The Free Radical

Rose hips on naked branches in the midst of winter… reminds me of a Charlie Brown Christmas…

I still make a point every day to gather whatever foodstuffs I can along the route of my forest explorations. When everything is blanketed white in snow it seems that somehow I’m cheating Old Man Winter every time I find a handful of rose hips, juniper berries or bear berries… but they’ve become essential to my identity here.

If I walk my path without foraging a few nibbles along the way, I feel disconnected… like the snow serves to insulate me from the Forest Life lying beneath. But as I suck on hipcicles and frozen berries a portion of that Life awakens immediately within me. The difference is rather profound. I’m very grateful for these paltry but consistent offerings… served for my attunement.

Sitka likes to share in the bear berries, having learned of these hidden treasures beneath the snow. I pick them for her, otherwise she’d just eat the whole plant– leaves, stems and all. She tends to get a little jacked-up on the sugar though! She’s not interested in juniper berries at all– not even their oh-so-cinnamony 5th-dimensional expression. She allows me to hog most of the rose hips too, as she’s rather content to chew on the woody parts of the rose bushes– despite the thorns.

There’s something about these exotic flavours free for the taking in an otherwise desolate season that makes these excursions magical. Rose hips, once they’ve been thoroughly frozen on the branch, boast a flavour that is a wonderful combination of apple, cherry and strawberry. They’re also a rich source of vitamin C. The outer flesh is soft and just melts in your mouth, leaving a core of hard seeds to spit. The New Juniper berries hint at more tropical climes… perhaps a change which is yet forthcoming?

Be grateful for the gifts and treasures which dance continually at the periphery of our burgeoning awareness!