Nature This Week

 

Can you smell the lovely Lilac perfume through your screen? 

A baby bunny burrow. They were so new!

A rat snake. Everyone wanted a turn holding it.

We found some morels! My first time mushroom hunting since being married. 

These oak flowers, catkins, were so pretty in the afternoon sun. Much like earrings dangling, all eye catching in the sunlight.

April showers..............

Bring May flowers. ☺️

Flower Update as of 3/28/25

 

   So many things are happening in nature this time of year. These flowers all popped open over night. I see these flowers on my walk in the morning. I'm not sure what type of shrub this is, but it's flowers sure are pretty. 

  I found my Bleeding Hearts! I was so happy to see them. I have been looking for them for a couple weeks. This morning I was looking again and gave up. I figured they must have been too trampled during the summer and frozen solid in the ice over winter. As I straightened up and turned to leave, my eyes landed right where they are coming up! I had been looking in the wrong place all along.

The Lilac buds are forming. I am looking forward to their sweet, sweet perfume.

The Daffodils are going to town! Pretty blossoms and more infant buds coming up still.

Matthew 5:44-45

But I say unto you, Love your enemies, 

bless them that curse you, 

do good to them that hate you, 

and pray for them which despitefully 

use you, and persecute you; 

That ye may be the children of your Father 

which is in heaven: 

for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil 

and on the good, and sendeth rain 

on the just and on the unjust. 

I Spy With My Little Eye!

 

Poking through the frost

Bringing sunshine in their folds

Springs the equinox

I saw these this morning and they made me so happy! I had to write a haiku to celebrate. 

Here is an old post in which you can read about my excitement over daffodils back in 2015. I haven't changed in that regard.

A Bouquet And A Verse

 I have some beautiful zinnias growing so I cut myself a bouquet today. I had some hostas to put in this bouquet, too. The hosta flowers have such a heavenly fragrance! 

So, I have bouquet and a verse to share this week. 

Nehemiah 9:6 

Thou, even thou, art LORD alone; 

thou hast made heaven, 

the heaven of heavens, with all their host,

the earth, and all things that are therein, 

the seas, and all that is therein, 

and thou preservest them all; 

and the host of heaven worshippeth thee.

I hope you are having a happy day wherever you are and I hope that you can see God's greatness from your vantage point.

Spring Woods!

We went for a walk in the woods at a nature preserve yesterday. This nature preserve is special because of the expansive carpet of blue bells on the forest floor in early spring. This was my first time visiting this preserve. The blue bells were like nothing I had ever seen before. They were everywhere!

There were a few other flowers blooming, too.

Spring Beauty 

Flox

Woodland Violet

Creeping Buttercup

I, also, saw a bunch of Prairie Trillium (the ones with burgundy petals and mottled leaves), and one early White Trout Lilly. Mayapples had popped up already. It was a little early yet for Toothwart, Hepatica, Wild Geranium, Yellow Trout Lilly, and Great White Trillium.

I saw some Red Admiral butterflies, a tiny copper butterfly, and a few sulfur butterflies. We heard some very loud tree frogs. The oak trees were all bare still. The buckeye trees were leafing out. There was a flowering tree that I will have to look up. It has five petaled white flowers in clusters. It was growing in the under canopy. It had reddish brown bark and the trunks and branches were delicate in character and finely featured.

We had a wonderful day in a beautiful place with delightful weather! I hope you are having a wonderful day, too. :)

Violet...…...Jelly?

Last Saturday, my children and I started picking all the violets that we could find. There are so many this time of year. Initially I thought we should add the violets to a salad for color. We just kept picking more and more violets. Pretty soon we had far too many violets for a salad.

I told my children that violets could be made into jelly and one time in my youth a friend of mine had given me a violet jelly recipe. I had followed the recipe and made violet jelly once. The really neat thing I had remembered about making violet jelly was how the violets made a purple tea that turned pink when the lemon juice was added. In fact, I still had the recipe.

That story pretty much sealed the deal for what to do with all our violets. My children wanted to see what violet jelly was like. We just had to make some.

Well, the jelly was a big failure. I tried to make it without pectin. I cooked it too long. It cooled into a solid mass of hard candy. I re-melted the mass, added water, jarred it again. Now it is the consistency and color of honey. All the beautiful violet color cooked out. It really does taste like honey, too. 

So, I guess what we actually made is bee-less honey.

Not bad. We will enjoy it on toast. And we had fun during the process. It's a win!

Now what I want to try is making pink lemonade out of violet tea. Wouldn't that be cool!

Chrysanthemums By Henry Beer | Poem

Chrysanthemums

Whene'er I see Chrysanthemums,

Arrayed in colors bright,

I think of Autumn's pageantry,

Each cool and frosty night.

