The month of June is blithe and gay,
Driving winter’s ills away.
“I wonder what it would be like to live in a world where it was always June.”
L. M. Montgomery
Tag Archives: Poems
Fairies’ Corner
There are fairies in my garden…
And when nobody is looking, they occasionally kiss the flowers, especially daisies or cowslips. And this…
turns to this…
What do you mean, you don’t believe in fairies?
~~~
“Beneath the sun I dance and play, in April and in merry May”
(from The Song of the Cowslip Fairy by Cicely Mary Barker)
~~~
A Warm Welcome
Today Spring embraced me
with a warm breeze,
and I felt her breath as she kissed me
on the cheek
Today Spring raced towards me
with some cool tears,
and I knew she hadn’t forsaken me
for another year.
Spring said “I bet you’re glad to see me!”
and laughed with the birds
“You know I always come to dance with you”
were her joyous words.
Today Spring and I danced
with the nodding flowers
Reunited at last, we celebrated
Once more she is ours.
(Until summer takes her place)
Has Spring been to dance with you yet?
Words and pictures by Cathy
Coltsfoot
Tussilago farara
The Song of the Coltsfoot Fairy
The winds of March are keen and cold;
I fear them not, for I am bold.
I wait not for my leaves to grow;
They follow after: they are slow.
My yellow blooms are brave and bright;
I greet the Spring with all my might.
(by Cicely Mary Barker)
I only saw a couple of these beauties in March, barely open. The one above was March 2012, and the ones photographed below on April 1st 2013 were still quite small. They certainly need all their might this Spring!
The name (Huflattich in German) comes from their hoof-shaped leaves that appear later and grow to a tremendous size. They can be used in all sorts of herbal remedies, including cough sweets; the “tussilago” part of the name comes from the Latin for “suppressing a cough”. (Ever heard of “Coltsfoot Rock“?)
The next photo is not too clear as the forest floor was quite dim, but here you can see the flower head in more detail - pollinating insects crawl over the tiny little male florets within the bloom which contain nectar and give off pollen, then they fly to the next flower and use the female outer ray petals for landing, where pollen is brushed over the stigmas. Normally the Coltsfoot is an important early source of nectar and pollen for bees, but I have only seen one bee this year so far. However, the outer petals close over the central florets in wet and cloudy weather, and the plant therefore also self-pollinates. Double safe!
Do you see this plant in your part of the world?
(And if anyone has some better photos of the flower head, I’d love to see them!)
Nutmeg
Nutmeg
I had a little nut tree,
Nothing would it bear
But a silver nutmeg
And a golden pear
Nutmeg is a fragrant, slightly sweet spice that has been used for hundreds of years in Britain and Western Europe, and was among those spices viciously fought over in the 16th and 17th centuries. It is in fact said that the Dutch made an exchange with England in the 1660s, trading Manhattan for the last nutmeg-producing island under British control, along with a sugar-producing territory in South America…
Myristica fragrans
(Photo: Wikimedia Commons)
Nutmeg and Mace both come from the nutmeg tree; nutmeg is the seed, while mace is the dried “lacy” reddish covering (the aril) of the seed. The word originates from the Old French “nois mugede” and medieval Latin “nux muscata”.
The fruit of the nutmeg tree looks like an apricot, and when ripe it splits to reveal the red aril encasing the shiny seed, or “nut”. The mace is removed and dried, as are the nutmegs – traditionally in the sun. The process is labour-intensive, since they need turning regularly for several weeks. At the end of the drying, the hard seed coat is split open to extract the kernels – what we know as nutmegs – which have shrunk and are loose in the shell.
(Photo: Wikimedia Commons)
The nutmeg tree is indigenous to the Spice Islands in Indonesia and the Caribbean. However, the Arabs who traded this spice in Venice did not reveal where it originated for many years, and were able to demand high prices for it. In the 16th and 17th centuries the Portuguese, and later the Dutch, became major traders in this and other spices, such as cloves. Wars were fought, and warehouses of nutmeg were burnt to keep prices artificially high; barely comprehensible to us in present times, yet simple spices which we take for granted nowadays played such a great role in the building of colonies and empires, and in our trading and shipping history.
(Photo: Wikimedia Commons)
~
The king of Spain’s daughter
Came to visit me
All for the sake of
My little nut tree
It is said that the King of Spain’s daughter referred to here was Katherine of Aragon, Henry VIII’s first wife. So the rhyme goes back to the early 16th century.
~
Did you know “to nutmeg” is actually a verb? I had no idea….
It means either: to flavour with nutmeg, as in She decided the eggnog was lacking in flavor, so she decided to nutmeg it heavily.
Or: in soccer, to play the ball between the legs of the opponent
~
I danced o’er the water,
I danced o’er the sea,
And all the birds in the air,
Couldn’t catch me.
~
I have never used mace, but apparently it has a similar but superior flavour to nutmeg. For as long as I remember I have put a little nutmeg, freshly grated, in milk puddings, egg dishes, or with carrots and spinach. More recently I have used it in a zucchini cake, and in a curry! The uses are thus varied. I have also heard that consuming large quantities of it can lead to intoxication and hallucinations! (Read here)
Do you use nutmeg? And if so, what dishes do you add it to?
I’ll post a recipe I use it in very soon!
