#hemlock tree

Minolta MD Rokkor-X 50mm f/1.4 Sony A7

Surrender myself into the keep of this shuddering February morning // Part 19

[image description: four photos of eastern hemlock trees in a snowy winter forest. end image description.]

#hemlocktree #easternhemlock #hemlockcones #hemlock #trees #treephotography #nature #beautifulnature #naturephotography

Foraging in an Eastern hemlock fir tree forest in icy hard-packed snow. The deer got there first and made a feast of all the lower branches. Hemlock (not to be confused with poisonous water hemlock, an unrelated plant), is high in vitamin C, can help the immune system fight off colds and flus, and is used as a tea to help coughs and fevers. It can be included in a double extract of reishi mushroom to significantly increase the mushroom’s medicinal potency - I find this really cool because it is the main tree we find reishi growing wild on here in the Ottawa Valley. The needles can be made into a tea, salve, syrup, jelly, liqueur, essential oil, hydrosol, and more. The local florist uses it for Christmas floral arrangements and wreaths. Hemlock is a sacred tree. It can be used to align yourself more closely with the genius loci - local nature spirits. It protects and blesses, heals and nourishes. You can tell it apart from balsam fir by how small and short the needles are. Be careful not to mistake it for yew (a scrubby, short, and poisonous evergreen bush in Ontario which lacks an evergreen scent and can have red berries).

Blessings from the Mountain…

Auto Sears 55mm f/1.4 lens Sony A7