While we were driving on some rural roads in South Georgia last week, thickets of blooming, white-flowered elderberry shrubs seemed to be growing everywhere along the roadsides.
When I see such scenes, I am reminded of my boyhood on Johns Island, South Carolina, and the time when elderberry was a source of rare friction between my parents. Actually, it was not the elderberry bush itself, but the sweet wine made from its purplish-black berries that caused my parents’ disagreement.
In late summer, the small berries ripen along roadsides, ditches, fields and other sunny, moist sites throughout the Southeast. When I was growing up, many island folks gathered bucket loads of the wild, sweet berries to make jellies, sauces — and homemade wine.
The folks said that the elderberry thickets in the hedgerows and ditches of our farm produced some of the best berries (perhaps because of the rich soil) for making wine. Daddy let the folks gather all the berries they wanted from our land.
In return, they gave him a few jars of their potent drink for his enjoyment. He loved a glass of the homemade stuff in the evening. He said it relaxed him and helped him sleep better and was good for his heart.
But my mother, being a strict teetotaler Baptist, frowned upon elderberry wine and would let Daddy know of her disapproval. Even so, Daddy continued his nightly sips. His supply, though, lasted only through about Thanksgiving, and then there was no more until the next season — and peace reigned once again in our home.
Mama, though, loved the beauty of elderberry flowers and often remarked how pretty they were along the roads and in the fields. She sometimes made jelly from the berries. She knew, too, that some island folks used the berries for medicinal purposes — for treating colds, the flu and headaches and for making poultices to treat cuts and sores. Elderberries also were good wildlife food.
In later years, Mama relented a tad on her disfavor of elderberry wine. It was when the preacher himself admitted that he had a wee sip of the wine every now and then to relieve constipation.
IN THE SKY: From David Dundee, Tellus Science Museum astronomer: The moon will be new on Thursday. Mars, Jupiter and Mercury are in the east just before sunrise. Saturn rises in the east about three hours before sunrise. Venus can’t be seen easily right now.
Charles Seabrook can be reached at charles.seabrook@yahoo.com.
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