Thursday 23 June 2011

A basket full of wild cherries .....

 The wild cherries are nearly ripe!  Us'll need to keep an eye on them now and try to pick a bowlful before those birds get them - one day too late and whoooooosh!! all gone!
  Some of us know the fruit by other names - ancient epithets -  Hawkberry, Mazzard, Gean, Idath - folk names of long ago. And no - of course I will leave plenty for the birds - it's just that I want a little harvest first!
Detail from 'Cherry Wine Stomp' - illustrator Mary Kendall Lee
from 'The Eleventh Holiday Book' by Enid Blyton 1956 - pub. Sampson Low Marston & Co. Ltd.

 Wild cherries are essential for the fae - especially the Wood Guardian type. They're part of our medicine chest. Brew up slithers of cherry bark in a little black pot over the glowing embers of the fire with plenty of ripe fruits with spring water to just cover. When they have bubbled together for a while, strain the liquid into bottles with a big spoonful of honey, give them a shake - and there! Tonic for colds and snivels for all my woodland folks.

Wild cherries at the bottom of my lane

   If you thought Magic folks only drink dew from the dawn grass and hawthorn leaves - then pffffft! Think again! This fae at least will make a little quantity of Cherry Brandy to store up ready for colder days.
Sweets too I can make - and wrap them in crinkly wild-rose petals for my Eco Enchantments business - they come from the amber coloured resin gum which gathers if the bark is lightly cut - all chewy and long lasting.

From my collection of  faerie magic postcards : Margaret Tarrant 1923
Drawn originally for 'Wild Fruit Fairies' - poetry by Marion St. John Webb

Illustration by Cicely Mary Baker 1925 from 'Flower Fairies of the Trees'

                                           Hooray, hurrah and huzzah for the cherry harvest!!
Plant a wild cherry tree in your wild life garden!

You might also like my 'Wild Cherry Conserve' recipe - over at the Eco Enchantments website

2 comments:

lunalaurel said...

How can I express my love of cherries? It isn't even about how sweet and pure they taste, it's the wonderful childhood memories of reaching our bowls up every summer waiting for Dad to throw some down for us, and then sitting cross legged in the garden singing: 'soldier, sailor, tinker, tailor, rich man, poor man, beggar man, thief!' They didn't have software engineers back then.

Thanks for bringing back such fond memories and good luck with getting some before the Blackbirds!

Muddypond Green said...

Thank you Laurel for you lovely thoughts. I have the same treasured memories - but of my father and the pear trees at the bottom of our garden - and Mum endlessly bottling them in syrup ready for winter ..... :-)