Petroglyphs Provincial Park has the largest known concentration of Indigenous rock carvings (petroglyphs) in Canada. With the help of our Anishinaabe (Ojibway) guide, we discovered turtles, snakes, birds, humans and more carved into the sacred Teaching Rocks. My favourite was the Nanabush. They suggested that he is a bit of a trickster, at the same time both good and bad. Part of the good is teaching the Anishinaabe how to use the plants and trees they find in nature.
In addition to viewing the rocks, we hiked the Nanabush Trail. We know very little about the medicinal use of plants, but we did find some unusually named flowers. The White Lettuce is also called Rattlesnake Root. I wonder what it could have been used for? Keep Adventuring. You are Always in My Prayers. Love Mom. Note: Out of respect we took no photos at the Teaching Rocks. The image of the Nanabush can be found on the web.
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When you think of New York City you probably think of Broadway, the Twin Towers, or the Statue of Liberty. Did you ever think about its beautiful wildflowers?
Last week we travelled to NYC for a family visit that included a bike ride through Governors Island. As you would expect, we discovered many species of wildflowers found right here in North Perth. However, we did find two that we haven’t tracked down in Ontario yet (although they are native to this area): Jerusalem Artichokes and Butterfly Weed. Butterfly Weed attracts butterflies, but do you know what is special about Jerusalem Artichokes? Yes, you can eat the root. I've had them before--They are surprisingly tasty. Everything is blooming. We are still adventuring. You are Always in our May Prayers. Love Mom. We just received a great flower find from Mrs. H. Congratulations on your retirement. We will miss you here at URAIMP, but we look forward to hearing of YOUR adventures. Report from Mrs. H: These are not Native-to-North-Perth wildflowers, but they are very invasive and ARE growing wild on our lawn. They are night flowers and are pollinated by night moths. Some evenings, we have over 60 of them popping out in a matter of minutes. The Goldenrod I’m familiar with appears in late summer. It is almost as tall as I am and is often blamed for itchy eyes and a runny nose. This tiny alpine version popped up on the shore of Big Tub Harbour in Tobermory. Except for being yellow, it has little resemblance to its much bigger cousin.
Our guide has over thirty species of Goldenrod—there are actually over sixty growing wild in North America. So, when you see one type of Goldenrod, you definitely haven’t seen them all! Keep adventuring. You are Always in my Prayers. Love Mom. We have most of May’s wildflower photos and some of June’s in our book so far. That totals about fifty-five. I have about twenty-five waiting to go in. Eighty different wildflowers! I’m predicting we can reach one hundred by October. What do you think? Click the button to see the book so far: Keep Adventuring. You are Always in my Prayers. Love Mom.
It is hard to imagine how such a pretty little flower has the word flea in its name. However, early North American settlers were convinced that little cloth bags of these dried flowers would keep fleas away. So, they called it Fleabane.
Now, before you start attaching bags of Fleabane to your pets, there is something you should know. There is no scientific evidence that it keeps the fleas away. Fleabane might actually attract bugs! There is a lot of Fleabane in bloom right now. The flowers can be white or a little pinkish. Look for something taller than a lawn daisy. Happy adventuring You are Always in my prayers. Love Mom & Dad Do you like honey? Ray loves honey—especially local honey. So, of course, Ray loves clover because honeybees love clover. Clover is one of the favourite sources of nectar for honey bees. Bumblebees like it too, but they eat most of their honey.
At a farmer's market or the supermarket, you will probably find clover honey. It is usually written right on the label. Clover honey has a gentle flowery taste. I can almost 100% guarantee you will love it as much as the honey bees. I hope you are lucky enough to find some Wild Clover. If you do, have a look for a plant with four leaves instead of three. Some say that makes you even luckier. What an amazing world! Keep adventuring. You are Always in my Prayers. Love Mom. Have you heard of orchids? They are considered pretty special. You can buy quite a few different kinds at the flower shop in Zehrs—check them out next time you are there. Yellow Lady's Slipper is a type of wild orchid.
They trick pollinators into coming by their sweet smell, but when the pollinators enter there is NO NECTAR! By the time the pollinator flops around finding its way out, they have helped the Lady's Slipper, but have received no reward for their efforts. Do you know who else is tricky? Can you see the Yellow Crab Spider on the Flower? They camouflage very well. These Predators don’t spin webs. They wait until a pollinator falls in then they paralyze them and enjoy a great big snack. I haven’t seen Yellow Lady's Slipper in North Perth. We found these by the trail in the Hockley Valley Provincial Nature Reserve. One of our friends also found some near Lake Huron last weekend. They are very cool, so I hope you find some too. They love moist woods and bogs. Keep adventuring. You are Always in my Prayers. Love Mom. At this time of year, the mighty Maitland River trickles through town. The almost still water makes it perfect for Yellow Pond Lilies. Their floating leaves are called lily pads. Frogs love to hang out at the lily pads. When we arrived we saw a frog swimming around, but I think we scared it away.
There are very few water lilies that are native to Canada. We have been lucky this week because we have seen two! We saw the White or Sweet Water Lily on a hike with our granddaughter. She was more interested in the turtles😄 It is very different than the Yellow Pond Lily—can you see the differences? Exciting times in Wildflower Adventuring. You are Always in my Prayers. Love Mom & Dad Location for the Yellow Pond Lily: in the Maitland River between the municipal building and the hospital Location for the White or Sweet Water Lily: Westminister Pond trails London, ON ***Do NOT go near ponds or rivers without an adult There are so many categories of wild plants. Just to name a few, there are flowers, grasses, sedges (grasses usually found in marshes), and plantains. Even with a lot of research, it is sometimes difficult for us to decide which is which. So, if it is pretty or interesting, we are going to include them in our Wildflower Adventure.
One example is Blue-eyed-grass. It looks like grass, and it has grass in its name, but scientifically it is NOT grass! It doesn’t even look blue to me—more like purple. I still love them--so I’m going to include them. Do you think it looks like grass? Are you a Westfield Warrior? Wildflowers, sedges, plantains, and grasses are all found around the pond behind the school. We found over a dozen species! Do NOT go there without an adult. The path is narrow and prickly, but we were careful (long pants & good shoes). Keep Adventuring. You are Always in My Prayers. Love Mom & Dad |
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Ray & Diane HomewoodSharing the Blessing of Travel Archives
August 2021
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