Finding wintergreen and other things to do in January

Wintergreen, anyone? I don't mean chewing gum, flavoring or tooth powder. I mean do you know where the shrub grows? Encyclopedias say that it grows in almost all of the Northern Hemisphere. How have I missed it? I know where the yahoo and other lesser known shrubs grow.

What started me out on this query was a random scanning of my bookshelves to see what I hadn't reread lately. My fingers came to rest on an old booklet of suggestions of what to do outdoors for each month of the year.

Since it is an old, yellow-paged booklet, I suspect I've read these "things to do" before but never acted upon them for the month of January. So, rereading, I find that it says to look for wintergreen, and offers the information that it is a low-growing shrub that you might find in snowy patches in the woods. Further it says that with its glossy green leaves and bright red berries it would be easy to see.

I'm not planning any snowy ventures into the woods this winter. Maybe a single trip to out under the big, nearby oak to have a look at the intertwining tracks of the squirrels and rabbits and birds.

Why hasn't some modern artist made a painting of such tracks in black and white? Maybe throw in some cat and dog tracks. Hey, that's something I might do. I have a lot of professional drawings of such tracks and white drawing paper. Put a black frame around it and Voila! a new creative picture for the new year. It might be interesting for the little ones who come to visit me to try to pick out the identifying tracks. Why, I might have it blown up to a big size and hang it over my TV!

But, I stray from wintergreen. I'm going to make an in-depth study of it -- write the Missouri Conservationist to send me all the literature on it (colored pictures; who harvests it; what process is used to get oil out of the berries; where I can get the oil -- pharmacies?). I'll surely buy some wintergreen chewing gum if I can find it and it is the kind that doesn't stick to you know what.

While I'm on a roll, let me mention something else the yellow-paged booklet says under "things to do in January." Start a sweet potato vine it says. In January? Here are the directions:

"Take an ordinary fruit jar. Tie a cord around the neck, and to the cord attach a dozen or more strings. Fasten the other ends to tacks driven at intervals around a basement window casing. Fill the jar partly full of water. Put a large sweet potato in it. In a week or so the sprouts will begin to creep along the strings, and presently there will be a beautiful green vine framing the window."

Are you challenged? Not me. If I come by a large sweet potato, and that isn't hard to do, I'm going to stick that spud in the oven, bake it until it feels all squishy inside, split it open, apply lots of butter and brown sugar, a dash of cinnamon, sit down and eat that gourmet tater. That's my idea of something to do indoors in January.

REJOICE!

Jean Bell Mosley is an author and longtime resident of Cape Girardeau.