The “holidays” are here, and these days I’m particularly noticing smells. Here in the Sonoran Desert, the first of the winter rains arrived early—which is good for addressing our ongoing drought. It also brought an otherwise elusive smell to my morning walk: creosote bush.
Known by several other names, such as greasewood, chapparal, or the Tohono O’odham ṣegai, creosote is an evergreen desert bush with tiny yellow flowers—as you can see in my rain-soaked closeup photo above. Their small leaves are covered in a waxy coating that minimizes water loss. The leaves release chemicals when it rains, which are what we desert dwellers smell. Interestingly, those chemicals drop to the soil via raindrops and inhibit the growth of competing plants. In essence, the plant uses rain to create a natural herbicide.
Creosote is also known for its preservative properties, though most of what’s called creosote today comes not from this bush but from a distillation of coal tar. One common use of coal-tar creosote is to preserve the wood used for railroad ties. As a child, I remember Mom painting creosote on the posts and walls of our stable so Poco, our horse, wouldn’t chew on the wood.
Another common smell this time of year is woodsmoke. As the seasons shift, many people here in the southwest (and probably other areas) still use woodstoves to heat their houses. I smell woodsmoke when I take my morning walks, but it doesn’t have the distinctive piñon scent that I associate with New Mexico. I definitely correlate the smell of piñon with the cool, crisp winter weather of the holidays.
Then, of course, there are the smells associated with holiday baking. I’ve made Christmas cookies with various family members and friends over the decades. The scents of cinnamon, ginger, and other warming spices are, I’m sure, part of what has made “pumpkin spice” such a popular part of many holiday traditions.
What smells do you associate with winter or the holidays? What seasonal reappearances do you treasure?
