By Janet Sellers
From our winter outdoor scenes of berries, pine cones, and acorns to indoor blooming plant friends, nature shares her healing creations with us all season. Our abundant pine and fir trees generously share their much-needed green, and with snow and pinecones on the branches, give us our dreamy views all winter, and crabapple trees offer tiny red apples. But indoor flowers are mood-magical in winter, too.
Pet and kid-friendly indoor flowers
Some safe flowers that bloom in December include the usual favorites. Our local stores sell Christmas cactus, butterfly orchids (phalaenopsis), and more during the holiday season. Some other favorites are African violet, goldfish plant, ixora coccinea (Flame of the Woods) lipstick plant, shamrock, Indian mallow, and poinsettias.
Dangerous beauties
For cats, even a small amount of pollen, a single leaf, or vase water can be fatal. It’s really important to check out the safe plants when we have kids and pets around. The beautiful but deadly group: amaryllis, anthurium, cyclamen, calla lily, Kalanchoe, narcissus, and primrose. Almost all other bulb plants and all true lilies are favorites, too, but their pollen and the plants are deadly if our pets brush up against or ingest any of it.
Above: Poinsettias (left), butterfly orchids, and Christmas cacti (right) are among the favorites for safe flowering plants used for holiday decor around kids and pets. These colorful beauties also last many weeks, often many months, and as tropical perennials, they provide eye-catching interest year after year with proper care. Photos by Janet Sellers.
Acorn bread worldwide
Wiiwish, also known as shawii, acorn mush, was one of the main food staples of the indigenous peoples of California. Acorn bread is a global historical food that has been made for centuries, used before the introduction of grains, and as a famine food in Europe or as a staple in Native American diets. Acorns were a fallback food during times of scarcity, such as wars or bad harvests. Ancient writers like Pliny the Elder documented its use in making bread. The Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) had a long tradition of using acorns, as did the ancient Greeks, Japanese, and Koreans. In parts of Italy and other regions, acorn bread was a traditional food that is now rare but remembered in local folklore.
Holiday acorn bread
Variations of traditional acorn bread recipes incorporate seasonal ingredients (like spices) or are baked during the fall and winter holidays when acorns are in season. Acorn bread is a nutritious, nutty bread, traditionally a staple food for many cultures since ancient times. As a kid, I read about acorn foods in our fourth-grade Native American studies. I tried to make that bread with ground acorns. They tasted terrible. I didn’t know the acorn secret (and I didn’t end up eating any of that, either). Recently, I found many intriguing recipes online with foods from acorns. Note to self: Collect acorns earlier in the year for making acorn bread, a healthy, tasty, and hearty (albeit odd) bread during the holiday season.
The correct preparation involves grinding acorns into flour after removing the bitter tannins through a water soak/leaching process of the shelled acorns, then they’re dried and ground. Some cooks mix this with other flours for bread or porridge. This practice dates back to antiquity, with examples of its use by ancient Greeks, Japanese, and indigenous peoples in various parts of the world.
Janet Sellers is an avid “lazy gardener,” letting Mother Nature lead the way for easy gardening in the Tri-Lakes high-altitude nature and gardening climate. Send tips to JanetSellers@ocn.me.
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