Mountain heather is always a common and welcome sight in the high meadows. Its aromatic scent adds to the wonderful mix of alpine fragrances in the high country. I found this pink heather growing on the eastern shore of Deer Lake in the North Olympic Wilderness.
The small creatures of the rain forest found many useful purposes for mountain heather in their everyday lives. Because it is an evergreen, they used the boughs year round in their festival decorations, especially their holiday wreaths, as seen in Mrs. Trowbridge's journal page above. They dried the flowers and used them as a potpourri, to mask the musky rodent scent in their dwellings. They even used the flowers as a tasty colorful garnish for their meals.In addition to being a fine scribe and painter, Mrs. T was a "crafty" creature as well. She always made a traditional heather wreath for the hearth mantle at Gathering Festival time.
How beautiful. I am sure the twig shed that Violet has filled with her bundles of twigs will keep the family warm this season. Her craftiness in creating a gathering wreath is certainly admirable.
ReplyDeleteWhat a charming and wonderful blog site!
ReplyDeleteYour entries are so well illustrated - this is just beautiful. I will definately be back to read some more :)
This is all so charming, I can't get over it. I want a twig shed now and a wreath made out of mountain heather.
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