This post is from January 2021. I’m reposting and hoping to find someone who can provide directions to  the Losh Run Box Huckleberry.  I’ve visited the Hoverter & Sholl BoxHuckleberry  but have never found the Losh Run. Please send me a message if you know how to find it. Thank you!

The Hoverter & Sholl Box  Huckleberry
(Gaylussacia brachycera)
​

 Can you name a plant that covers 8 acres of land, is 1300 years old,
will protect you and bring you luck as  you enter the new year?

Gender: Feminine
Element:  Water
Planet: Venus

My quest to find an herb worthy of being featured as the first  in a series for 2021 unfolded magically! My daughter Mycenea self quarantined for 14 days,  as did  I,  so we could be  together for Christmas. We spent a lot of time outdoors, and one of our favorite jaunts was to visit the Hoverter and Sholl Box Huckleberry in Perry County, Pennsylvania.  

The box huckleberry is a member of the acidic soil loving Ericaceae family, which include azaleas, rhododendron, trailing arbutus, cranberries and blueberries, among others. Unlike the giant Sequoias and the Bristlecone pines, also known for their their age, the box huckleberry is only about a half a foot tall. It covers the forest floor and can easily  be overlooked. 

The box huckleberry and blueberry are often confused, but there are differences. The blueberry grows  in clusters, and the box huckleberry, as well as the huckleberry, has more singular berries, with occasional small clusters. Though the skin of all of the berries are blue, the blueberry is white or light green inside, and the huckleberry and box huckleberries  have a deep red violet or purple inner flesh  with  a tendency to stain. 

There are several folk names for the Huckleberries, including Blaeberry, Whortleberry, Bilberry and Hurtleberry. Bilberry is a folk name for the Blueberry. It gets confusing. Fortunately, scientists use Latin names to provide clarification. We are referring to the box  huckleberry (Gaylussacia brachycera) in this case. 

There were two box huckleberry plants in the area we visited. One, at Losh Run, is thought to be over 13,000 years old! Bristlecone pines, at 5,000 years old, were considered to be the oldest living organisms  on earth, yet the box huckleberry is significantly older. The age is determined by the rate of growth, approximately 6 inches a year, and was calculated by the size of the plants.

The Losh Run Box Huckleberry, which at one time covered an area of about  100 acres, nearly 10 times larger than the Hoveter Sholl, was damaged by a forest fire in 1963, then partially destroyed during the 1970s due to road construction of  U.S. 22/322. The remainder is in an area difficult to access.  

The younger plant is estimated to be 1,200 to 1,300 years old, and fortunately has been  in a protected area as a National Natural Landmark since 1929.  The 8 plus acre box huckleberry, named because its leaves resemble boxwood, is situated within a 10 acres area in Tuscarora State Forest with a quarter mile path around the plant. Twenty-seven stations along the loop give an educational overview. 

The  Hoveter Sholl  plant was discovered in 1845 by Spencer Fullerton Baird, a professor at Dickinson College in Carlisle. He was a naturalist and later became the first curator of the Smithsonian Institution, advancing to become the second Secretary of the institution. 

The box huckleberries were almost forgotten until 1948 when Dr. Fredrick Coville, a graduate of Cornell University working for the Department of Agriculture, determined the plants, one covering over 8 acres, and the  other  nearly  100 acres, were each individual massive plants! The  relict species, miraculously surviving the  ice age, is considered self-sterile, and reproduces through a system of root stalks.  

This remarkable plant has not always been well revered. Mark Twain’s Huckleberry  Finn is probably the most well know of the  huckleberries, and in an  interview in an interview  in 1895, Twain said he used the name to  indicate Finn was a boy “of lower distraction”  than Mark Twain. 

