Tailer's Family - journeying!
Project - Ulm, Baden-Württemberg, Germany
No. 1 - 4: Travelling to Ulm in Baden-Württemberg, by train from Stuttgart, via Esslingen (Neckar).
Dotted around in that far field are Juniper (Juniperus communis) trees.
The Juniper
- is one of the most successful unsuccessful plants in the world. This conifer, which belongs to the Cypress family, has over 50 species found in every continent save Antarctica. There are 15 species in the United States alone, naturally occurring in every state except Hawaii.
The common juniper is usually a low-spreading shrub, with small prickly needles set in whorls of three. “Common” is a fitting name: this juniper has the largest range of any woody plant in the world. The shrub’s range circumscribes the northern hemisphere, stretching from Alaska east to Japan.
The Rocky Mountain variety is among the tallest junipers, and also among the highest. As the name implies, this tree is found at elevation of 5,000 to 7,500 feet along the Rocky Mountain range in the US and Canada.
Tough Times
- rom the scraggly trees in the foothills to the perfectly shaped shrub found on manicured lawns, junipers are everywhere. So what about the unsuccessful part? For starters, it takes 14-18 months for juniper seeds to mature, and even then only one in a hundred will germinate.
In the first 20 years of its life, the average juniper will grow to be a full five feet tall. During its entire life span, the hearty rocky mountain juniper may stretch to 25 feet, but even a height of 15 feet is rare. Partially because of their slow rate of growth, junipers are highly susceptible to fire, which will kill all but the thickest of these trees. Seeds rarely survive, and junipers must usually be reintroduced to a scorched area by animals.
Suite 101.com
The Juniper Tree is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm.
It is tale number 47 and Aarne-Thompson type 720: "my mother slew me, my father ate me". Another such tale is the English The Rose-Tree, although it reverses the sexes from The Juniper Tree; The Juniper Tree follows the more common pattern of having the dead child be the boy.
A woman wishes for a child as red as blood and as white as snow. She knows she is about to die, so she requests that she be buried under a juniper tree that they have outside. She gives birth to a boy, and dies a few days later. Her husband grieves, and gets married again. His second wife gives birth to a daughter, Melinda, but hates the son because he would be the one to inherit all the family's money, and she wishes it to be her daughter. One day, she offers the boy an apple that is inside a chest. As he reaches in to get it, she slams its heavy lid on him, knocking his head off. She then takes a bandage and ties his head back to his body, and tells Melinda to ask him for the apple, and if he doesn't give it, to give him a good box on the ear. Melinda kindly asks for the apple, and then boxes him on the ear, resulting in the boy's head falling off. Melinda goes to her mother and tells her in sobs that she killed her brother. Her mother reassures Melinda and turns the boy's body into black puddings.
The father eats the puddings, but Melinda takes up the bones and buries them beneath a juniper tree. A beautiful bird flies out of the tree. It goes and sings a song to a goldsmith, who gives it a golden chain, to a shoemaker, who gives it a pair of red shoes, and to millers, who give it a millstone. It then flies back home and sings its song. The father goes out to see what is singing such a beautiful song and the golden chain falls about his neck. Then he says to everyone that a beautiful bird gave him a chain. It sings again, Melinda goes out to see if this is true, and the red shoes fall to her. She comes in giggling happily and tells everyone how happy she is with what the bird gave her. All this time the stepmother is complaining of heat, claiming she has a horrid fire burning in her veins. It sings a third time, the stepmother goes out, and the bird drops the millstone on her, crushing her, and killing her. The father and Melinda go out to see what caused the loud crash, but find nothing but a swirl of smoke and a stone. The brother is standing there, looking happy, and they go inside for dinner.
Commentary
Many folklorists interpret evil stepmothers as stemming from actual competition between a woman and her stepchildren for resources. In this tale, the motive is made explicit: the stepmother wants her daughter to inherit everything.
