By Donna Traywick
Mt. Olivet News
As I am writing this article on Sunday afternoon to meet my Monday deadline, we have
not had the election. As you are reading this the election is over. I have prayed for a
sensible transition- whoever the winner.
I believe that God is still in control of this land if we will let him be. Remember 2
Chronicles 7:14 “If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray
and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will
forgive their sin and heal their land”.
Well, Halloween is over! I hope the children had some safe fun. Way out here in the
country I don’t have trick or treaters. But Sunday I treated my children’s church to a
treat.
Years ago, when we lived on Traywick Hill little children loved to come see Miss Delle
and Mr. Bob Traywick. You couldn’t go to the store and overload you buggy with candy
and junk. So, Miss Delle cooked all week making candy and cookies. They had as much
fun as the children. At that time Black Jack had a large presence of young people.
Now, all of the Halloween stuff is gone. Christmas (and a little Thanksgiving) decoration
is out. Did the stores stay up all Halloween night putting out Christmas?
Every store has Nutcrackers sitting all around. The Nutcracker is associated mostly with
Christmas in a number of ways, including the ballet “Nutcracker Suite”. The actual
Nutcracker is a device to crack hard shelled nuts. But an impressive writer E.T.A.
Hoffman in 1816 wrote a fantasy land story that happened on Christmas Eve. According
to German Folklore it was given as a keepsake to bring luck to the family and protect
the home. If you decide to give a nutcracker for Christmas, you have plenty in every
store to choose from.
I had a call from a very innovative friend who wanted to bring me some Maypop jelly.
Growing up we thought they were poisonous! My little sister, Mary and I would go out on
the hillside near our house and jump on the egg-shaped green things. It definitely made
a “pop”. Since it popped up out of the ground in May and it has a distinct sound when
jumped on, it is thought that is why the name “May Pop” was coined.

The maypop has a beautiful flower and is extremely fragrant. It is indeed edible. Every
bit of it. They are green and egg shaped before becoming ripe in September and
October. Like all ancient needs for medicine, the fresh and dried whole plant has been
used to treat nervous anxiety and insomnia. In Europe a teaspoon of dried ground plant
is used in a tea. Cook the pulp with sugar and lemon juice to make a delicious Maypop
jam. I think this is what my friend has done.
I guess you would call her an herbalist. She makes use of every part of the Kudzu plant.
Why have we not learned to do something with this plentiful plant.
Ralph Saperstein, senior horticulturalist at Atlanta Botanical garden, says, “the vine that
ate the south should be used. It’s very high in protein. Every bit of it from the root to the
large leaves and flowers is edible. The only thing that is not edible is the seed and seed
pod. My friend has for a long time made Kudzu Jelly. It tastes like grape jelly.
Judith is going to give me some recipes and hopefully I can print them soon. Kudzu has
supposedly been used in traditional medicine for over 2,000 years to treat
cardiovascular disease, alcoholism, fever, the common cold and neck pain.
Just think between maypop and kudzu we would never have to go to a doctor and
plenty of food is right at our fingertips. I really believe that in the future some of this will
be used more effectively and modern medicine will have to admit to the simplicity of
herbs and plants.
Can you just hear the ancient Greek doctor Hippocrates ( the father of medicine) say to
his patient “eat a kudzu leaf and call me in the morning”.
There is an adage that doctors say, “Take an aspirin, and call me in the morning”.
Pray for our nation!
Contact Donna at donnatraywickmusic@gmail.com