A more positive huckleberry reference was featured in the song Moon River in the movie Breakfast at Tiffany’s. It is beautifully explained by Jessica Dang, Single Girl Dinner. “For years I had no idea what it meant: "My huckleberry friend." It hung in my mind. I searched Paul Varjak's relationship with Holly Golightly for the answer. Theirs was a mutual adoration laced with innocent flirtation; there was a certain playfulness that freed them from being neither friends nor lovers."

On New Year’s Eve,  the residents of  New Bloomfield, PA traditionally  assemble to  pay homage to their oldest resident. They lower a huge huckleberry from the  courthouse  clock tower at midnight  to pay tribute to this humble herb. This  year’s pandemic will prevent the assemblage, but they will hopefully  meet on New  Year’s  Eve next year  to  honor this enormous, ancient plant. 
​

As  you enter 2021, I  wish you  the blessings of  huckleberry! May  you  gather magic and find luck and  protection in “berried treasures”,  I’m  hoping there will be unexpected   blessings and virtues all around you. And may  each of  you  find a  ‘Huckleberry friend”! 

 “Everyone should have a huckleberry friend at one point or another. 
It is an experience that showers your life with magic for as long as it lasts,
whether it be for a couple of weeks or a couple of years.”
​
 ~  Jessica Dang, Single Girl Dinner, #SingleGirlDinner
​

Gender: Masculine
Element:  Fire
Planet: Sun

“Smelling  rosemary  prevents aging,” I explained to my class of 25 students, as I handed each of  them an eight to 10 inch sprigs from my garden. All were over 50 in the Renaissance Institute lifelong learning program.  “It will  also  keep  you alert  and help  you  remember the information you learn  in class.” It was my first session in a series, over a period of 6  weeks, of my Enhancing Your Life with  Herbs, and rosemary was the ideal herb to  introduce  the course. 
Rosemary’s well  documented and legendary gift of preventing aging is one  of the virtues I wish  I had found out years ago - maybe when I was eighteen. Since I’ve learned of this magical power, I breathe in deeply  when the plant is nearby.  
Many virtues have been  associated with rosemary throughout the centuries. He  is one of 500 herbs featured  in Eber’s Papyrus found in the  Valley of Tombs near Luxor. The 20 meter long scroll,  about the  size  of  a bowling alley, was written in 1500  B.C., though believed to have been copied from an earlier document. It documents its use as an herbal  remedy. Sprigs have been found in Egyptian tombs dated from 3,000 B.C. 
Its medicinal uses have been  documented  in Greece and Rome since 500  B.C.   The “herb of  crowns”  is also reputed  to  improve memory and mental powers. 
Priests burned it as incense and it has been used as a disinfectant and strewing herb. The pungent fragrances covers up unpleasant odors and purifies the air. It has been  credited with  protecting  people from  the plague and having a clean fragrance that is purifying in a sick person’s  room. Once valued for medicinal uses, it  is now mostly  used in cosmetics and cooking. 
Friendship and love have long  been associated with rosemary. It has been used in love spells and is credited with encouraging faithfulness, so it is often used in friendship and wedding  bouquets.  Both Thomas More  and Shakespeare have commemorated rosemary’s association with friendship and remembrance in well known quotes.  
Rosemary  is often found at with funerals. My rosemary sympathy cards and comfort journals for people who have lost loved ones encourage people to find easement in sacred memories.

Rosemary is often used  in wreaths, bouquets and arrangements at Christmas time.
This legend describes how the rosemary flowers got their gorgeous color. 

The Legend of Rosemary
When  Joseph, Mary, and  the baby Jesus fled through the Egyptian desert from  King Herod’s soldiers, they found shelter in a rosemary grove. Mary draped her blue cloak over one of the white flowered bushes before she retired for the night. The next morning when Joseph removed her cloak, the white flowers on the bush had turned to the same  shade  of blue as Mary’s cloak. 

The Dracaena, derived from the Greek word for female dragon, and also known as the “spirit of  the dragon” tree, has brought me comfort through dark times. She reminds us that chaos is necessary  in bringing about positive change quickly. This tree supports us during conflict, and encourages us  to  turn inward to  find strength and solutions. She is the perfect Christmas tree for 2020!

