Wintergreen

Dear Lilliputian ,

 What I have been seeing in the woods lately , are quite a few of the Wintergreen berries . When I was a little girl my mother took us on a walk in the woods . I still remember her bending down and picking a leaf off of this little shrub and crumbling it in her hand . She put it up to her nose and smelled it and then passed it around to us so we could smell it . It smelled soooo nice , sort of like gum .

My mother called this plant Checkerberry , but today I more often hear it called Wintergreen .

Can you guess why it is called Wintergreen ? Yes , you are right ... it is because it stays green all winter long . 

Today is Patriots Day and you probably don't have to go to school. The reason we have a holiday that is called Patriots Day is because over 200 years ago a war began right here in Massachusetts . During a time of war it can be hard to get certain things . In Massachusetts it was very , very hard to get tea . So they decided to make their own tea from the leaves of the Wintergreen plant that grew so plentifully in the woods , and that is why the people of Massachusetts were still able to have a nice cup of warm tea on cold Wintry nights during the war .

I know one secret about Wintergreen Berries that not many people know ... Would you like to know what that secret is ? If you look at the photo down below you will see what the bottom of a ripe Wintergreen berry looks like . Do you see that it has a star shape ?  Most people don't look that close at the little berry so they never see that it has a little patriotic star on it .

A book you may enjoy that is about a Patriot is  The Secret Soldier : The Story of Deborah Sampson

by Ann McGovern .

I am related to Deborah Sampson .

Until next time , 

Wildbee