Homemade Drinks

When I was a kid we used to go out into the wood and pick sassafras root to make homemade tea.

We would take birch bark off of tiny limbs and chew it for the flavor.

We would pick elderberries, wild grapes and huckleberries and crush them in a bowl and drain the juices into water and drink.

While us kids were doing all this in the woods, we were all looking for the perfect Y of a tree limb to make our sling shots. I'd do just about anything to be a kid again!

Not technically a drink, but you can peel hickory bark off a tree, or even use the shells of the nuts, boil them for a few hours and replenish the water, add some sugar to taste and you have a wonderful, nutty syrup that tastes great on pancakes!

I am growing an orange tree and a lemon tree. I had lime trees, too, but the cat ate them!

Anyway, slice a single citrus fruit, and add to cold water. It makes a light tasting, refreshing drink with flavor, but no sugar or calories. Great on a hot day! Add different fruits if you choose.

My current favorite right now is a sliced lime, a couple slices of cucumber and some crushed mint in cold water - don't tear the mint or you'll end with leaves in your water! It's different, but I like the taste. A few ice cubes make it nice on a hot day.

I forgot to add chicory and tea berry to that last list of mine. I still pick them and had chicory in my coffee at camp this past week. I had added too much to the coffee grounds, a little bitter.