Keep us posted on your Garbhlus tea! Learning more about the local flora and fauna is also something I'd like to do and it's a great time of year to start :)
Thank you for this walk through the hedgerows. I didn't know the Irish for dandelion. It makes it all the more special. I harvested dandelion roots last year and roasted them to make 'coffee' which was surprisingly good!
Hi Aoibhín, I did that too, my first time, and I really liked it. The scent is gorgeous too, but nothing like coffee smell. I would need to play around with it to get the sharp bitter taste that I like, maybe roast the roots a bit longer. Adding a bit of cinnamon helped. Apparently, once the plant has flowered the roots turn bitter, but I don't know to what extent. Dandelion is one of my favourite wild plants, one of the first to appear and so giving. I wrote a post about them last year, and three ways to use it, that you might like. Anyway, thanks so much for reading and commenting, I really appreciate it. 💕
Lovely pictures Ali and a reminder that there is always something to look forward to seeing in nature. I collect cleavers for my donkey, he loves them!
Here we have asphodels in bloom all over the land, they're quite tall with thick strappy leaves and a tall spire of bell shaped pink flowers that the bees adore.
I love how you share the Irish names for the plants too as that adds to the magick :)
Thanks Ingrid! I had to Google asphodels, they are beautiful! I can tell you love them by the way you described them, now I really want to see one, but in the wild, not a pot or garden! 😆 I used to have a donkey when I was a child in Cyprus, we called her Jessica, she was so naughty, always escaping to munch on other people's carefully gathered carobs! Thank you so much for reading and commenting. 💕
Cleavers! We don't usually see them until February or March. Will have to check outside. I always make up a large batch of tea and start sipping it - at least a gallon - as my spring cleanse.
Hi lovely Robin! I hope you are well and happy! Yes, cleavers are meant to be really good for the adrenals. They're growing on the side of a road here, it's not too busy, but I'd prefer somewhere away from cars, so I'll have to look elsewhere if I want to gather some. What's your weather like now?
Hi Colin, I agree, but I think many people may prefer to think it's not happening out of fear, or helplessness. Also, change; it is human nature to resist change. IMO people are resisting the change in climate, but also they are resisting the change in lifestyle they need to make to combat the effects of climate change. Anyway, that aside, I'm really glad to see you're still with me even though I've not been writing much about mythology these past 2 years. I know that's your preferred interest, and I fully intend on reviving that aspect of my writing, I've just found it hard to fit everything in. I hope you and your family are keeping well, and that you had a lovely Christmas and New Year. 💕
Lovely! From a climate standpoint, it’s alarming to see these flowers blooming so early, but you’re right, spotting these little pops of colour brings a little burst of joy! I spotted an Ox-eye daisy...which doesn’t normally rear its head until May!
Oh wow that is so early, Jenni! And here we now have such a severe frost (although we never got much snow) so I doubt they'll survive. I hope it doesn't delay them flowering again in spring, all the little creatures depend on them.
I loved the frozen puddle, Ali. It looks like it should be hung on a wall like a piece of art. It would be as temporary as the banana taped to the wall and perhaps wouldn't fetch $6m but it's way better imo. People miss the little things like you photographed when they only are looking at the big picture. It is a worry when there are signs of changing seasons and many people still have their heads in the sand pretending it's not happening.
I live near the Ashdown Forest in Sussex UK. Lots of glorious gorse but it is considered invasive on the Forest open Heathland environment so is heavily managed. Beautiful though, especially on crisp winter days.
Me too, Susan! I love the gorse so much I planted it all around my garden! 😂 Some of it has grown tall as trees... I always thought it was a fairly low growing shrub, but I guess it grows to meet the sun if you let it do its own thing. Thank you for your comment. I love to think that I am walking in company when I am out there, and when I find something interesting, I get excited about sharing it here, where I know so many people will appreciate it. I would also love to see what plants readers are discovering in their areas... I know that when I go back to the north west UK, I see many of the wild plants there that I am familiar with here, but different landscapes and climates yield different plants, and I'd love to know... because I am really nosy, but also I want to learn. Thank you for reading and walking with me! 💕
Back at my weird Mac with no LIKE, so LIKE. :) What I love about this is how fiery yellow the first flowers are. It's so balanced -- just when the Solstice gives way to the light, the fire of hope in a flower reminds us it's all true!
