Its that time of the year where dandelions start to make their way up from the ground and my children’s noses become yellow from all the sniffing. I love watching my kids run around the yard in excitement as they pick small bundles of dandelions for me. Today I thought let’s make art with them. Dandelions, dirt, grass, pen, and paper plate. The beauty of simple things.
Category Archives: Nature
Dandelions
Leftovers
Leftovers, it can go many ways.
1. You made too little and not enough of something good
2. You made too much of something not good
3. You made just the right amount to enjoy later.
It was nice to have #3 in my favor today especially when I had two hungry little ones awaiting the arrival of lunch. Here’s what I made.
Sweet potato fries:
Cut sweet potatoes to your liking. Add salt, pepper, garlic powder, paprika, olive oil. Let sit for 1/2 hour. Spread on baking sheet and roast at 375 degrees until soft when poked with a fork. (My kids love just plain mayo/ketchup mixture for dipping)
Chicken with roasted cherry tomato sauce:
Sauce: Lightly mix together 1 pound cherry tomatoes with 3 smashed garlic cloves in an oven safe pan. In a separate bowl whisk together 1/2 cup extra virgin cold pressed olive oil, 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar, 1 tbsp fresh thyme, 2 tbsp brown sugar, and 1 tsp salt. Pour over tomato/ garlic mixture and stir gently. Bake for 1 hour at 325 degrees until tomatoes are soft and carmelized.
(I drizzled the sauce over some seasoned and cooked cut up chicken breasts)
The night’s sky…
The Night’s Sky
The Night’s Sky is a reminder of how beautiful the world just really is. If you take a moment to step outside on either a warm-breezy night or a crisp cool night, you’ll be amazed at what you can discover. Take a deep breath and remind yourself of all that you have done in the year, month, week, day, or within a moment. Use all of your senses, close your eyes, and just be.
As I step outside I say cheers to growth, sleep deprivation, and my Lily Bird.
If I didn’t have you, I wouldn’t have grown so much this year. I’ve been sleep deprived this year, but it’s gotten me to see the night’s sky. When I look outside, I breathe and I slow down enough to be reminded of what’s really important.
Morel Mushrooms…
Found around dead or dying elm trees, old apple orchards, old ash, poplar trees and pines. lies these delicious morel mushrooms. Considered a fungus and arriving in the spring time, these mushrooms are something out of the ordinary. As a child I remember my dad coming inside from the woods with a big bowl of these and frying them up in butter. He was always so excited and eager to find more. His love for the morels has rubbed off on me. Now I’m the one finding my own bowl and sharing them with my family. Thanks dad.
*The aroma in my kitchen that night was morel mushrooms fried in butter and smothered on top of a rack of goat ribs shared with a garlic spinach & bacon salad.*
Within the earth…
“I feel the rain on my skin…
I feel the earth through my toes…
I feel the energy in my soul…
It’s this place I call home…”
~dream bird
Sunshine…
Dandelions
Some would call this a weed, while others would see it as a bouquet of sunshine..
Litter in the ditches…
One of my favorite things to do during the day is just be outside amongst nature. It doesn’t matter what the weather permits, I will try to get myself outside to get some fresh air, go for a walk, and enjoy what the day has to offer. I recently moved to the country from living in town. While on my walks in the country I couldn’t believe how much garbage there has been on the side of the roads compared to when I would walk in town. It was ridiculous and so much. I didn’t mind a few banana peels or apple cores, but a jar of pickles, bottle of vodka, cans & bottles of pop…really? It is that hard to just keep those things in your car until you find a garbage can? Apparently it was and as I walked down that road several times during the week, I realized that no one was going to clean it up and the ditches would soon be consumed of garbage. So I took it upon myself to do the job. During my walk I collected 2 bags of garbage (only within a mile of the road!). I can’t imagine how much more I would have collected if I would have walked further. It made me feel good to clean it up, and to help our environment breathe. I wonder though about these people who keep throwing trash in the ditches, what if trash starting piling up in their yards…
Quote for this monday…
“I think that most of us are looking for a calling, not a job. Most of us have jobs that are too small for our spirit. The challenge, then, is to make your own job big enough to give you what your spirit needs”
–Nora Watson
To be distinct…
Coney Island, New York
“If you follow the crowd, you will likely get no further than the crowd. If you walk alone, you’re likely to end up in places no one has ever been before. Being an achiever is not without its difficulties, for peculiarity breeds contempt. The unfortunate thing about being ahead of your time is that when people finally realize you were right, they’ll simply say it was obvious to everyone all along. You have two choices in life. You can dissolve into the main stream, or you can choose to become an achiever and be distinct. To be distinct, you must be different. To be different, you must strive to be what no else but you can be.”
— Unknown wise person
Woolly Bear Caterpillar…
Over the past several weeks while driving and walking I couldn’t help but notice all the little caterpillars scurrying across the road trying to make it to the other side as fast as they could. The ones I saw weren’t fast enough and remained permanently engraved into the pavement. This little guy on the other hand made it to the other side with no problem. I was curious though as to why there were so many and what kind he was. While googling I came across a blog that called them Woolly Bear Caterpillars. The caption on the blog stated “Do Woolly Bear Caterpillars predict winter weather.” After seeing that I was intrigued to find in fact what this person had to say. The person’s curiosity started with his grandmother and then his mother making winter predictions for either a cold/ snowy winter or a mild one based on the stripe of the caterpillar.
What they came up with was:
A wider middle brown section means a milder winter season
A narrow middle brown section means a harsh winter season
Next time I’m out for a walk I’m going to pay attention to the band of those little guys. Not that I see this predicting our winter weather, but it gives me something to do on my walk and some people rely on a ground hog to tell them whether or not Spring is going to come early. So why not have some fun with it.
Dream Bird 