Virginia Pine – LLOYD'S LENS PHOTOGRAPHY LLC

The Oncoming Pollen Season

Virginia Pine In Bloom 5220a — Hello Friends! Tonight’s feature image is titled “Virginia Pine In Bloom 5220” and is available for purchase by the instructions at the bottom of the article.

The big blue truck idles slowly through the forest edge to the bench where my wife and I had a mobile home parked early in ourlife together. I had refused to move the small pines when they were only a few inches tall. We moved from that spot decades ago and now these pines form a privacy shelter for the site.

In mid Spring in our area the pine sends out clouds of airborne pollen that coats everything. In some years we joke about the Department of Highways needing to bring out the snow plows and clear that pollen from the roads.

Image Titled “Virginia Pine 5220b”

They are really just getting started in these photos. I have seen days when the breeze would pick up and the pollen coming from the pines looked like smoke rising into the air. They really go into production in a few weeks. The pine pollen can be real trouble for those of us who suffer from allergies but there might be a little benefit from all that yellow stuff floating in the air. Some herbalists say that pine pollen not only stimulates the immune system ( thus the allergic reaction) but might also prevent some types of cancer, increase testosterone levels, promote weight loss and lower blood pressure. ( This is according to a quickie Google search and only presented as trivia)

I asked Google how much pine pollen humans ingest per year without trying to but she didn’t seem to have an answer. I suspect that it’s quite a bit because there’s so much of it this time of year. The loblolly pine (not pictured ) can produce as much as 5 pounds of pollen per season per tree. When you consider that my home state of West Virginia is the third most forested state in the USA that’s a lot of pines pumping pollen into the air. We have to be getting enough to have a little effect on our nutrition.

( For more about the food value of Virginia Pine check out Forage Friday post #22)

As I ponder the oncoming pollen storm provided by the pines in my area I decided to head back to the house and make sure that my snow shovel was accessible. Just in case the pollen falls overnight. 😉

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Forage Friday #22 Virginia Pine

Color Photography, Forage Friday

Hello friends! Tonight’s feature image is titled “Virginia Pine 43019”. Tonight’s image was taken specifically for this article. All of the photos found on this blog are my original work and are available as prints by following the instructions at the bottom of the article.

Somewhere in the echoes of my mind is the voice of Euell Gibbons asking if you have “ever eaten a pine tree?” I was a very small child and the old breakfast cereal commercial produced the mental image of a giant munching down on a tree as if was a celery stick. Euell was a master foraging expert but I was a kid and saw the whole world as one big cartoon. Such is youth.

By the time I truly interested in being able to live off the land I still had that cartoon picture of what would be like to eat a tree. I finally got curious about the concept and began to read up on it. In my reading I came across a story about settlers suffering from scurvy. They looked to the native guides for advice and the scouts would point to the sky. The settlers would pray for healing. After this happened a few times one of scouts finally decided to intervene and brought the settlers pine needles. It was then that the settlers realized that the natives weren’t pointing to the sky but to the pine trees to cure scurvy.

While the story was probably made up ( I’ve forgotten where I read it. ) it does contain an element of truth. Scurvy is caused by the lack of vitamin C and pine needles contain an average of a whopping eight times the amount of vitamin C as an orange. ( ounce per ounce). This much is common knowledge among survivalists and foragers. The young light green needles make the best tea and the older needles have a stronger pine flavor.

Here’s where I have to admit that edible doesn’t always mean tastes awesome. And when you avoid sweetener like I do you might have to adjust your expectations a bit or mix the pine needles with something that will help cover the flavor. The tea is something that I only tried once just to say that I’ve done it. Maybe I messed up with preparation or maybe I just couldn’t get over the idea that it would taste like pine scented cleaning products but I wasn’t really a fan.

The uses below are from Peterson’s Field Guide and after the tea I opted to not bother with them but here they are.

In the feature image you can see young male cones which are considered to be an emergency food when boiled until tender.

The shoots are stripped clean and peeled to make a cooked green.

The inner bark is put through a process of being pounded under water and the resulting pulp is washed and dried into flower.

Aside from the scurvy treatment the resin was used by primitive culture as an antiseptic for minor skin injuries and is a folk treatment for poison ivy rash.

Normally when we talk about foraging we’re talking about food and medicine but sometimes you have a need for something more utilitarian. The resins do make a good glue. The process is to collect the crystallized resin from wounds and melt them under low heat. ( ⚠️too much heat and it can burst into flames!⚠️) once it’s liquid its mixed with charcoal and herbivore dung and sets into a waterproof glue. This is mixture that Native Americans used to seal birch bark canoes.

I have noticed a tendency for people to look at all evergreen trees as a “pine”. Mistakes happen and can be deadly if you mistakenly collect an ornamental yew instead of a white pine. The long twisted needles of Virginia Pine is a pretty good indicator that you’ve got the ID but if you’re not sure consult a good guide book like Peterson’s Field Guide.

On a final note, please remember that my Forage Friday posts are just a starting point for those who are interested in foraging. It’s recommend that you do further research before trying any wild edible plants the first time.

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The Shaking

Color Photography

The small Virginia Pine stands out in a sea of Broomsedge. The open ridge line invites a harsh wind on most days. The winter here in this spot is ruled by freezing rain as well as blizzards. The wind has come through with enough rage to shake my big blue truck from side to side and knock down the power lines but still the crooked little Virginia Pine continues to flourish. I have watched it for several years now and it’s growing stronger with each storm. While it’s obvious that wind shake can damage trees it’s also true that a certain amount of wind is necessary for the trees to grow strong. If the tree isn’t shaken as it grows it never develops the mechanisms to deal with storms.

Often in our spiritual life we become distraught when troubles come and our faith is tested. But, it’s in these challenges that our strength develops to our full potential. Without them we never develop the coping mechanism that that gives us the strength to survive the storms.

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