What is the purpose of an Alder? - Valerie Peyton Kingsbury

That is what I have been wondering as I attempt, AGAIN, to cut the many that have overtaken my space. Last year when I came home for Sabbatical I carefully gutted all the alders in the island at the end of the house; the ones crowding in the back of the box car; and the ones that were taking over the driveway.

I thought I had done a wonderful job!

But This Year...

There they are again, and I have to start all over. Granted, they are not as tall as the original ones but, nonetheless, they are in need of trimming.

Perhaps Creator thought that we humans needed something for exercise. If that is the case, then the goal has been accomplished!

Perhaps Creator noted that we would need something to make into roasting sticks for wieners over the fire. If that is the case then we certainly have that, but in my humble opinion we don’t need quite so many.

So I asked Google

I decided to ask google and this is what I found:

Alder is a tree that has various uses, such as:

Wood: Used for furniture, cabinets, boats, sluice gates, water pipes, timber veneers, pulp and plywood.
Food: Indigenous tribes used to scrape inner bark of tree and mix it in recipes, such as cakes and salads.
Dye: Red Alder are cut and boiled to create dyes for clothes.
Medicine: Oil from the tree’s bark is used to treat diarrhea, nausea and muscle aches. Heated Alder leaves help with skin diseases. Alder is also antimicrobial and astringent, and can be used as a poultice for wounds.

WOW! Who would have thought!!!

I guess the lesson for me is that if I allow them to grow, perhaps someday I will have enough to harvest to make furniture or build a boat; I could learn how to use them as a food source or as medicine; or I could harvest them to make dyes for all the clothes I might make.

Not sure what the theological significance is other than everything in creation does have a purpose!

And God declared “It is good”.

Blessings
Valerie