Cedarwood

Cedarwood.

I was working in my garden today, it's my second or third time this spring. I've been cleaning up after a harsh winter. I am always amazed that the perennials come back, but I guess that's what they do. The daffodils have already come and gone. Three hyacinth that I didn't plant somehow made their fragrant way into the garden and are taking their turn popping up. Mostly I've been cutting back-and turning the earth, and sifting through twigs when I found myself thinking about this family of three woody basenotes. Cedarwood. Sandalwood. Vetiver.

While smelling Cedarwood I thought about the water running through the Pine Barrens of New Jersey;  it is amber in color, we always called it "cedar water" growing up. It smells earthy and balsamic. As a child, I remember digging deep in the sand, digging past the water to the clay that lies beneath it. I would dig and dig and dig until I would finally would reach this grey brown clay with streaks of terra-cotta orange running through it. Cedarwood also smells like this clay, there is a dampness to it, that's slightly balsamic. It's a very pointed and tenacious note. It's specific like someone who keeps tapping you on the shoulder, it kind of gets under your nostrils and shows you the way.

The photo is Tatsumi Hijikata, Butoh founder in his studio.

The following comes from njpinelandsanddownjersey.com

The water in the Pines is commonly called "cedar water." The Cohansey-Kirkwood aquifer is shallow in most areas, often less than 20 feet below the surface. (Patrick) The acidic waters (4.4 mean pH) are tea colored as a result of humates and a lack of organisms to decompose them, as well as by tannic acid present in plants, especially Atlantic White Cedar, and also by naturally forming iron present in the streams. These unique conditions have allowed the Pine barrens to host a number of unique plant and animal species.