helpful husband

My husband has been harping on me to capture the all the roadside yellows before they are gone. Okay, harping may be a bit overstated. He has been routinely and consistently pointing out patches of yellow I could easily forage from “should I want to.” LOL. Today, I finally had the free-time, both psychic and calendar, to follow through. I spent a lovely hour in the car listening to a Katherine May podcast, sipping an iced coffee, and gathering yellow roadsidia.

mostly sunflowers, goldenrods, and day lilies…but others too!

good people doing good things

Minnesota is one of the largest producers of dry beans in the country (if you eat a dark red kidney bean the chances are 9 out of 10 that it came from MN). But it is maddeningly difficult to find heritage beans in this land of beans. Fortunately we have Paula Foreman of Encore Farms who grows beans organically with no fossil fuels and who seeks beauty and flavor in her beans, over yield and profit. She works hard but sells out every single year. In this photo are a few examples of how spectacular and jewel-like a humble dry bean can be when you care, and then do all the right things. Thank you Paula for being part of the solution in this world full of problems.

Paula’s beans

seeeeeeedpodssssss!

Blue false indigo has gone to seed and I am seeing its unmistakable pea-family seedpods everywhere. Wiki has this native midwestern plant listed as “at risk” which surprises me considering how much I am seeing. The common name “blue false indigo” is derived from it being used as a substitute for the unrelated and superior dye-producing plant Indigofera tinctoria. The Cherokee, in particular, traditionally used it as a source of blue dye, a practice later copied by European settlers. And ripened seed pods have been used for children’s rattles.

blue false indigo seedpods (Baptisia australis)

classroom debris?

These are leftovers from my teaching materials at Longwood Gardens last week. While I was cleaning up my classroom, I look 5 minutes to make a quick STILL photo. I forgot about it completely until I went to empty my camera card this afternoon. So, in some ways it6 feels like a freebie.

I am off for a much needed date night with Steve. See you tomorrow!

rainbow gradient of dried botanicals

what’s your seasonal bellwether?

My world is still mostly green. But signs of transition are everywhere–sumac being my personal bellwether here in the north. I really should not be posting leaves so early, as we are heading into a full two months were the leaves will be demanding my attention on every walk. We finally got past flower season, and have barely had time to take a breath, and already the leaves are beginning to shout at me. It’s very hard to ignore them, when they are so loud and demanding. It’s takes concentration and tricking of the mind in order to see past them to find other deserving subjects. The only true quiet is winter. In spring it’s all about blossoms and catkins, and in summer it’s flowers, and in autumn the colorful foliage. So, get ready for lots of leaves, because they are starting to make noise.

staghorn sumac leaves in early autumn (Rhus typhina)