Wood’s Rose ~ the most beautiful sight in my early fall garden. This is the wild native rose from the Mississippi to the Pacific, from Mexico into Alaska. The hips are the best source of vitamin C in native fruit. They will turn deep red when ripe. I’m going to eat this one right off the bush and save the seeds. I treat the seeds just as nature does: a wild turkey or other upland bird will eat the hip. The seeds go through the digestion process but their rock-hard shells save them. The acid bath and the grinding of the food inside the bird scar the shell. The seeds pass through and lie on the ground through freezing winter days. The freezing develops tiny cracks in the seed shell. The flood of melting snow and spring rain swell the seed. Some seeds will sprout… very few. I will give these seeds their acid bath, then a gentle grind with a mortar and pestle, a second acid bath, and grind, and leave them to the coming cold. Only one of 8 seeds sprouted this year.
I have made rosehip jams, syrup, dried them to add to tea and of course eaten them ripe in the garden ~ a soft, rose-petal, honey-like flavor. If you are out hiking or hunting in the back country, watch for them. What an amazing refreshment on the trail…
The Refuge Permaculture Center 