You've likely seen mullein plants growing in fields and along roadsides. They're often attractive, with tall spikes of yellow flowering rosettes. Read this article to learn more about this interesting
In Valerie Hammond’s series of wax drawings, protection is two-fold: the artist (previously) encases dried flowers and ferns in a thin layer of wax, preserving their fragile tissues long after they’ve been plucked from the ground. In outlining a pair of hands, she also secures a memory, or rather, “the essence of a gesture and the fleeting moment in which it was made.” Centered on limbs lying flat on Japanese paper, the ongoing series dates back to the 1990s, when Hammond made the first tracing “partly in response to the death of a dear friend, whose beautiful hands I often found myself remembering.” She continued by working with family and friends, mainly women and children, to delineate their wrists, palms, and fingers. More
Here are some of our favorite study herbs that can help you cope with stress, stay focused, and calm your mind during this hectic back to school season!
Aaditya Shrirang Bhat is a talented young photographer from India who loves capturing the beauty of sunsets. His photos are known for their warm and peaceful feel, often featuring the golden light of the setting sun along with people, plants, and insects.
Scientific name: Trifolium repens L. Abundance: common What: leaves, flowers, root How: leaves-raw or cooked before flowers appear; flowers-raw, cooked, dried for tea or flour, also smoked; root-dried then cooked Where: lawns, fields When: spring, summer, fall Nutritional Value: protein Danger: soon after picking white clover can form dangerous cyanide. Leaf Arrangement: Alternate; each leaf consists of three oval leaflets, each leaflet measuring about 0.5 to 1.5 inches long. Leaf Shape: Oval to egg-shaped leaflets with a slightly pointed tip. Venation: Pinnate, with a visible central vein on each leaflet. Margin: Smooth and entire. Leaf Color: Bright green, sometimes with a lighter or white crescent shape or V mark on each leaflet. Flower Structure: Clustered small flowers forming a round or oval head, each flower head measuring about 0.5 to 1 inch in diameter. Flower Color: Flowers are white. Fruit: A small pod, typically hidden within the calyx of the flower. Seeds: Each pod contains 1 to 4 seeds, tiny and yellow to orange-brown in color. Stem: Creeping, slender, and branched, rooting at the nodes. Hairs: Generally hairless, occasionally with sparse, fine hairs along edges of leaflets. Height: Spreads along the ground, rarely exceeding 6 inches in height. A patch of White Clover. Close-up of leaves and flower. Very close-up of White Clover flower. Clover leaves (right) are rounded while Wood Sorrel leaves (left) are heart-shaped. Texas distribution, attributed to U. S. Department of Agriculture. The marked counties are guidelines only. Plants may appear in other counties, especially if used in landscaping. North American distribution, attributed to U. S. Department of Agriculture. Many homeowners wage chemical warfare on patches of white clover in their grass without ever realizing that this plant not only produces nitrogen necessary for healthy grass, it's also delicious and nutritious! Both fresh or dried clover flowers can seeped in hot water to make a fantastic, naturally sweet tea. The leaves and roots can be added to stews, soups and other simmered dishes for a boost of protein. I like adding it to tomato-based sauces whose acidity helps break down and "pre-digest" the protein, making it easier for human stomachs to digest it. The flowers and leaves must be used either within 30 minutes after picking or left to dry for 4-6 weeks. Soon after being picked the plant starts producing cyanide compounds and in an hour or less they can become dangerous to eat. If left to dry for 4-6 weeks these cyanides will disappear. For this reason one should NOT include clover when making sauerkraut, kimchi, or other fermented greens as the fermentation process doesn't interfere with the production of cyanide. Dried white clover flowers make a very pleasant tasting herbal smoke. Buy my book! Outdoor Adventure Guides Foraging covers 70 of North America's tastiest and easy to find wild edibles shown with the same big pictures as here on the Foraging Texas website.
Flowering grasses such as Clover are important for bee populations. Growing clover instead of grass helps bees. Here's how to grow Clover.
It is Spring and a carpet of Purple Dead-Nettle is covering my garden. Even though I had put the vegetable garden to bed, tucking it in with straw, this “weed” decidedly took over. These Dead heads…
Common milkweed is one of the most important plants for the Monarch Butterfly. It is the larval host, and is enjoyed by many other pollinators…
I’m really interested in photographing people in a way that is nontraditional, fun, imperfect, even a little messy. I have taken the cookie-cutter poses over and over… and while it’s nice to have traditional photos of ourselves, it’s too rare to have photos that actually show our personality and ~feel~ like us. Taking pictures but also making a core memory through playing like a little kid & having cinematic photos to remember it by - that’s what lights me up. Less stress, more fun.Shot on digit