Last night, en route to our dog-sledding outfitters, we stopped in at the Algonquin Motel. This place has to be the most bizarre looking roadside establishment in all of Northern Ontario. I’m picturing big, burly long-haul truckers sleeping in the bedroom we’re in right now – which looks as though My Little Pony just threw up all over it.  For us, as long as the place was clean, warm, and had WIFI, we were happy.

Before bed we went exploring around our motel and came across some young pine trees out back. Pine needles are chock full of vitamin C – four to five times more than a regular glass of orange juice – making pine needle tea a terrific immune-boosting beverage.

In prep for our winter weekend ahead, we plucked a handful of needles, brought them back to our room, removed the brown sheaths from each end, boiled some water, and then threw the needles into our cups to let steep for 5 minutes.

The results were surprising; unlike our previous tea experiments, we actually enjoyed our pine needle tea. It was light, refreshing and enjoyably soothing; like drinking an entire forest in a cup.