Whitney, that thought is so beautiful! That very first picture is gorse, one of my very favourites. In the summer when it is in full bloom it's scent is like a cross between almond and coconut, and it's very powerful. I love love LOVE the connection you draw between it and the solstice, 'the fire of hope in a flower'... yes indeed, it doesn't get more perfect than that! 💕
I used to live in Kuwait as a child. My parents were hippies, bought a land-rover with the intention of driving over land and somehow getting to the Seychelles to start a dive school. They ran out of money and the car died in the middle of the desert in Kuwait. We were rescued by a Kuwaiti whose family had got rich in the oil business. So we stayed and my dad got work as a diver for a French oil company there. Does that ring any bells? Although I don't remember writing about it on here. 🤷♀️
I just saw that I put this in response to the wrong comment. Oh well. The important thing is that is such a cool story! No -- I don't recall you ever writing about it. Maybe I missed it if you did. So, you came from the UK to get your Irish citizenship?
Not frosty here, but it rarely is. Nature never stops, I've learned that much. There's always something growing and flowering. We have roses and honeysuckle and periwinkle, hang-overs from last season, but what I love to see are the new shoots growing up through the dead stalks of last year's flowers. Never stops, ever.
Tell me about it! Seems like 5 minutes ago that I dug up all the moss off the drive and now it needs doing again already. At the same time, seeing it reassures me that nature will make short work of destroying all our concrete and tarmac when we're all gone. I've given most of this garden back to nature to rewold, but the drive has to be usable. You must have a lovely little microclimate going on if your roses and honeysuckle have continued blooming through the winter! I'm not sure what a periwinkle looks like, I'll have to Google it, I thought they were shells! 😂
Periwinkle is mainly persistent green leaves with a small ratio of blue flowers. It creeps and climbs and gets on your nerves after a while. The honeysuckle is a bush variety that flowers all winter. It’s great for the bees when they venture out on sunny days.
Apparently periwinkle grows in Ireland but is not a native. It's very pretty. I like this quote from the Wildflowers of Ireland site: "17th century herbalist, Nicholas Culpeper wrote 'that the leaves eaten by man and wife together, cause love between them'"... have you tried it? Or maybe you don't need it!
Thanks Ramona! A carpet of yellow dandies, that's what I'm looking forward to most in the spring. It's amazing how inspiring a walk in nature can be, and how positive and optimistic it can make you feel. What are you most looking forward to this year, Ramona, and what's growing where you are?
Wow... I'm sure those boys were all hyper-excited! Is it a big sleigh pulled by reindeer/ horses? Or individual sledges? Joan, I don't even know where in the world you are located? But if there's a sleigh there must be lots of snow! We had a sprinkling this morning, and that was enough to grind everything to a halt! 😂 It seems to have melted everywhere except our north facing drive! I hope you are managing to keep warm. What wild plants are growing where you are?
The boys were . . . exuberant. I'm in West Virginia where the hills are steep. All had individual sleds but one who had a skateboard. That "one" would be my grandson, James, who lives with us, and just got the cast from his right arm removed. At this point, we're both medicated.
He sounds like my middle son, a bit of a daredevil who's always going to learn things the hard way! Hope he's learned to take care of all his limbs! Enjoy all the excitement of the season, they grow into adults all too quickly, don't they?
It’s frozen solid, solid, solid here in New York. Your post feels like not just visiting another country but another world - in a deeply necessary way. 💚
I always imagine New York in winter to be a pretty exciting place... maybe I've watched too many Christmas movies! 😂 Would that level of frozen be typical, or unusual? Yes, I often feel I'm living in a different world here! 😂
I’m 100 miles north of New York City, so when you picture me in January, please imagine a woman wearing a giant down coat and a great fluffy white dog who adores this frigid weather, thanks to her Pyrenees canine blood.
