A Tale of Bergamot and Clay
 
Two seemingly unrelated topics, I know. I happened to be sorting through some old pictures and found two that grabbed my attention, and I’ve chosen to write my column around them.

First, the Bergamot. It’s one of my favorite wildflowers, and it happens to grow abundantly around here in the remnant prairies, road ditches, CRP land, and woods edges. Its Latin name, given by the famous taxonomist Carolus Linnaeus, is Monarda Fistulosa. It is a member of the mint family, and is found in most of the grassy areas of central North America.

Bergamot typically has lavender and purple blossoms, which should be showing up in a couple of weeks. The picture you see here is what it looks like right now, and is what you should keep an eye on until it blooms. 

This plant is renowned for its essential oil, which among other things is used to flavor Earl Grey tea. Its medicinal uses range from bronchial issues and colds, to digestive ailments, nausea, and yes, flatulence. Its odor is pleasant and distinct, and if you are familiar with it you can smell bergamot from 50 feet away.

A common name around here for Bergamot is Bee Balm, which is obvious when you see the bumblebees buzzing around it this summer. Bergamot is an excelled landscaping perennial, and horticultural varieties have been developed with different shades of red and purple in their blooms.

Next, the clay. The picture you see here is of a massive clay cliff near the Ney Nature Center. This particular clay was deposited when the Lake Superior lobe of the most recent glaciations receded. This glacial lobe was named Lake Superior because it grew south from that area, and picked up lots of interesting rocks on its way.

In Lake Superior glacial till, one can find greenstone, basalt, Duluth gabbro, various types of iron-bearing rocks (including Jasper and hematite), granites, gneisses, limestones, and of course, Lake Superior Agates. I’m sure there are many more types of rocks and minerals to be found here, but I’m no geologist. I’m pretty sure, though, that this glacial lobe is responsible for dumping a load of copper nuggets near East Henderson which fooled prospectors for many years into believing there to be a vein nearby. The only bedrock around here is limestone and sandstone, though, which are valuable in other ways.

I recently did some mud daubing in an historic log home in Henderson as a part of my job. Mud daubing, you ask? It’s the stuff that was put in homesteader log homes to seal the gaps between the logs. When it came to finding historic materials for this, I turned to this particular clay. It isn’t really “mud” they used, because the organic matter in topsoil would have quickly decayed. Rather, they mixed clay, water, and animal hair together and squeezed it into any gaps and cracks they could find.

Not surprisingly, the MN river valley clay that came from up north via a mile-thick sheet of ice, dried hard as a rock and adhered perfectly to the logs (helped along with hair from our Angora goats). Amazing stuff and I can see why this is such a useful material, from Native American pottery to log home daubing and brick making. Next time you’re out in the woods near a stream or river, take some clay, wet it down, and see what you can do!

Well, that’s all for now, keep an eye out for bergamot and clay on your next hike.  Be on the lookout for black raspberries as well, ripened by our recent rain and heat. They go quite well with ice cream on a humid, 90-degree day!