Weeds

I went for an evening walk yesterday in the woods behind my house and came back with a bag full of wildflowers and some really great photos!

It was dusk around 7:00 pm, no one was really around, even the summer kids who hang out near the woods had all gone home for supper.

The sun was low and orange and everything was quiet. Cottonwood silk was floating through the air. The heady smell of horehound was intoxicating... minty, musky and antiseptic all at once.

In the clearing was oodles of Milkweed, thistle, wild carrot, Mexican sombreros, elderflower, sumac and sunflowers. I went mostly for the pods...I love pods.

I did milkweed flowers which smell great, young milkweed pods, mature wild carrot going to seed, some other crazy kind of mesquite pods and some purple thistle.

It is a pretty nice arrangement for being a bowl of weeds don't you think? I love how something out in the wild may not look like much. In a grandiose landscape, simple things like pods can get lost. There is so much beauty to absorb, but when singled out, can really shine on their own.

Here are some other shots of wildflowers in the clearing

Just to note, I love to forage for wild food! The milkweed pods are a great rarely used vegetable, as well as the wild carrot, sumac, horehound, elderflower and sunflowers. All have great uses in the kitchen. Maybe I will do a post soon where I can showcase picking and utilizing wild foods. Tell me what you think!