Sunday, July 31, 2016

Sunday Stroll - Blackberries and Wildflowers


After hours of work harvesting garlic,
I think it is time for a long slow walk in the woods.
We'll take a pail for gathering blackberries,
and camera for focusing in on wildflowers.


Joe Pye Weed


Bone Set


Star Thistle/Spotted Knapweed


Indian Pipe


Yarrow

Those yummy black bramble berries!
Let's pick a quart or two before we continue
our search for wildflowers.


Self Heal


A spent daisy


Do you see the toad trying to hide from the camera?


Milkweed Leaf and some of the local wildlife,
a "harvestman."


Queen Anne's Lace and a Goldenrod Soldier Beetle


And another beetle actually on Goldenrod


The trail home is full of woodland artifacts


like turkey feathers
and a fallen orange leaf.
It is so perfect.
Is it from last autumn or are the leaves already turning?



Wherever you are, whatever the weather, I wish you time to stop and smell the wildflowers.




6 comments:

Crafty Green Poet said...

lovely photos - such pretty flowers and a very handsome soldier beetle! Our blackberries aren't ripe yet, we're in the middle of raspberry season though!

Marcie said...

Poet, Thank you! Our raspberries are nearly over and blackberries just getting going. I tried a wild apple in the woods today. Nope! Not ripe yet. Wow, does that pucker your mouth up! lol Thank you for visiting!

Nan said...

You really are living a self-sufficient life in terms of food, it seems. I'm really so happy for you. I think I could live on raspberries and blackberries, though I never have enough of them.

Out on the prairie said...

a pleasant journey and interesting finds. I had never seen the star thistle

Marcie said...

Nan, We're trying! I could live on blackberries too! I was thinking how nice it would be to have a tiny house right next to the largest patch and just live there during the blackberry season. lol!

Steve, The star thistle is pretty and bees love it, but it is an invasive non-native species. Here is an article about its presence in Michigan, if you're interested: http://vegetablegrowersnews.com/article/loss-of-invasive-plant-could-hurt-michigan-bees/

elaine said...

We don't usually get our blackberries till the end of August/early Septembet. Some of your wild flowers are the same as ours, I have a beautiful clump or two of Kanpweed that I planted from a packet of wild flower seed, the bees adore it.