This is the 15th year of continuous daily publication for 365Caws. All things considered, it's likely it will be the last year as it is becoming increasingly difficult for me to find interesting material. However, I hope that I may have inspired someone to a greater curiosity about the natural world with my natural history posts, or encouraged a novice weaver or needleworker. If so, I've done what I set out to do.
Tuesday, August 23, 2022
Tonic
Day 314: It took seven or eight years to establish a colony of Hydrastis canadensis sufficient to supply me with a couple of quarts of my favourite summer tonic, Goldenseal tea. Each plant bears only two leaves, so I only harvest the tips (and that, sparingly). The infusion must not be boiled, but rather should kept just off simmer for about twenty minutes. The resultant tea is rather bitter and takes some getting used to, but it is an excellent thirst-quencher and quite refreshing. I have never used the berries for tea, preferring to let them drop to the ground where hopefully, they may produce another Goldenseal plant, although its primary reproduction comes from underground runners. The roots are saffron yellow, and the origin of the plant's other common name, "Yellow Puccoon." However, several other unrelated plants are also known as "puccoon," nearly all of which have been used over the ages to produce red and yellow dyes.
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