The Wheel Turns......

"Slowly the energy of summer has shifted, and we begin to see signs of the wheel's turning. The earth ripens and grows mellow~we can smell the warm and heavy difference in the air. All around us, plants once stiff with juice are softening and drying, going to seed. Everywhere are signs of the early harvest, with roadside stands and farmer's markets overflowing with produce. The light at sunset grows hazy and golden, and the nighttime insect's lullabye outside our windows are softer and less strident, weaving through our dreams. Summer has passed its prime." Celebrating the Great Mother.

Sassafras leaf turned orange-gold

Dogwood berries call to the birds

Eastern Tent Caterpillars getting ready to come out of their home
Bee Balm gone to seed.

My Art and Nature's Art

Here is the next goddess tile for the art walk. This one is a Bee Goddess. I like the colors in it, but the overall design I am not quite happy with. I have another in mind too.

This is Mother Nature's artwork; a yoni in the

watermelon that David cut today. How cool!

Mother Nature & the Cherry Tree

Mother Nature decided to take our old grandmother cherry tree last night with the wind. She just fell over quietly during the night. Taking a portion of the fencing with her. Now since we don't own a chain saw, we have to figure out how we are going to get it cleaned up. I hope we can find someone who wants some cherry wood, that can cut it with reverence and respect for the tree. It was a very old tree, I would like to have a piece of the trunk to have a wood carving made from. Sophie enjoyed climbing up in her branches and we all enjoyed her fragrant pink bloom sin the spring. She will be missed.

Rainbows and Turtles

Yesterday was a bit of a magical day. David called me on the phone while he was out and said, "are you outside?". I went out the door and there in the sky was an amazing rainbow. These photos are the ones he took from where he was at a couple of miles away, he saw a TRIPLE rainbow! I could not believe it, he was so amazed and astounded, that he decided to follow it and see where it ended. The rainbow and all it stands for could not have come at a btter time for David. Thank you Mother Goddess!

At the end of the rainbow, really, directly under where it disappeared...he saw this snapping turtle crossing a four lane road. He stopped traffic, lol, and rescued this turtle, brought it home and the kids released it into the woods behind our home. There is a creek down there so he should be happy. Though he was not too happy about being rescued. lol

What a beautiful earth creature.

Flying Flowers in My Garden

Happiness is a butterfly, which when pursued , is always just beyond your grasp., but which, if you sit down quietly, may alight upon you.~ Nathaniel Hawthorn

"Just living is not enough", said the butterfly, "one must have sunshine, freedom and a little flower."~ Hans Christian Anderson

If nothing ever changed, there'd be no butterflies.~Author unknown

But these are flowers that fly and all but sing: and now from having ridden out desire, they lie closed over in the wind and cling, where wheels have freshly sliced the April mire. ~ Robert Frost,"Blue-butterfly Day"

May the wings of the butterfly kiss the sun and find your shoulder to light upon, to bring you luck, happiness and riches, Today, tomorrow, and beyond.~Irish Blessing

Blackberry Picking

We took Sophie to pick some blackberries yesterday. Her first time. She was so excited, David had discovered a fairly large patch just down the road near the woods. The kudzu has nearly covered them over by this time, and we've had so little rain that some of them had dried up. But she did manage to find a little basket's worth, she was so happy, though she didn't like the sour taste of them, the experience of picking them was reward enough. Just like me as a child, I never liked to eat them, but I loved to pick them~thorns and all. My mom always made sweet, sweet blackberry dumplings, I would eat the dumplings out and leave the cooked berries, yummy. You can find recipes online everywhere. Try some. Blackberries are also in the farmer's markets and grocery stores this month too, if you don't have access to your own patch. Enjoy them while you can.

Creek Adventuring

Yesterday, David and I took Sophie to the city park with the creek. They took a little net and caught some minnows to observe in a jar, as well as a few crawdads, (cray fish). There were many wild plants growing along the creek and I snapped a few shots of some of them.We also harvested some of the clay that is in the creek bed. It is a beautiful grey/blue, we will see what it turns to when cleaned and dried. (Look for a post on doing that very soon.)

Yellow Dock

I thought this was a kind of water cress but I can't find it anywhere, anyone know what it is?