The millstone in the story would have had Biblical connotations for the readers of the Grimms' days, especially as the verse Luke 17:2 says that anyone who causes a child to sin would be better off being thrown into the sea with a millstone about his neck; both refer to a millstone as a punishment for those who harm the young and innocent.
In his essay "On Fairy-Stories", J.R.R. Tolkien cited The Juniper Tree as an example of the evils of censorship for children; many versions in his day omitted the stew, and Tolkien thought children should not be spared it, unless they were spared the whole fairy tale.
Wikipedia
The Juniper shrub (Arkenthos of the ancients),
- which is widely distributed about the world, grows not uncommonly in England as a stiff evergreen conifer on healthy ground, and bears bluish purple berries. These have a sweet, juicy, and, presently, bitter, brown pulp, containing three seeds, and they do not ripen until the second year. The flowers blossom in May and June. Probably the shrub gets its name from the Celtic jeneprus, "rude or rough." Gerard notes that "it grows most commonly very low, like unto our ground furzes." Gum Sandarach, or Pounce, is the product of this tree.
Medicinally, the berries and the fragrant tops are employed. They contain "juniperin," sugar, resins, wax, fat, formic and acetic acids, and malates. The fresh tops have a balsamic odour, and a carminative, bitter-sweet taste. The berries afford a yellow aromatic oil, which acts on the kidneys, and gives cordial warmth.
to the stomach. Forty berries should yield an ounce of the oil. Steeped in alcohol the berries make a capital ratafia; they are used in several confections, as well as for flavouring gin, being put into a spirit more common than the true geneva of Holland. The French obtain from these berries the Geni?e (Anglice "geneva"), from which we have taken our English word "gin." In France, Savoy, and Italy, the berries are largely collected, and are sometimes eaten as such, fifteen or twenty at a time, to stimulate the kidneys; or they are taken in powder for the same purpose. Being fragrant of smell, they have a warm, sweet, pungent flavour, which becomes bitter on further mastication.
Herbal Gardens
To see Large: farm5.static.flickr.com/4065/4493798502_a499bb344f_b.jpg
Taken on October 17, 2007 at 10:51
Project - Ulm, Baden-Württemberg, Germany
No. 1 - 4: Travelling to Ulm in Baden-Württemberg, by train from Stuttgart, via Esslingen (Neckar).
Dotted around in that far field are Juniper (Juniperus communis) trees.
The Juniper
- is one of the most successful unsuccessful plants in the world. This conifer, which belongs to the Cypress family, has over 50 species found in every continent save Antarctica. There are 15 species in the United States alone, naturally occurring in every state except Hawaii.
The common juniper is usually a low-spreading shrub, with small prickly needles set in whorls of three. “Common” is a fitting name: this juniper has the largest range of any woody plant in the world. The shrub’s range circumscribes the northern hemisphere, stretching from Alaska east to Japan.
The Rocky Mountain variety is among the tallest junipers, and also among the highest. As the name implies, this tree is found at elevation of 5,000 to 7,500 feet along the Rocky Mountain range in the US and Canada.
Tough Times
- rom the scraggly trees in the foothills to the perfectly shaped shrub found on manicured lawns, junipers are everywhere. So what about the unsuccessful part? For starters, it takes 14-18 months for juniper seeds to mature, and even then only one in a hundred will germinate.
In the first 20 years of its life, the average juniper will grow to be a full five feet tall. During its entire life span, the hearty rocky mountain juniper may stretch to 25 feet, but even a height of 15 feet is rare. Partially because of their slow rate of growth, junipers are highly susceptible to fire, which will kill all but the thickest of these trees. Seeds rarely survive, and junipers must usually be reintroduced to a scorched area by animals.
Suite 101.com
The Juniper Tree is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm.
It is tale number 47 and Aarne-Thompson type 720: "my mother slew me, my father ate me". Another such tale is the English The Rose-Tree, although it reverses the sexes from The Juniper Tree; The Juniper Tree follows the more common pattern of having the dead child be the boy.
