Medicinal Monday...Cloudberry- Gold of the Arctic

This delicate flowering plant produces amber-colored edible fruit that is highly prized as a culinary component, for its wealth of vitamins, and for its medicinal use. They are often referred to as the gold of the Arctic as they are an important part of the culture of northern indigenous people including the Cree, Micmac, and the Inuit.

About Cloudberry

Cloudberry or Rubus chamaemorus is a species of flowering plant in the rose family that is native to cool temperate areas including the Arctic and Alpine environments. Although it is called a berry, it is actually considered a fruit, or more precisely a cluster of fruits with stones. The fruit requires pollination from a male plant. This delicate plant grows up to ten inches high and has leaves that alternate between lobes. After pollination, white flowers emerge and form raspberry-sized fruit that consists of 5 to 25 drupelets. The fruit is initially pale red and ripens to an amber color in the early autumn. Cloudberries spread through their rhizomes that can grow up to 33 feet long. They grow in bogs, marshes, wet meadows, and in the tundra.

Cloudberries can be found throughout the northern hemisphere. In Europe, they grow in the Nordic countries, Iceland and Greenland, the Baltic states, and across Russia and as far south as Japan. They can also be found in the Scottish Highlands and in Germany's Weser and Elbe Valleys. In North America, they grow wild across northern Canada, Alaska, northern Minnesota, New Hampshire, Maine, and New York.

Medicinal & Culinary Uses

The Cree Woodlands make a decoction of the roots and use it as a "woman's medicine" and to help ease hard labor. A decoction of the root and leaves were made into a drink and given to barren women as a stimulant. The Micmac made a tea from the roots and used it as cough medicine; roots were also used to treat fever and consumption. The Inuit usually found cloudberries near the shore of lakes or by the sea and would make a good-tasting tea from the entire plant. A tea made from leaves picked in the fall is drunk to treat kidney ailments, stomachaches, and general ailments. 

Cloudberries are made into jam and used as a sweetener. They are eaten raw or frozen for winter food. They would be preserved alone or in grease and stored in a birchbark basket in an underground cache. Arctic Yup il mixed the berries with seal oil or reindeer fat and sugar to make akutaq (ice cream). The Inupiat added the berries to fluffy fat and ate this mixture as ice cream or would mix them with blackberries and preserve them in a barrel for winter use. 

Did You Know

Cloudberries are also called bake-apple, baked-apple berry, salmonberry, knot berry, aqpik or nordic berry.

In Nordic countries, cloudberries are used as a flavoring for akvavit. 

In northeastern Quebec, there is a cloudberry liqueur known as chicoutai.

In Norway, it is illegal to pick cloudberries that are not ripe.

Cloudberries contain four times as much vitamin C as an orange.

Cloudberry cream is the national dessert of Norway.

Medicinal Monday...How to Use Deadman's Leather!

 The fear of eating wild poisonous mushrooms has been inherited from as far back as ancient Rome and Greece where their use was first documented in association with political assassinations. There isn't a great deal of written documentation of how Native Americans used different types of mushrooms because of this fear and also because many Native American communities were displaced far from their original settlements. This relocation meant the loss of valuable mushroom knowledge. One mushroom, known as deadman's leather had several interesting uses.

About Laricifomes Officinalis

Laricifomes Officinalis, a medicinal polypore also known as deadman's leather is a wood-decay fungus that causes brown heart rot on conifers, particularly Douglas-fir.  It is found in Europe, Asia, and North America. The fruit or conk of this hoof-shaped mushroom is large and can grow up to two feet long. When it is young the outer layers are soft and yellow and as they mature they become white and chalky. The taste of the conk is extremely bitter.

Medicinal & Spiritual Uses 

The conks are important medicinally and spiritually to indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America such as the Tlingit, Haida, and the Tsimshian. They referred to this mushroom as the "bread of ghosts" and carved the fruiting bodies and marked the graves of tribal shamans with them. The Laricifomes Officinalis was called "Jibi-Jabosiganug" by the Ojibway, meaning "spirits of purgation-fungus."  The conk was dried and then ground up into a fine powder and used as a purgative especially when treating pneumonia.

Did You Know...

The fruit of this mushroom known as a conk or a quinine conk because of its bitter taste was once collected for the production of medicinal quinine.