In yellow, bronze, and snowy white

These flowers are displayed 

As lovely as the autumn trees,

In colors bright arrayed.

Chrysanthemums of snow-white bloom

Remind us of the snow

Which soon will cover hill and vale

As wintry winds will blow.

Ye artists henceforth should portray

With Cornucopia's horn

These gorgeous flowers, bright and fair,

With fruit, and grain, and corn.

As flowers in a patient's room,

Chrysanthemums give cheer;

These lovely flowers of varied bloom

Console the dying year.

We praise Him for these lovely things,,

For all that He hath done.

To see His power in humble works,

It makes us truly one.

By Henry Beer 

My Garden of Verse

Page 171

Seed Saving

I have been saving seeds from the plants in my garden. I have looked up information on collecting seeds. Hopefully, I am doing it right. It will be interesting in the Spring to see how well the seed I have saved germinate. And then next summer to how the fruits or flowers compare to their parents.

I have many Bachelor Buttons that came up voluntarily. I collected a bunch of seed heads. 

Bachelor Button Seed Heads

I am mixing together several different herb and flower seeds as I collect them. I think it will be fun to have a mixture to sow in an area of the yard. I have cilantro, dill weed, bachelor buttons, calendula, borage, and cosmo in my mix thus far.

Calendula seeds develop on the maturing flower head in a visually interesting way. The shape of calendula seeds are quite unique, too.

Looking directly down at a seed head of calendula.

Calendula seeds 

Borage usually self sows very readily. I have included borage seeds in my mix just as insurance.

Borage

I have these gorgeous rust colored sunflowers that I am saving seed from.

Also some ordinary sunflowers.

This sunflower was still opening up one morning.
Can you spot the sleeping bee resting on the flower?

I heard that once the rays have fallen off of the sunflower blooms the heads can be cut and dried in a paper bag as the seeds continue to mature. The seeds look quite under developed at this stage, but I hope they turn out to be viable.

This is my first time saving tomato seeds. I have Black Krim, Rutger, and Roma varieties.

I followed the fermentation method for saving wet seeds with my tomatoes and my cucumber.

I wanted to save pickling cucumber seeds. I don't remember the exact variety of cucumbers that I planted. I didn't grow anything that would cross with cucumber so, I'm sure the seeds I saved will grow some kind of cucumbers.

Once the seeds were clean and dry I put them in labeled, paper envelopes for storage.

Do you save seeds from your garden? 

A Bunch of Drying

 I've been drying some of summer's bounty the last couple months.

The children and I picked pineapple weed all throughout June. We were able to collect almost a full quart jar of dried pineapple weed flowers. I blended them with mint and lemon balm for tea.

The rest of the herbs and flowers from my yard, that can be used for herbal infusions, I have been collecting and blending together. 

There is a little borage, calendula, mint, lemon balm, lavender, and rose petals. I added some anise seed and ginger. I'm calling this Yard Blend Tea. :)

From our neighborhood community garden I have all this basil to dry.

These hot banana peppers are from my garden. I did not feel like pickling them. I decided to hang them and once they're dry maybe I can grind them into some kind of chili powder. ? I have never done anything like that before. Have any of you ever dried banana peppers? I could use some advice!

Psalms 104:14
He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle,

and herb for the service of man: 

that he may bring forth food 

out of the earth;

Beautiful Flowers!

 

These beautiful flowers made up a bouquet that I put together a few weeks ago. 

I love being able to have fresh flowers to beautify our home! I was not always so, though. As a teenager I thought pretty things were just a vanity. I considered growing flowers a waste of soil that would be much better utilized for growing vegetables: food for people to eat. I had a very practical mindset. Putting effort into being pretty was a frivolous waste of time and resources.

I grew up. I learned to appreciate beautiful things. I realized there is value in beauty. God made beautiful flowers, and sunsets, and rainbows and mountain ranges. He made them beautiful for more than practical reasons. Imagine if he made all the flowers the same color. They would work. They would attract pollinator insects. They would be able to develop seeds and reproduce. The flowers could have been all the same. But God showed us that He values beauty and variety.  

Ecclesiastes 7:29 

Lo, this only have I found, 

that God hath made man upright; 

but they have sought out many inventions. 

Luke 12:27  

Consider the lilies how they grow:

 they toil not, they spin not; 

and yet I say unto you, 

that Solomon in all his glory 

was not arrayed like one of these. 

Fun Quiz

 Here is a quiz I put together for a picnic game this week:

Picnic Quiz

Can you name the seven colors of the rainbow?

How much did the largest recorded hailstone in the U.S. weigh?

1. 4.17 lbs.

2. 9.23 lbs.

3. 1.94

Where is the wettest place on Earth by annual rainfall records?

