The Forest Path - July 2020
I can’t believe we’re halfway through this year! It hasn’t looked much like I thought it would, but the plants and animals have been a source of grounding amidst the many changes to our schedule. At the beginning of the year, we thought July would welcome the first group of happy summer campers but these days we’re enjoying the simpler pleasure of new flowers blooming and vegetables growing in the garden.
These coreopsis flowers are like a brilliant sunburst! In addition to being beautiful to look at, they can be used to dye fabric. I printed this eye pillow with a yellow coreopsis flower last summer and look forward to seeing what this red-orange variety does.
Then there’s this favorite dye plant - indigo! These precious plant babies had a rough start. In May I shared pictures of lush seedlings planted in the ground but shortly after that heavy rain beat them into the ground and then slugs discovered them. Many were lost but I dug up the survivors and put them back into pots, safely out of reach of any slug. I babied them along for 2 months and just planted them back in the ground in July.
They’re a lot smaller than they should be by this time in the summer but they’re starting to grow quickly now that they’re over the shock of being transplanted again. I can’t wait to make some blue dye with them! You can see what last year’s indigo crop looked like and the blues that I got from it on this post.
Another plant I’ve been watching closely is the goldenrod. These tiny flowers are native to this area and are a source of yellow dye. They came into full bloom at the very end of July and I’m ready to cut them and create some yellow fabric. Growing my own color is so rewarding!
On the sheep front, I finally captured a family portrait! Mama Hazel is in the back and you can see that Opal and Eamon aren’t so little any more. Eamon’s horns seem bigger every day and his wool has faded to almost the same shade as Hazel. Compare it to his newborn picture here. I’m glad that Opal has stayed chocolate brown. It’ll be fun to have a different fleece color when we shear them next spring.
I’ve been carding some of the wool from this year’s shearing and it’s now available as part of a wet felting kit. The brown, yellow and orange colors below are all from natural dyes. Next year the brown can be Opal’s natural color!
In other animal news, we found this sweet little nest tucked into a swordfern. Our best guess is that is that it was made by a dark-eyed junco as they nest low to the ground and we have a lot of them here. It’s just amazing how intricate and sturdy bird nests are! Each is like a functional work of art.
The July sun was so bright and beautiful shining through the forest! It also helped all our flowers explode into color. June was cold and rainy and it kind of felt like this bounty of summer growth would never come - but it did!
The calendula flowers are like a blanket of tiny suns in the garden. We’ve been collecting their petals as the flowers start to wilt and will use then to make a beeswax salve. Calendula is really soothing to the skin and has antibacterial properties that can help heal cuts and scrapes. It’s a staple in our medicine cabinet.
The bees love the lavender so much that we mostly leave it for them. Lemon balm is another story! Our lemon balm is growing so profusely that you can't even tell that this giant bunch was cut out of it. It dried quickly in the July heat dried and now we have plenty stored to use all year. We love mixing it with an equal amount of mint and a pinch of lavender. Steeped in the sun with a little honey makes it the perfect summer drink.
July was the month of salads! We could hardly keep up with all the lettuce and peas. I think August will be the month for tomatoes!
A DIY weaving loom July’s addition to the craft tutorials on the blog. It’s another favorite camp activity and since we aren’t holding programs this spring and summer, I’m happy to be able to share activities with you here!
Some pretty, summery colors of naturally dyed embroidery floss went up on the shop in July. It’s exciting that they’ve been so popular! I’ve also been stitching some naturally dyed fabrics to make samples of new kits that I have in mind. August will bring some new things so stay tuned . . .
It’s been quite a full month and I hope that you too are enjoying these summer days!
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