"Now I see the secret of the making of the best persons. It is to grow in the open air and to eat and sleep with the earth."
- Walt Whitman from "Song of the Open Road"
Ahh, the first day of spring! Let me sleep in the open air or at least with the good earth somewhere beneath me.
Speaking of which, it’s time to freshen up our mattresses, the cleavers are up. Also known as goosegrass, stickywilly, catchweed or simply bedstraw, this gangly, long stemmed climbing plant sprawls over the ground and whatever else happens to get in their way. Both the leaves and stems have fine hairs tipped with tiny hooks, making them cling to clothes and fur much like Velcro.
Our mountaineer ancestors gathered cleavers to re-stuff their mattresses in the spring. Because of the hooky hairs, the lumps of cleavers clump together and retain their plumpish mattress shape.
They also brought a much needed freshness to the cabin.
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1 comment:
I love history and this was a neat lesson in our past! I bet it smells fresh too!
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