We’re walking down a country lane under a canopy of branches that are creaking and nearly cracking with cold.
This is a remarkably chilled and windy spell, but it should be well below freezing here now in the heart of winter, so I take comfort in a month that seems to be complying with our notions of what the climate here should be.
So, exciting… yes, but not in a Rockefeller Center sort of way!
Here, 100 miles is a long way, but in your huge country it's probably just a skip down the road! Am loving the image of the giant down coat and the fluffy white dog... does she seem to disappear against the snow if she stands still, or is she the kind of dog that never stays still? The imagery of the walk and the trees creaking and cracking with cold is powerful... you are a Cailleach indeed, striding through the wintry landscape and engaging with the outdoors as if you belong there and are part of it! Enjoy! 💕
It's actually my office. I also keep a heater going on cold days since the house heating is not efficient at the back of the house. It probably likes that!
I know! And a but scary, like all the seasons have got mixed up. There was quite a frost on the ground at the time, and we had snow this morning, so I hope they have survived.
Keep us posted on your Garbhlus tea! Learning more about the local flora and fauna is also something I'd like to do and it's a great time of year to start :)
Thank you for this walk through the hedgerows. I didn't know the Irish for dandelion. It makes it all the more special. I harvested dandelion roots last year and roasted them to make 'coffee' which was surprisingly good!
Hi Aoibhín, I did that too, my first time, and I really liked it. The scent is gorgeous too, but nothing like coffee smell. I would need to play around with it to get the sharp bitter taste that I like, maybe roast the roots a bit longer. Adding a bit of cinnamon helped. Apparently, once the plant has flowered the roots turn bitter, but I don't know to what extent. Dandelion is one of my favourite wild plants, one of the first to appear and so giving. I wrote a post about them last year, and three ways to use it, that you might like. Anyway, thanks so much for reading and commenting, I really appreciate it. 💕
Lovely pictures Ali and a reminder that there is always something to look forward to seeing in nature. I collect cleavers for my donkey, he loves them!
Here we have asphodels in bloom all over the land, they're quite tall with thick strappy leaves and a tall spire of bell shaped pink flowers that the bees adore.
I love how you share the Irish names for the plants too as that adds to the magick :)
Thanks Ingrid! I had to Google asphodels, they are beautiful! I can tell you love them by the way you described them, now I really want to see one, but in the wild, not a pot or garden! 😆 I used to have a donkey when I was a child in Cyprus, we called her Jessica, she was so naughty, always escaping to munch on other people's carefully gathered carobs! Thank you so much for reading and commenting. 💕
Cleavers! We don't usually see them until February or March. Will have to check outside. I always make up a large batch of tea and start sipping it - at least a gallon - as my spring cleanse.
Hi lovely Robin! I hope you are well and happy! Yes, cleavers are meant to be really good for the adrenals. They're growing on the side of a road here, it's not too busy, but I'd prefer somewhere away from cars, so I'll have to look elsewhere if I want to gather some. What's your weather like now?
Hi Colin, I agree, but I think many people may prefer to think it's not happening out of fear, or helplessness. Also, change; it is human nature to resist change. IMO people are resisting the change in climate, but also they are resisting the change in lifestyle they need to make to combat the effects of climate change. Anyway, that aside, I'm really glad to see you're still with me even though I've not been writing much about mythology these past 2 years. I know that's your preferred interest, and I fully intend on reviving that aspect of my writing, I've just found it hard to fit everything in. I hope you and your family are keeping well, and that you had a lovely Christmas and New Year. 💕
Lovely! From a climate standpoint, it’s alarming to see these flowers blooming so early, but you’re right, spotting these little pops of colour brings a little burst of joy! I spotted an Ox-eye daisy...which doesn’t normally rear its head until May!
