Ultimate Playtime

MAKE SCENTS!

One of the most amazing properties of our natural world is its ability to provide us with absolutely everything we need.

It is a pharmacy, a hardware store, a grocery store and a clothing store.

I love being able to go out into a boreal forest to smell the intoxicating scents it has to offer. Spruce needles can make a beautiful scented powder that you can use (sparingly) on your hair and skin; you can sprinkle a little in your clothing drawer or in a closet. Subalpine fir makes amazing antiseptic oil that can be used like tea tree oil, only it has a wonderful citrus scent to it. Adding the oil to a steamer gives you a healthy way to clear a stuffy nose, or to be a base for a facial! Adding a few drops in your bath makes it smell incredible and helps detoxify and cleanse the skin during and after a bout with the flu.

If you are looking for a natural fragrance for your home and hate the thought of commercial products laced with chemicals, try using a little wild mint. Crush it between your thumb and forefinger and spread the residue on a light bulb, or just hang a plant in an area of heavy odour, and bruise the leaves. I enjoy picking wild mint and wild ginger (grown in a garden) to make a tea from. If you have a lot of juniper around your area, you can burn it like a smudge which will not only fumigate a house, but cleanse it spiritually as well. You can also crush the berries to add to a light bulb or put in a bath (this is also good for detoxifying skin during and after having the flu).

The root from Rocky Mountain Cow-Lily can be used as a powerful insecticide that kills beetles and cockroaches. Of course, for those pesky mosquitoes, burning spruce, pine or fir boughs will keep them away. To remove tartar from your teeth and make them whiter, eat wild strawberries on a daily basis, then brush with baking soda and rinse with warm water immediately after. Strawberries are great for your teeth, they slow down the formation of plaque, the baking soda, just makes them that much more effective!

Natural dyes are abundant in the Canadian wild lands! Flowers from Rabbit Bush make a lovely yellow colour, blueberries make a nice purple or navy, and of course cranberries can be used for pink and red. The Bee-Plant makes a blackish kind of paint and is also great for odour control!

Of course at this point I must remind you that to pick these lovely plants in any Park is illegal and irresponsible. I don't advocate the use of these plants in abundance and indeed I pay my respects with tobacco and ceremony when I do pick them. I use them only when necessary from the wild, otherwise, I collect them from my own garden or from those of friends who grow alpine gardens. These are not to be played with and taken in disrespect; they are our allies who are there in the circle of life to provide for us, just as our own bodies will nourish them after our passing.

Let it be enough that we can walk amongst a miraculous splendor and take comfort in knowing provisions are abundant all around us should we ever need them. So go out, and enjoy the heady scents the flora has to offer!

*This guideline is not intended to teach the individual on aromatherapy or the science behind it and the author advises the reader to become educated through a reputable source.

By Brenda Holder