithole in march smelling so strongly of Myrica, not being able to see the fruits or leaves in the darkness, but just KNOWING. Dried bayberries can also be put in a pepper mill and crushed for seasoning the same way Vitex angus-castus (monk’s pepper) is traditionally used.
In addition to this bayberry retreval mission, dandelions have started popping up everywhere. Even around the Organic Garden’s corners (pretty much the only place I can garuntee doesn’t use herbicide! Besides maybe the Nature Reserve. But that is counter-intuitive). I feel there’s enough for one batch of oatmeal-honey-dandelion cookies from this adorable website here.
Favorite plant at the moment. Bayberry candles go!!!!
P.S. I took a foraging class with this guy last year. It was a lot of fun. His website and youtube channel are wealths of information.
In the Swedish snaps tradition, I have for a long time had a favourite drink:Porsbrännvin. It’s a snaps, infused primarily with Bog Myrtle (myrica gale), called Pors in Swedish. The result is a spicy, and sweetness-reminiscent shot that appeals to most of my senses without overwhelming…
I discovered this plant in 8th grade and was intrigued by it’s history, now needless to say, with my 21st birthday coming up, it intrests me even more.
But also worth noting is that Bayberry is my absolute favorite scent I have candles of it and severaaaaaal undisclosed locations on campus where I am among the southern bayberries
I should really make bayberry candles that should so be a thing i should do