Spruce Tree

For Respiratory Ailments

Today, while searching my yard for emerging plants, I found myself in a shady spot, and a voice said: “Look up.” I looked up.

I found myself staring, in awe, at a mature spruce tree.

I have lived inside of my own head for a while. I haven’t looked closely at the trees.

The spruce tree in my backyard is a tall, majestic beauty. With the sun shining through her branches, and the earthy smell of evergreen in the air, I was overcome with a sense of peace.

Necessary plants often appear precisely when they become necessary. Pine, as I recalled, is good for respiratory issues. I have been coughing lately.

I looked at my field guide to check for specific information about the spruce.

As is true of many, but not all, members of the pine family, a tea of spruce needles and branches works as an expectorant. It was exactly what I needed.

I also learned that the pitch from the spruce heals boils, scabs, sores and abscesses. The bark has anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant properties. The inner bark is good for lung problems.

The guide contains an interesting story about the spruce:

Various Native American groups made spruce beer by boiling twigs and cones, then adding maple syrup to catalyze fermentation. The beer, along with the leafy tips, was offered to the first explorers, particularly the French, as a treatment for scurvy. It is likely that spruce tips saved the ill-fated crew of Jacques Cartier from scurvy in 1536. In addition to vitamin C, preparations from leaves and bark contain numerous amino acids that could have aided in recovery from scurvy.

I trimmed a few branches, and added some spruce leaves and twigs to my tea.

I looked up a recipe for spruce beer, which uses the springtime tips of the spruce tree. I will be watching my tree for new growth:

Currently, my medicinal plant collection resides in my kitchen. However, it is outgrowing its space:

I have dried roots, stems and leaves that I foraged last year, dehydrated fruit and vegetable peels and pulp, homemade herbal oils and tinctures and fresh, early spring medicinals.

Underneath, I have empty jars, oils, scales, measuring cups, and my natural medicine book collection.

I love my little shelf, but I have no room for new items. I have decided to expand my herbal medicine operation out into the old shed that came with our house.

A new project will be good for me and, lately, I feel the earth calling me to be a part of nature, once again.

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While looking for information about harvesting spruce, I came across a very useful survival website. These will be good skills to have, when we need to make our own way, upon the disintegration of our society:

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My father had an interest in foraging when I was a kid. It became an interest of mine, as well.

Since my mom’s illness, I have completely lost faith in the western medical system. As a result, I have become far more serious about my study of medicinal plants. My ultimate goal is to acquire all of the skills necessary to live outside of the system.

To read the story of what got me to this point, start at the beginning: