It's fall. The days are shorter, the nights are cooler, everything is going to sleep. There's nothing to harvest for a while til the rabbits start kindling for the season. It's rest time.
Enter sumac, the small tree usually known for the seasoning from its seeds that's popular in Mediterranean dishes.
A small handful of leaves is plenty for a season: it works at low dosages and doesn't last long.
While I do love the citrus flavor and immune boost from the high vitamin C content of sumac seasoning and sumac tea, my favorite way to work with this plant is smoking the dried red leaves before they fall to the ground in autumn. My insatiable curiosity drives my desire to smoke the leaves of sumac as an aid in vivid dreaming. You've heard of alcohol being a social lubricant, I suppose you could call sumac a dream lubricant. I love dreaming, in no small part because of the quality of sleep that's required to actually do it. When I'm able to participate in and remember my dreams, I'm just plain tickled. One day, after some prayer and learning, I might do some self exploration with dreams. For now though, I'll be happy with recording my dreams and enjoying the rest. I can use the dreams later if my path leads by that way. They're not a heavy package to carry.
To prepare sumac for this purpose, I simply pick the reddest, healthiest looking leaves in the late summer and early autumn, then set them on the counter on a paper towel to dry. I could dehydrate them, but I'm not sure if the heat would decrease the effectiveness. I'm not in a hurry, it's fall, so I can bear to wait the few days for a proper slow process. Slow food and little pharma, right? No rush.
Sumac is a small tree that usually grows in the edge zone between woods and meadows. My favorite patch by the woods where I sometimes work is in the Southeast corner of the clearing. Ours here doesn't get much taller than the average person, it's usually about shoulder height on me. The seed pods are a bright red, and the trunks remind me of elder trees. In the summer, they start turning a bright red. Exercise caution, as there is a poison sumac that grows in some areas. If smoked or eaten, it can kill you. The easiest way to tell is by patient observation of the seeds. Friendly sumac has red berries, poison sumac has green/white berries. Look up pictures for yourself to help it stick. If you've got a foraging group nearby, hook up with them to help with identification, they'll be delighted to help you on your way.
Last year, I smoked the sumac both by itself and mixed 20-30% with mullein. It has a pleasant sweet flavor, and a moist, thick texture like good leather. It doesn't taste like leather, it feels like leather. I liked that it took away some harshness from the mullein. This year I'm going to try it with datura. Native Americans smoked sumac with tobacco, which I don't grow yet, but I do grow plenty of datura which is a different nightshade that I regularly work with. I think the flavors of datura and sumac will work well together too, as datura has a rich moist smoke as well, though more green tasting than sweet. I'll report about that on my telegram channel if you're interested in the results.
Another point to God's providencial timing, I've found that sumac's dream enhancing effects wither quickly in storage. This isn't an herb to harvest in excess, store, and use all the time; it just doesn't work that way. There's a time of year that it's made to be used. I've found it ineffective about six weeks after harvest. I do not believe this to be from tolerance buildup, as I used it less than once a week in that span of time.
In case you're wondering, no, this is not an intoxicating plant. In no way did I feel my waking consciousness altered, and the sleeping effect was the same whether I smoked a couple of hits or half a bowl, so please don't go stripping an entire tree and smoking it. Harvest responsibly like you would with anything, only using what is presented in abundance.
Little industrial science has been done on sumac and its effects or uses in humans. That's not surprising though, it'd be hard for the FDA and Pfizer to profit on such a thing. It grows everywhere, is easy to identify, and is easy to use. Lucky us! Another chance to do our own studies, learn about our minds, live a seasonally tuned life, and interact with the natural world that we were created by God to tend! As with much of my herbal knowledge, I don't remember where I learned about sumac. I immersed myself in so many podcasts and articles that I don't remember most of them. My mind just grabbed a tidbit of information and held onto it until the right time came along to use it.
While it's beneficial to us that there's little scientific research on sumac, I would extend a word of caution. I don't know if there's anything to be wary of with sumac. Like I said, I smoked up to a half a bowl of sumac at once. Not a bowl on a bong or a weed pipe, but my regular cob pipe. When I work with herbs, I sometimes like to see if there's a limit to the beneficiality of it, and half a bowl is quite a bit of herb to smoke. I don't smoke that much of anything except pipe tobacco, and that not often. While I experienced no negative side effects, I am also a healthy resilient young man. At that high dose, I noticed no enhancement in the effects over a dosage of just a few hits. It's a smoke, so if you're sensitive to such things, don't smoke sumac. Just because your intent may be wholesome doesn't mean that your body will accept it. If you decide to work with sumac, start off easy to make sure it's not going to irritate your body. These are your lungs here, you don't wanna mess them up.
