A lovely nature walk

I decided to go on an impromptu nature walk today with my family. I made a promise to myself that I would get out more often in nature.

My sister had been wanting to see me before she starts classes again so I thought this might be a good opportunity to invite her, her boyfriend, and my brother along.

The trees provided some nice shade from the heat of the sun on a 99 degree day.  We found a spot near the river that had a nice breeze. I harvested some mugwort flower heads to save seeds from near the river.
Funny enough my brother said the exact same thing that one of my best female friends did when I last took her on a wildcrafting adventure “Mugwort? That sounds like something out of Harry Potter” The comment always makes me giggle.

One of the wild plum trees were full of ripe fruits that I picked for freezing. I didn’t pick as many as I could have due to my chest freezer being out. I hope to remedy that in the near future.

I also passed a tree with a wasp nest that was the size of a large grapefruit.

On our walk I also gathered plantain seed heads. the flowered tops of the gumweed plant, and some ripe bittersweet nightshade berries (poisonous plant) for seed saving.

I love bittersweet nightshade. It is a beautiful, magickal plant. It sprang up in my last container garden randomly and I was sad to see it go. I am trying my hand at saving seeds from it much like I do my tomato plants. Nightshades are related to tomatoes. I could not find any other information on how to save seeds from them so I took that as being the most logical way to do it. I am always doing some kind of new plant experiment. This is just one on the long list.
**I do not recommend anyone try anything with any plant in the nightshade family, unless they know what they are doing, and wear gloves.

When I got home I decided to harvest some lambs quarters seed heads, some mint flower heads, and 5 strawberries. Four of the five strawberries ended up in the freezer for later smoothie making, the other ended up in my mouth *yum!* Nothing beats garden fresh fruits.

I have another nature adventure planned in the coming week from the sounds of it. This year I am taking note of what is in season each month so I can better prepare for the next year.
I have a good idea of what is in season, though knowing which locations are harvestable is another story. It can change year to year, or location to location depending on climate conditions, along with a long list of other variables I need to take note of.

Believe it or not I actually like this practice as well. It helps me better understand the plants. I can see what growing conditions they prefer if I ever plan to have them in my own garden. I notice new plants. I can see what the plants look at in various stages of growth, which helps for proper identification at any point of the growing stage.

I find so many new plants just by studying the ones I already know and what grows around them.

Now that everything is set out to dry, and the garden is watered, I think it is time for a cup of jasmine green tea and maybe a movie.