The ancient Greeks used this to treat consumption according to the writings of Pedanius Dioscorides in 65 AD.

This fungus has antibacterial properties and can live up to 75 years.

Meet the Challenge @ the Award Winning Wigwam Escape and Save 20%

Escape rooms are the new medium for learning, storytelling, and play. In December 2020, Wigwam Escape, located at The Institute of American Indian Studies in Washington Connecticut won the coveted escape room National 2020 Golden Lock Award by the Room Escape Artist. They were impressed by Wigwam Escape's unique take on learning through play, with their innovative and interactive puzzles allowing for problem-solving and critical thinking from multiple perspectives. 

 “We are thrilled that Wigwam Escape has won this award – it is truly an honor. It is really rewarding to have Wigwam Escape recognized not only for its educational value but also for the fact that it is fun,” said Lauren Bennett-Dionne, Manager of Wigwam Escape. 

The Wigwam Escape journey begins in the year 1518 - players leave all modern-day devices like watches and cell phones behind, learning to take cues from the world around them. The room itself has hand-painted murals of New England forests, fields, streams, ponds, and gardens that allow players to be immersed in the pre-contact environment of Connecticut's woodlands. The centerpiece of the room is a to-scale wigwam, crafted using traditional methods from local bark and trees. Players learn that a nearby fishing village has requested help, so they must hunt, forage, and gather supplies for the journey ahead. This unique, hands-on approach connects players to the ways Native peoples lived and the skills they relied on 500 years ago in their daily lives. Some of these lessons are timeless, allowing for an even broader takeaway from the experience of Wigwam Escape. 

If you have friends and family members that are puzzle lovers, history buffs, story seekers, and enjoy immersive experiences, this adventure will definitely challenge and delight them! Wigwam Escape is committed to keeping visitors and staff safe by having each escape room be a private experience, with only one group playing at a time and strict sanitation of all touchable game surfaces and waiting areas between groups. 

 This spring from March 15th – April 25th, Wigwam Escape is offering players a special deal. 20% off your ENTIRE booking with discount code DEERANTLER If you are looking for a safe and exciting outing that is sure to chase away the winter doldrums, call Wigwam Escape at 860-868-0151 or book online at https://wigwamescape.org/book-now

Medicinal Monday - Tinder Fungus

This tough perennial mushroom in the polypore family has an interesting hoof shape. Native Americans found many interesting uses for this mushroom that is one of two that Tyrolean Icemen were carrying around 5,000 years ago.

About Fomes fomentarius

This hoof-shaped mushroom, sometimes called tinder fungus is usually found on standing and fallen hardwood trees. It is a parasite meaning that it attacks live wood and is also saprobic meaning that it survives on dead or decaying organic matter like wood using it as food. It is especially destructive to birch and beech trees causing white rot. Its upper woody surface cap has many layers and ranges from a grayish color to black. The relatively flat underside has a brown porous surface that is made up of tiny round pores. The lower layer of the fungus is the youngest. A large number of spores are produced in the spring and a smaller number are released in the fall. 

 When sliced open, which is not easy to do because of its toughness its flesh is composed of tube layers that form long parallel lines that point straight down. The color is typically lighter at lower altitudes. They live on trees long after they have died changing from a parasite to a decomposer. They can be found in northern and southern Africa, throughout Asia and Europe, and in eastern North America where they are most commonly found on birch trees.

Medicinal and Other Uses

This mushroom is very good at catching sparks that smolder at a high temperature for a long time, large pieces can smolder for hours making them perfect for starting fires. The Ojibway found several interesting medicinal uses for this mushroom. They dried pieces of this mushroom then pounded it into a fine powder and mixed it with a small amount of gun powder. This mixture was applied to infected wounds and ignited to draw the puss out. This mixture was also used to treat blood poisoning. Immature mushrooms were used as styptics and coagulants because of their absorptive properties.

Did You Know

The 5,000-year-old Otzo the Iceman carried four pieces of F. fomentarius that scientists believe he used for tinder.

This species is known as tinder fungus, hoof fungus, ice man fungus, or false tinder fungus.

The fruit bodies of these mushrooms can survive for up to thirty years.

Fly fisherman process this mushroom to make dry flies that float on top of the water.

Medicinal Monday - the "Star" of the Show- "Earth Stars!"

