There's a huge (actually enormous) pine tree near my childhood home. My siblings and I used to collect the best pinecones from that tree, every year. I remember one being almost as big as a child's head.

Yes! My Grandpa used to live out near a pine timber farm and because the pine cones can mess up the harvest rows if they start to germinate, the owners happily let us on the property to walk around and collect cones.

Grandpa just used them as firestarters and kindling, they smell great and they go up a little less violently than gum. We'd take a laundry basket with us on a walk and my brother and I would run around filling it up.

Now when I'm hiking, seeing pine cones on the ground reminds me of winter at grandpa's house. But I don't have a use for them (I've gotten in trouble for attracting too many birds to my unit) so I make a rule to only collect the "baby cones" that is can display next to my sea glass and compost after a while when my shelf fills up - glass is the other thing I'm always collecting when I go for walks. I love sea glass because of Mermaid Princess by Shirley Barber.