Moss Tales

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Posted by @Sharon on
Moss, that green slipcover on rocks and sides of trees and old shoes left outside too long; it's moss that lets us know all's well in our environment.

I'd been up long before sunrise that morning, anxious to climb the mountain with Aunt Bett.  It was to be another of our gatherin' days.  I think she knew where every clump of medicinal plants grew on the mountainside and on gatherin' days, we'd collect as many as daylight and weather allowed.  Sometimes it was roots we collected, sometimes leaves and sometimes flowers or berries; whatever she thought she might need, we gathered. Gathering days could often last from sunup till sundown. 2013-01-23/Sharon/a53b36

I might have been seven or eight, old enough, Aunt Bett said, to know about plants.  Climbing mountains took a lot of energy, even for one who was filled with it; learning about plants took a lot of effort.  By the time we got to the top of the mountain on that gatherin' day, I was tired and likely more trouble than Aunt Bett wanted to deal with.

"See that green bed right over yonder," she said, "lay yourself down in that soft moss.  It'll give your body a rest just like it does for the animals, them that lays theirselves down there at night."

Sure enough, I laid myself down in that soft green bed and listened to the music of her voice as she told me about moss.

"This here moss is old," she said, "older than any other livin' thing in the whole wide world.  I've been told that this earth was all covered in water durin' the Great Flood, long afore your time, honeychile, and when the water started goin' down, moss was the first bit of green the world ever saw.  Nothin' else would grow on the high rocks that showed first, 'cept the moss.  An' nothin' would grow on the bare damp ground, 'cept the moss.  Then the people come and the moss gave them a bed.  Then the animals come and the moss gave them a bed, too.  So you just rest on the moss, chile, you won't be the first an' you won't be the last, you just rest on the moss."

And so I did, while she gathered leaves and flowers of meadowsweet, a plant that was hard to find in the mountains, but one that gave her a cure for headaches and arthritis.

I don't remember that I napped that day, but I rested as her soft low voice told me what she'd learned about moss.  Maybe she told me about meadowsweet too, but it was her tales of moss that I most remember. 2013-01-22/Sharon/1617eb

Bad Branch is located in Letcher County, KY, the county where I grew up.  Aunt Bett said there were hundreds of different mosses that grew at Bad Branch Falls, but it was too far for us to walk, maybe about 8 miles as the crow flies.  But someday, she said, she'd take me there. Bad Branch Falls has since become Bad Branch Nature Preserve, 2,639 acres of nature's beauty and where many mosses are left to grow naturally as they have done for thousands of years.

True mosses are Byophytes, growing in places where nothing else grows. Roof tops, rocks, concrete, old leather shoes and wooden doors can provide homes for them.  Moss has no roots, no stems, flowers, or fruit and instead of seeds, moss has spores. It can spread far and wide, but it holds no claim to height. It has to live where there's moisture but that's about all it needs except access to a few nutrients that will fall from the air in raindrops, and occasional sunlight. Like other green plants, mosses make their own food from sunlight, too.  Green chlorophyll in the cells captures sunlight so it can be converted into sugar.

Mosses have many ways of reproducing and many ways of traveling; they are great swimmers.  You'll find mosses of one kind or another just about anywhere, from the Arctic Circle to the rain forests near the equator.  You can hardly ever kill moss. It becomes dormant in the dry heat of summer, but as soon as the rains come, it springs right back to life.

I must have asked a million questions that day while I was resting, and I still remember most of her answers.  I just have to stroll through my winter yard and see the moss growing in clumps all around my feet and in front of my eyes, then I can hear the melody of her voice telling me the secrets of moss.2013-01-22/Sharon/f83cd0

"I'd be gatherin' us some moss, but we've got it growin' all around our holler, so no need to disturb this here on the mountain. See, this here moss, it holds the mountain together, covering rocks and soil.  If you pulled the moss away, the soil would wash away and the mountain could crumble.  And if there warn't no moss, the soil would be dry and dusty and blow away in the wind.  Nothin' would grow. Moss is like a sponge, it holds water that roots of other plants need.  Moss grows on the damp side of trees, and that's usually the north side.  Reckon if you got lost, you could find your way home by looking on the mossy side of things."

