Winter foraging yields a significant amount food, medicine and utility. The practice of winter foraging will extend yields through the winter months, along with our greenhouse, cold frame, hoop house, indoor gardens and what we have put up by way of food preservation.
The white pine has needles that form in groups of five. The inner bark of the white pine is quite delectable when fried in oil. Remove the outer bark and cut out strips of inner bark (it is white). For a winter forage white pine has other uses: the pitch is antiseptic when applied to open wounds and cuts; the needles make a concentrated vitamin C supplement when taken as a decocted tea, in fact, ten times the vitamin C of a glass of orange juice; the needles are used for weaving spiral baskets; the needles also make a rich tan or green dye; and native women would pull out the surface roots, slice them and use them for weavers in basketry. For a picture and more info about white pine go to: http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.bio.brandeis.edu/fieldbio/Sylvain/website%2520pics/White_Pine_669edit.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.bio.brandeis.edu/fieldbio/Sylvain/whitepine.html&usg=__7RFfAO6AKUYSInJ07ZO0sTjBmLg=&h=822&w=706&sz=255&hl=en&start=1&sig2=y3pcZ0ywS86wMtUn5M4J0A&itbs=1&tbnid=heFWS3_eu9AWpM:&tbnh=144&tbnw=124&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dwhite%2Bpine%2Btree%26gbv%3D2%26hl%3Den&ei=J0wPS9X1BMmCnQfuxZz9Aw
I will continue throughout the winter months to post information about winter foods, medicines and utility plants. This is an important and rewarding habit to get into: foraging all year, regardless the temperature. 