Oh wow that is so early, Jenni! And here we now have such a severe frost (although we never got much snow) so I doubt they'll survive. I hope it doesn't delay them flowering again in spring, all the little creatures depend on them.
I loved the frozen puddle, Ali. It looks like it should be hung on a wall like a piece of art. It would be as temporary as the banana taped to the wall and perhaps wouldn't fetch $6m but it's way better imo. People miss the little things like you photographed when they only are looking at the big picture. It is a worry when there are signs of changing seasons and many people still have their heads in the sand pretending it's not happening.
Lovely insights, as ever. Wishing you new year blessings of all kinds.
Thank you, Catherine, wishing the same for you in abundance! 💕
Seeing gorse always fills my heart with joy.
I live near the Ashdown Forest in Sussex UK. Lots of glorious gorse but it is considered invasive on the Forest open Heathland environment so is heavily managed. Beautiful though, especially on crisp winter days.
I so enjoy joining you on your walks.
Me too, Susan! I love the gorse so much I planted it all around my garden! 😂 Some of it has grown tall as trees... I always thought it was a fairly low growing shrub, but I guess it grows to meet the sun if you let it do its own thing. Thank you for your comment. I love to think that I am walking in company when I am out there, and when I find something interesting, I get excited about sharing it here, where I know so many people will appreciate it. I would also love to see what plants readers are discovering in their areas... I know that when I go back to the north west UK, I see many of the wild plants there that I am familiar with here, but different landscapes and climates yield different plants, and I'd love to know... because I am really nosy, but also I want to learn. Thank you for reading and walking with me! 💕
Back at my weird Mac with no LIKE, so LIKE. :) What I love about this is how fiery yellow the first flowers are. It's so balanced -- just when the Solstice gives way to the light, the fire of hope in a flower reminds us it's all true!
Whitney, that thought is so beautiful! That very first picture is gorse, one of my very favourites. In the summer when it is in full bloom it's scent is like a cross between almond and coconut, and it's very powerful. I love love LOVE the connection you draw between it and the solstice, 'the fire of hope in a flower'... yes indeed, it doesn't get more perfect than that! 💕
I wish I could smell that smell again in the flesh. I remember it from Scotland. x
One of these days I’ll get to Wales. Why did I think you are from Iran?
I used to live in Kuwait as a child. My parents were hippies, bought a land-rover with the intention of driving over land and somehow getting to the Seychelles to start a dive school. They ran out of money and the car died in the middle of the desert in Kuwait. We were rescued by a Kuwaiti whose family had got rich in the oil business. So we stayed and my dad got work as a diver for a French oil company there. Does that ring any bells? Although I don't remember writing about it on here. 🤷♀️
Wow! I didn't know that.
I just saw that I put this in response to the wrong comment. Oh well. The important thing is that is such a cool story! No -- I don't recall you ever writing about it. Maybe I missed it if you did. So, you came from the UK to get your Irish citizenship?
Yep! Married an Irishman and been living here 23 years. Love it here! 💕
It's all over the hills of Wales and the mountains of the lake district, too. That's where I'm originally from.
Not frosty here, but it rarely is. Nature never stops, I've learned that much. There's always something growing and flowering. We have roses and honeysuckle and periwinkle, hang-overs from last season, but what I love to see are the new shoots growing up through the dead stalks of last year's flowers. Never stops, ever.
Tell me about it! Seems like 5 minutes ago that I dug up all the moss off the drive and now it needs doing again already. At the same time, seeing it reassures me that nature will make short work of destroying all our concrete and tarmac when we're all gone. I've given most of this garden back to nature to rewold, but the drive has to be usable. You must have a lovely little microclimate going on if your roses and honeysuckle have continued blooming through the winter! I'm not sure what a periwinkle looks like, I'll have to Google it, I thought they were shells! 😂
Periwinkle is mainly persistent green leaves with a small ratio of blue flowers. It creeps and climbs and gets on your nerves after a while. The honeysuckle is a bush variety that flowers all winter. It’s great for the bees when they venture out on sunny days.