1. Emei Shan, China

2. Mawsymram, India

3. Buenaventura, Columbia

According to the USDA website what hardiness planting zone is Eureka, Illinois in?

1. 7

2. 2

3. 5

What is the last frost date?

1. April 30th

2. May 10th

3. April 3rd

Soybean and corn farmers are waiting for the soil to be what temperature to start planting?

1. 50°F

2. 40°F

3. 70°F

A bouquet is primarily Garden Roses, Lavender, and Shasta Daisies; What season is it?

A bouquet is primarily Pussy Willows, Daffodils, and Red Bud Twigs; What season is it?

A bouquet is primarily Mum's, Asters, and Goldenrod; What season is it?

Do you have a favorite flower?

Here are the answers with the sources for where I found some of the answers:

Picnic Quiz Answers

Can you name the seven colors of the rainbow?

Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, and Violet

How much did the largest recorded hailstone in the U.S. weigh?

4.17 lbs.

9.23 lbs.

>1.94 lbs.< The largest hailstone ever measured in the U.S. was 8 inches in diameter in Vivian, South Dakota, on July 23, 2010. The Vivian hailstone was also the nation's heaviest (1.94 pounds). The world's heaviest hailstone was a 2.25-pound stone in Bangladesh in April 1986. Source

Where is the wettest place on Earth by annual rainfall records?

Emei Shan, China 8,169mm

>Mawsymram, India 11,871 mm source: World Atlas <

Buenaventura, Columbia 6,275mm

According to the USDA website what hardiness planting zone is Eureka, Illinois in?

7

2

>5<

What is the last frost date?

>April 30th<

May 10th

April 3rd

Soybean and corn farmers are waiting for the soil to be what temperature to start planting?

>50°F< Iowa State University Extension Outreach Website

40°F

70°F

A bouquet is primarily Garden Roses, Lavender, and Shasta Daisies; What season is it?

Summer

A bouquet is primarily Pussy Willows, Daffodils, and Red Bud Twigs; What season is it?

Spring

A bouquet is primarily Mum's, Asters, and Goldenrod; What season is it?

Fall

Do you have a favorite flower? I have many favorites. :) My answer right now is Peonies. :)

Rejoice!

 Rejoice in the Lord alway: 

and again I say, 

Rejoice.

Philippians 4:4

And how can I help but rejoice

When on Christ and His sacrifice 

I let my mind linger?

When I recall my desperate condition!

How, in the most absolute degree, 

I was beyond any hope of gaining Heaven.

When my thoughts wander through memories

Of days in my past,

In which, the only motivation of living

Was to keep out of Hell one more moment.

What darkness!

What despair!

And then,

The glorious light of Jesus' love shines in!

What brightness!

What joy!

He loves me!

He died to wash my sins away!

He offered me eternal life as a free gift!

Free, free, free!

Free for the asking!

Just to take Him at His word.

Just to trust His promise,

"Whosoever will, 

Let him take of the water of life freely."

Friend, I hope you, too, are rejoicing in this wonderful truth. 

No one need remain in darkness and despair.

Jesus loves you, too.

He died to take your punishment.

And, He wants you to trust Him as your Saviour.

Verily, verily, I say unto you, 

He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, 

hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; 

but is passed from death unto life.

John 5:24

Herb Gathering

 

I had grandiose ideas of growing all types of herbs for tea this summer to enjoy all winter.

I wanted Anise, Lemon Balm, Chamomile, and Borage to name a few. But, I either didn't start enough plants or they never came up. :(

My Lemon Balm is growing good. I think I need to allow it to establish itself this first year before I start harvesting from it.

I left my Sage behind at our old house. I have really been missing Sage as a seasoning, especially in Breakfast Sausage.

I threw some Sage seeds in the ground this Spring, but they never came up. I think I'll start a few Sage seedlings this Summer. They should have enough time to get established enough to make it through the Winter.

Wait.............. What is this?

Look what I just found while weeding! It is a baby Sage! So, one did sprout!:) I will give it some special attention over the rest of the growing season. Hopefully it will be thriving by the time Fall is upon us.

Even though I don't have as many tea herbs as I had hoped, I have been cutting and drying as many as I can.

I have Lavender, Mint, Marigolds, and a little Borage. I really would love to have some Chamomile. I have a lot of trouble starting Chamomile. I only have done so successfully one year. I might be better off foraging Pineapple Weed, since it is Wild Chamomile, and has no trouble growing. I see it in almost every driveway. I would have to be careful and find out that no weed killer has been sprayed on it, though.

I hope these will make a good tea blend for the Winter.

Do you have any favorite herbs for tea making? I'd love to hear what they are!

Psalm 104:14

He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of man: that he may bring forth food out of the earth;