A woman wishes for a child as red as blood and as white as snow. She knows she is about to die, so she requests that she be buried under a juniper tree that they have outside. She gives birth to a boy, and dies a few days later. Her husband grieves, and gets married again. His second wife gives birth to a daughter, Melinda, but hates the son because he would be the one to inherit all the family's money, and she wishes it to be her daughter. One day, she offers the boy an apple that is inside a chest. As he reaches in to get it, she slams its heavy lid on him, knocking his head off. She then takes a bandage and ties his head back to his body, and tells Melinda to ask him for the apple, and if he doesn't give it, to give him a good box on the ear. Melinda kindly asks for the apple, and then boxes him on the ear, resulting in the boy's head falling off. Melinda goes to her mother and tells her in sobs that she killed her brother. Her mother reassures Melinda and turns the boy's body into black puddings.
The father eats the puddings, but Melinda takes up the bones and buries them beneath a juniper tree. A beautiful bird flies out of the tree. It goes and sings a song to a goldsmith, who gives it a golden chain, to a shoemaker, who gives it a pair of red shoes, and to millers, who give it a millstone. It then flies back home and sings its song. The father goes out to see what is singing such a beautiful song and the golden chain falls about his neck. Then he says to everyone that a beautiful bird gave him a chain. It sings again, Melinda goes out to see if this is true, and the red shoes fall to her. She comes in giggling happily and tells everyone how happy she is with what the bird gave her. All this time the stepmother is complaining of heat, claiming she has a horrid fire burning in her veins. It sings a third time, the stepmother goes out, and the bird drops the millstone on her, crushing her, and killing her. The father and Melinda go out to see what caused the loud crash, but find nothing but a swirl of smoke and a stone. The brother is standing there, looking happy, and they go inside for dinner.
Commentary
Many folklorists interpret evil stepmothers as stemming from actual competition between a woman and her stepchildren for resources. In this tale, the motive is made explicit: the stepmother wants her daughter to inherit everything.
The millstone in the story would have had Biblical connotations for the readers of the Grimms' days, especially as the verse Luke 17:2 says that anyone who causes a child to sin would be better off being thrown into the sea with a millstone about his neck; both refer to a millstone as a punishment for those who harm the young and innocent.
In his essay "On Fairy-Stories", J.R.R. Tolkien cited The Juniper Tree as an example of the evils of censorship for children; many versions in his day omitted the stew, and Tolkien thought children should not be spared it, unless they were spared the whole fairy tale.
Wikipedia
The Juniper shrub (Arkenthos of the ancients),
- which is widely distributed about the world, grows not uncommonly in England as a stiff evergreen conifer on healthy ground, and bears bluish purple berries. These have a sweet, juicy, and, presently, bitter, brown pulp, containing three seeds, and they do not ripen until the second year. The flowers blossom in May and June. Probably the shrub gets its name from the Celtic jeneprus, "rude or rough." Gerard notes that "it grows most commonly very low, like unto our ground furzes." Gum Sandarach, or Pounce, is the product of this tree.
Medicinally, the berries and the fragrant tops are employed. They contain "juniperin," sugar, resins, wax, fat, formic and acetic acids, and malates. The fresh tops have a balsamic odour, and a carminative, bitter-sweet taste. The berries afford a yellow aromatic oil, which acts on the kidneys, and gives cordial warmth.
to the stomach. Forty berries should yield an ounce of the oil. Steeped in alcohol the berries make a capital ratafia; they are used in several confections, as well as for flavouring gin, being put into a spirit more common than the true geneva of Holland. The French obtain from these berries the Geni?e (Anglice "geneva"), from which we have taken our English word "gin." In France, Savoy, and Italy, the berries are largely collected, and are sometimes eaten as such, fifteen or twenty at a time, to stimulate the kidneys; or they are taken in powder for the same purpose. Being fragrant of smell, they have a warm, sweet, pungent flavour, which becomes bitter on further mastication.
Herbal Gardens
To see Large: farm5.static.flickr.com/4065/4493798502_a499bb344f_b.jpg
Taken on October 17, 2007 at 10:51