NP Re: Real American Root Beer

[s~Z]

Jill Adams wrote:
> Anyone ever had sassafrass tea?

My grandfather, an old German shaman, used to reappear at the farmhouse
after sunset with a can of sassafras roots. My Wiccan grandmother would
fire up the gas stove and put on a large pot of water, then simmer the
concoction for hours filling the house with the smell of earthy root
beer. He kept a tin of black salve under the kitchen sink and collected
arrowheads in a bucket in the shed. He died the night my eldest was
born.