Earthstars are a charming fungus that looks like they should be found on a coral reef and not in the woods. There are 120 species of earthstars with one of the most common being the Geastrum triplex. Native Americans found several uses for this small and unusual-looking mushroom. 

About Earth Stars

Geastrum triplex is an inedible fungus found in the leaves of hardwood forests or on rotted tree stumps.  It can be found on every continent in the world except Antarctica and is the largest of the genus Geastrum.  This fungus derives nutrients from decomposing organic matter. Immature fruit bodies of this mushroom resemble puffballs only this fungus has a pointed top and is partially buried in the ground. As the fungus matures the outer layer called the exoperidium splits into four to eight-pointed segments that spread outward and downward forming a star shape and exposing the egg-shaped inner spore sac.  The spore sac contains a mass of spores called the gleba and fertile mycelial tissue that is white and firm when young but turns brown and powdery as the mushroom ages. The outer layer often splits around the perimeter of the spore sac so that it appears to be sitting in a saucer. The top of the spore sac is pointed and has a tiny hole at the top from which spores are released. The round spores are quite small and brown or cinnamon in color.

Medicinal Uses

Earthstars are used medicinally by Native Americans. The Blackfoot called them ka-ka-toos, meaning "fallen stars", and according to legend, they were an indication of supernatural events. The Cherokee put fruit bodies on the navels of babies after childbirth until the withered umbilical cord fell off, "both as a prophylactic and a therapeutic measure" The Tewa in the desert of the southwest blew ripe spores into the ears of infected patients to cleanse and heal ear and hearing disorders.

Did You Know...
Geastrum triplex is also called the collared earthstar, the saucered earthstar, or the triple earthstar.

The name triplex refers to the three-layer peridium or outer skin found on the fruiting body of a fungus.

In Chinese medicine, earthstars were used to treat inflammation in the respiratory tract and to staunch bleeding, and reduce swelling.

A recent study found that Geastrum triplex has a relatively high antibacterial activity.

Medicinal Monday - White Snake Root - As Poisonous as It Sounds!

It is amazing how well Native Americans understood the flowers, herbs, and trees that populate the landscape that they live in. They found a use for nearly every natural thing that they encountered. Nothing went to waste. Take the poisonous perennial herb known as White Snakeroot, they even found a use for this! The flowers, leaves, roots, sap, seed, and stems are all poisonous. 

About White Snakeroot

White Snakeroot, Eupatorium rugosum is very common throughout the eastern hedgerows, brush thickets and woodlands including Connecticut where it can be found growing as tall as five feet high. This herb is native to the woodlands in the Eastern United States. The plants grow upright producing single or multi-stemmed clumps in mid. to late summer and fall. The white flowers are fluffy and made of many tiny disks and the leaves are tooth and grow opposite the flowers on purple stems. After blooming, small seeds with fluffy white tails are released and blow in the wind. The White Snakeroot contains the toxin tremetol; when the plants are consumed by cattle the meat and milk become toxic and if eaten in large enough quantities it can poison humans. The poison was called milk sickness because of the presence of the ingested toxin in the milk of cows that had eaten this herb. In addition to cattle and humans, this plant is also poisonous to horses, goats, and sheep.

Medicinal Uses

Native Americans that made poultices with white snakeroot understood its toxic properties. The poultice was used to treat snakebite. The roots were also used as a snake deterrent and were worn as a charm against poisonous snakes. A strong decoction of this toxic herb was used to treat snake bit as an antidote to the poison. A tea was made from the roots to treat diarrhea, kidney stones, and fever.

Did You Know...

During the 19th century before European Americans understood the toxin many died of milk sickness in the midwest and south. It is thought that Nancy Hanks Lincoln, mother of Abraham Lincoln died in 1818 from milk sickness.

Dr, Anna Pierce Hobbs Bixby is credited with identifying the plant in the 1830s. It is believed that she was taught about the properties of this plant by a Shawnee woman, whose name, unfortunately, is lost to history.

The plant is susceptible to leaf miners and flea beetles that attack the foliage.

Flowers are attractive to butterflies and other pollinators including leaf-cutting bees. Songbirds eat the seeds.

Poison symptoms include weakness, nausea, abdominal pain, vomiting, delirium, cardiac damage, prostration and, eventually coma.