Curly Dock (I think)

Herbal Studies Begin~Lemon Balm

This weekend Sophie and I began studying herbs using "A Kid's Herb Book" by Leslie Tierra. Sophie has always been very interested in the plants of Mother Earth and when I came across this book on sale last year I knew we had to use it. Sophie is very open to reading about herbs and then studying the ones we have in our garden. I thought I would share some of what we learn here for any one who wants to share it with their children. We began with Lemon Balm or Melissa officinalis. Lemon Balm is used for fevers, colds,flu,coughs, nervousness,whining or crying, wounds and sores.

Touch and feel the stem of a lemon balm plant. Feel for all four sides. Do you feel the square stem? Lemon Balm is in the mint family of plants. All the mints have square stems. Pick some lemon balm leaves. Now rub them between the palms of your hands. What do your hands smell like? Bite off one leaf and chew it. What does it taste like?

Lemon balm's name comes from the Greek word meaning "bee." The sweet-smelling oils of the leaves attract bees that in turn produce a wonderful honey. The popular name of the oil in lemon balm is balsam,

which when shortened becomes "balm." Science has discovered that the balsamic oils of plants give off protective ozone that promotes the healing and stops infection.

Use the sun to make Lemon Balm tea! We filled a quart jar to the top with fresh, clean Lemon Balm leaves, then filled it with water and set it in the hottest part of our garden. It needs at least six hours of direct sunlight to make a strong enough tea. Once its finished, strain it, add a lemon peel or juice, if desired, sweeten to taste.

Sophie and I had a picnic lunch while we read. It certainly was a beautiful day for a picnic.

Lemon Balm leaves are the part of the plant that is used. This is a very mild and safe herb. You can drink several cups of tea a day. For fevers, colds and flu, drink 1/2-1 cup every two hours until the fever breaks.

You can make a tea, tincture, syrup, bath, capsule, sun tea, pill,powder, dream pillow, mouthwash, poultice, potpourri,sachet,slave,steam,foot bath,fomentation, or oil from lemon balm. Wow!

*if you look closely in the top photo, you can see the green lemon balm in her teeth*

A Lovely Afternoon at the Park

After so much rainy weather we were thrilled when we finally began having regular warm sunny May days. Last week, after school we took the kids to the local park near the library. It's a beautiful park, the one in which David and I married in five years ago this month.

While David, Sophie and the boys tooled around in the stream, I wandered around the park taking some photographs of the scenery and nature.

A shy hatchling, who flew at the click of the camera.

Minnows! There are literally thousands of them living in this stream. They rushed to and fro when they saw my shadow. I'm sure they thought I was one of the Great Blue Herons that frequent this stream bed.

This is our own local Gnome Residence. At least that is what Sophie and I think......:) It is big enough for a four year old to go right inside and play house. Though she was busy int he stream and didn't try it today.

Water rushing over grasses......beautiful.

Here is my poppet exploring......

......with daddy.

...the grand (mother) cray fish or crawdad, as they are called here. It was huge!

Sophie and some friends playing at the playground.

With dad and a friend.

This is the International Friendship Bell, where David and I were married. This is the second time I've been back since the wedding. The architecture is so gorgeous I had to snap this photograph.

The Triplets

These are photos of the 'triplets', as we have come to call them. In the early summer we first noticed these three with their mother. Though I have never known a deer to have triplets they were with only one mother. So they are either hers, or she has adopted one or more of them. Anyway, we see them every so often in the neighbor's yard and garden. This time I was able to snap some photos before they ran off, but only of two of them. Number three was in the bushes. They are just beautiful little ones.

Scarecrow Making

This afternoon Sophie and I created a scarecrow for the sunflowers. We want the seeds to be allowed to ripen fully before the birds take their share. Sophie decided that the scarecrow should be a girl, because 'we' are girls. Three year old logic at work. Made sense to me, so here she is. What fun!

Can you see her Sycamore seed pod earrings?

Nature Study

I found this post about bees over at Renaissance Mama's blog and it led me to this one. I am thinking that Sophie and I will take the Nature Study challenge, a little late in the game, but hey, that's OK. So for our first outing, we will go walk/hike the Greenway at the park near our home. More on that later. Now we just need to get the book that it is all based on, The Handbook of Nature Study by Anna Botsford Comstock.