She told me that moss has long been useful throughout history.  It was used to soften beds and pillows and was added as insulation to baskets. It's very absorbent and has some antibiotic properties as well. In the battlefields during WWI moss was used as dressings for wounds and as insulation in well worn boots. Some Native American tribes used a form of moss as diapers for their babies and our ancestors used it with mud and clay to fill in holes in their log cabins. 

"Now they let it grow on the outside of th' coal mines in our mountains," she said, "long as the moss grows, there ain't no gas seepin' out of that mine."

Even today, living moss is a good indication of no pollution in the air and the death of moss in an area could indicate acid rain or emissions from factories.  A carpet of moss is also a habitat for other types of plants, as well as insects and worms, frogs and toads.

Old timers used moss as a tea; it is a carbohydrate and has antibacterial properties.  They also made a light green dye by boiling it in water.  Different kinds of moss are used today for different things; oak moss is used in perfumes and lotions. We use sphagnum in floral decor and peat is used as fuel and as a soil additive.

Today some landscapers, influenced by the serenity of Japanese moss gardens, are allowing it to grow as a ground cover in moist areas.  I understand there are many moss gardens in the Pacific Northwest.  In addition to its beauty, it also helps restore nutrients in soils. If you are interested in having moss in your garden, then search for moss that is growing in similar conditions as your own. With a knife or a hand spade, dig moss pieces that are about the size of your open hand. Take all the soil that comes with it, but remember moss has no roots, so you don't need to dig very deep.  You can easily smooth over the hole where you dug the moss and surrounding moss will soon fill it in.  When planting, clear a small spot in the soil of an area that is similar to where it came from, then just lay the new moss in the cleared area and pat it down gently.  It will need to be watered until it becomes established.2013-01-23/Sharon/ef36d1

If you'd like to increase your chances of growing moss, then follow these simple directions:

Crumble a clump of moss in your blender then mix it with 2 cups of buttermilk and 2 cups of water. Blend it on low speed until it is the consistency of a thin milkshake. Pour it on the ground, paint it on a bench, on stones, pots or anywhere you want moss to grow.  Just remember it needs a bit of sunlight and a lot of moisture.  If it doesn't rain, then lightly spray the area with water every day.  After a couple of weeks, you should see a thin cover of green appearing on the surfaces you painted with your buttermilk mix.

Moss is beautiful in rock garden designs, in water gardens, ponds, or with ferns, or simply in that shady spot where grass won't grow. Growing moss is a low-maintenance alternative to grass lawns and shade gardens. Roofs, quiet spots for meditation, walkways, all are good spots for moss.

On the other hand, if you want to get rid of moss, then decrease the moisture and increase direct sunlight. You can also plant grass seed, a lot of it, or increase the amount of traffic the area gets.

~*~

I had no blender back in those days but as soon as we got down from the mountain, Aunt Bett gave me some buttermilk and water in a little wire handled bucket and I gathered moss from beside the creek in her back yard. She had an old egg beater that had seen better days and I whipped that mossy buttermilk mixture into a frothy mess. I must have painted every single rock between her house and mine as I walked up the holler on my way home.  I also painted her old rocking chair that sat on her front porch. I don't remember if the moss 'took' or not, but seems like I remember faint traces of green on that rocker.  I do remember Aunt Bett's words as I left her at the end of that long gatherin' day, bucket and old paintbrush in hand:  "Ain't no moss gonna grow on you, chile, you ain't still long enough for no moss to grow."

 
Comments and Discussion
Thread Title Last Reply Replies
Moss by vic Aug 17, 2021 5:22 PM 53
Fascinating! by Natalie Mar 4, 2016 11:18 PM 5

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