I smelled it before I saw it. It was woody and a little like a newly sharpened pencil. It was woodsy, like a damp day on a hiking trail. It was the distinct smell of cedar.
Since it was yard waste pickup day in our neighborhood, I didn’t pay much attention to the sliced up tree along a driveway. Streets are cluttered with trash cans, plastic bags, and cardboard boxes full of palm fronds, sticks, pine needles, and leaves. Most of the logs are from palm trees or pine trees, cut into liftable lengths. Every week, the waste collection people gather up the piles left by the side of the road.
But as soon as I smelled and saw the sliced up logs, I knew it was cedar. The dogs and I paused our walk to enjoy the wonderful fragrance.
A few years ago, we had a cedar on the adjoining lot leaning towards our house. I decided to bring it down before a storm blew it onto the roof. With the help of a few neighbors, it was easy to bring it down safely. As I cut it into pieces that I could drag to the curb, I felt like I was in a cedar closet. The fragrance filled the yard for a couple of days. One of my neighbors took some of the trunk to cut into boards. He brought me a few slices that I could put in my dresser drawers. For a few weeks, everything I pulled out of the drawer smelled amazing.
What is it that makes cedar smell so good? According to an article I found on FootFitter,c contains the compound thujaplicin (nope, can’t pronounce it), which has antioxidant, antibiotic and anti-inflammatory properties. Cedar also absorbs moisture, and is used to make shoe trees and boot shapers to extend the life of quality footwear.
My parents had a cedar chest. I think everyone of their generation had one. All I know is that they stored a bunch of old stuff in it. And it weighed a ton when we were moving it out of my dad’s house.
The Amish still make cedar chests in the United States. They aren’t as expensive as I thought, and I’ll be they last for generations. And, of course, they smell great!
Waite for it... 