When we think of pine, our first thoughts are probably  as a Christmas tree, or using the evergreens for wreaths and swags.  Pine wreaths were originally hung on doors for protection more than decoration, replacing the dead black chicken which was once hung on entrances to discourage witches from entering. They were honor bound to count every feather before they could go inside. Thankfully, pine needles replaced the feathers, undoubtedly more fragrant than rotting poultry! Witches have very active minds and often get distracted and lose count, so instead of starting over, they will probably go next door. (You may want to advise your neighbors to get a pine wreath.)

Pine cones can be used to make roses, wreaths, garlands, and in table arrangements. The internet is overflowing with ideas for using pine cones as crafts. 
They can be covered with peanut butter, rolled in bird seed and hung out as bird feeders.
Use tongs to dip thoroughly dried pine cones in melted paraffin or beeswax, let wax drip off and dry on wax paper or foil. 

Turpentine, another gift from pine, is a distilled oil made from pine resin. Some of my most cherished moments in the art room have been surrounded by the fragrances of turpentine and linseed oil.

Amber -Pine's Gift of Golden Sunshine Energy
Pine gives us another gift! Amber! It is said to have the energy of liquid sunshine, to make the wearer more beautiful, to attract wealth and success, and dissolve opposition.

Amber has been identified in over 300 shades. Most of us are familiar with the golden yellow and orange ambers, but it can also be an orange-red, brown, green, black or even violet, though very rare. 

Amber is made from the fossilized resin of the pine tree, and to be classified as true amber it must be over 100,000 years old! That is miraculous, don't you think?  Copal, or Columbian Amber, less than 1,000 years old, has not yet fossilized but is also beautiful and truly remarkable. There is something sacred about pieces that have been part of the earth for so long! 

Amber is revered in the Far Eastern Asian cultures. Asian Indians regard amber as the 'soul of the tiger', endowing the wearer with courage. Egyptians placed a piece of amber in the casket of a loved one to ensure the body would forever remain whole. Early physicians prescribed amber for headaches, heart problems, arthritis and a variety of other ailments. In ancient times, amber was carried by travelers for protection.

Wishing you all a holiday season of fragrant, protective pine and the warmth and sunshine of amber!

India is celebrating Diwali, the Festival of Lights, and  Children’s Day,  happiness and joy.
​Let’s join them!

This newsletter from my dear friend Rameshji and his beautiful wife will give  you more information. You can also read  about his new book, Soul Selfie, below. It is available on Amazon and I enthusiastically recommend it!

Date : 13-11-2020

A SPECIAL DIWALI
 
This year the festival of lights (Diwali) coincides with the festival of joy and happiness (Children’s Day) and teaches us how we can live life, childlike:

1. Children may create a mess, appear untidy, have runny noses and sticky, dirty hands but we love them nonetheless as their hearts are always clean. They neither hold grudges nor nurture feelings of anger, ill-will or negativity; thereby showing us that the inside matters more than the outside. 

2. Like children, our focus should be on bhavana and not merely on rituals and ceremonies. We should aim to express internally, not just impress externally. 

3. Children are always eager and enthusiastic to burst crackers, design rangoli, meet relatives, taste sweets and participate in all festivities. We too, should have the same level of energy and excitement towards life and should make the most of every moment given to us. 

4. The innocent smiles, mischievous giggles and infectious laughter of children shows us that life should not be taken seriously all the time but should be filled with lighter moments which spreads joy in everyone’s life. 

5. Just as the diyas light us up soon after we light them, children also begin to impart valuable life lessons to us while we raise them.  We must be open to their perspectives and allow them to be our guiding lighttoo.

So, this Diwali let us not just light up our homes but light up our lives by cherishing our children and embracing our own inner child!