Folkways
Story and photograph by
Maya Brown Zniewski
CHIHUAHUA PINE,
NATURE’S EMERGENCY KIT
C
ommonly known as the
Chihuahua pine, the Pinus
leiophylla grows abundantly
throughout the Chihuahuan Desert.
It is one of only three pine species to
have developed an adaptation which
allows it to regrow if it has been
burned by a range fire. Chihuahua
pine grows in stands either as the
lone species or in a mix with other
trees.
As spring returns, my friends the
trees begin to bring forth sap. With a
little time and the willingness to get
your hands a bit sticky, you can col-
lect this sap or resin from the trees
without tapping—drilling a hole in
the tree—and create some wonder-
ful concoctions for help in emer-
gency situations. The trees of West
Texas provide innumerable benefits
in the desert: shade, food, and resin
are three of them. I am going to talk
about that last bit, resin.
Resin is the sap of the tree, like
the blood. If you have touched an
acacia, juniper, pine or any other
tree, you’ve probably had sap or
resin on you. For future reference,
Everclear or isopropyl (rubbing)
alcohol removes it. For several rea-
sons I highly suggest, in fact I request
that you collect the sap or resin from
fallen branches of the trees and not
harm the trees in an effort to test, for
instance, the fire-holding ability of
pine resin. I am focusing on pine
trees, sap, and resin here, but gener-
ally the resin of any tree can be used
in the same way. Check with a good
outdoor guide before consuming
parts of any tree.
If you take walks in the woods or
deserts, or as I do, along the river,
sometimes your boots do not fit as
well toward the end of your journey
as they did in the beginning and blis-
ters develop. If you find a kind pine
tree, you will see the
pine sap or resin form-
ing to cover a wound
the tree has. The resin
protects the tree from
invading insects and
other damage. If you
remove
a
small
amount of resin, but
not all of it, from the
tree wound, you can
protect yourself and
allow the tree to con-
tinue to protect itself.
Resin can be used in
a number of ways,
including as a bandage
over cuts or blisters. I highly recom-
mend using the softer resin for this
application, for obvious reasons.
Imagine covering that horrid blister
with a layer of pine resin and having
it on the way to being healed by the
time you get home. Pine resin is also
used to cover and clean cuts, even
bad cuts. Do the best you can to
clean your wound, dry it and place
softer resin over the area. Resin will
treat you like it treats the trees, keep-
ing bacteria out and acting as a super
glue to bind your skin back together.
When the resin has hardened or
dried you can peel it off and see the
stitching of your skin back together.
You may need to replace the used
resin with fresh and allow it to hard-
en again.
Like all pines, the sap and the
resin from the tree is very flamma-
ble. The resin also provides an
almost rain- or snow-proof fire mate-
rial. Find the smaller sticks that have
fallen from the tree, split them and
you will see and smell the resin in
them. Use them as fire starters.
Resin burns very easily and is not
easily extinguished. For example,
turpentine is made from tree resin,
and think of how volatile that is.
Resin from pine trees is very edi-
ble, and while not like the chewing
gum of youth, not a bad flavor
either. Birch tree resin is used in root
beer, for instance. The softer resins
can be chewed as a chewing gum
and help to create moisture in your
mouth and cleanse your teeth. It
really doesn’t taste bad; sort of
nature-tasting and, well, tree-like.
The taste will vary according to the
species of tree, some more pine-like
than others. Feel free to taste test
which resin you like the best. Chew
carefully; it is very sticky can pull out
fillings. Just an FYI for those of us
not blessed with perfect teeth.
Pine resin is also used traditional-
ly as a cough drop or resin tea. The
resin does not dissolve well in water,
so making a resin tea is more compli-
cated than one would want to do in
an emergency situation, so I will skip
the details. For a cough drop just
suck on a small piece.
If you have ever had a hole in
your tent you know what a huge
downer that can be. Tree resin
when heated returns to its liquid
state, and you can easily add one
Cenizo
part resin or sap, one part hardwood
or other charcoal gathered from
your campfire and powdered, and
one part ground plants, animal scat,
sawdust or animal hair for strength.
If you want your glue to remain sup-
ple then add one part fat or oil to the
mix. Try to keep your resin from
starting aflame by heating at a low
temperature. If it does catch on fire,
smother the flames right away. Then
move your resin container to a cool-
er area of your fire. When you have
mixed your glue, apply it to the area
you wish to waterproof with a stick
or you will be covered in glue.
Honestly, you will probably be cov-
ered in glue after this anyway, think
of it as a protective layer. You can
also use this to glue broken items,
from a cup to a tent pole. You may
wish to strengthen your glued joint
by wrapping it in cloth or string and
painting the glue on the wrap.
Enjoy your time adventuring and
do not worry about getting a blister
or hole in your boot, a tear in your
tent or a sore throat. All these things
and more can be healed with pine
resin!
Second Quarter 2016
15