Apparently periwinkle grows in Ireland but is not a native. It's very pretty. I like this quote from the Wildflowers of Ireland site: "17th century herbalist, Nicholas Culpeper wrote 'that the leaves eaten by man and wife together, cause love between them'"... have you tried it? Or maybe you don't need it!
Oh! I didn’t know that. I should keep that in reserve :)
Might be a natural viagra... you could make a tidy profit out of it!
It grows everywhere here. Not sure I'd make much out of pointing out the properties of what's considered a weed :)
I love honeysuckle, it is so beautiful, and the bees do love it.
Or even 'to rewild'...
What a lovely read. Looking forward to see you delve deeper into plant lore and to see all these flowers return in full bloom 🌱
Thanks Ramona! A carpet of yellow dandies, that's what I'm looking forward to most in the spring. It's amazing how inspiring a walk in nature can be, and how positive and optimistic it can make you feel. What are you most looking forward to this year, Ramona, and what's growing where you are?
We're under a winter watch for a week. I had eleven boys here yesterday for sleigh riding. I would love to see a dandelion. Crab grass, even.
Wow... I'm sure those boys were all hyper-excited! Is it a big sleigh pulled by reindeer/ horses? Or individual sledges? Joan, I don't even know where in the world you are located? But if there's a sleigh there must be lots of snow! We had a sprinkling this morning, and that was enough to grind everything to a halt! 😂 It seems to have melted everywhere except our north facing drive! I hope you are managing to keep warm. What wild plants are growing where you are?
The boys were . . . exuberant. I'm in West Virginia where the hills are steep. All had individual sleds but one who had a skateboard. That "one" would be my grandson, James, who lives with us, and just got the cast from his right arm removed. At this point, we're both medicated.
He sounds like my middle son, a bit of a daredevil who's always going to learn things the hard way! Hope he's learned to take care of all his limbs! Enjoy all the excitement of the season, they grow into adults all too quickly, don't they?
It’s frozen solid, solid, solid here in New York. Your post feels like not just visiting another country but another world - in a deeply necessary way. 💚
I always imagine New York in winter to be a pretty exciting place... maybe I've watched too many Christmas movies! 😂 Would that level of frozen be typical, or unusual? Yes, I often feel I'm living in a different world here! 😂
I’m 100 miles north of New York City, so when you picture me in January, please imagine a woman wearing a giant down coat and a great fluffy white dog who adores this frigid weather, thanks to her Pyrenees canine blood.
We’re walking down a country lane under a canopy of branches that are creaking and nearly cracking with cold.
This is a remarkably chilled and windy spell, but it should be well below freezing here now in the heart of winter, so I take comfort in a month that seems to be complying with our notions of what the climate here should be.
So, exciting… yes, but not in a Rockefeller Center sort of way!
Here, 100 miles is a long way, but in your huge country it's probably just a skip down the road! Am loving the image of the giant down coat and the fluffy white dog... does she seem to disappear against the snow if she stands still, or is she the kind of dog that never stays still? The imagery of the walk and the trees creaking and cracking with cold is powerful... you are a Cailleach indeed, striding through the wintry landscape and engaging with the outdoors as if you belong there and are part of it! Enjoy! 💕
It's inside a sliding glass door, right next to where it sits outside, Maybe that's why?
Must be getting the sun through the glass... sounds like the perfect spot to sit and read a book! 💕
It's actually my office. I also keep a heater going on cold days since the house heating is not efficient at the back of the house. It probably likes that!
I'm sure it does! And I'm sure it brightens up your office in return for your thoughtfulness!
Amazing to see this so early!
I know! And a but scary, like all the seasons have got mixed up. There was quite a frost on the ground at the time, and we had snow this morning, so I hope they have survived.
I brought my lemon tree inside and it's been blooming for almost a month!
Oh how lovely! It must feel as warm as spring in your house! It is showing its gratitude! 💕