Wildflowers and Wild Edibles

Attempts to visit some state parks this month for programs on wildflowers went awry. Alas, Saturdays just don't work for our families! Boo hoo for my family as we have most Saturdays free. However, we did manage to squeeze in one big and fun day at our house for a wildflower and wild edible exploring/coloring/painting extravaganza. We started out with a discussion of all the native wildflowers and plants in our yard that Ojibway peoples used for food or medicines around the turn of the last century. There were quite a few because our yard is a jungle. :) We have yarrow, jack in the pulpit, wild strawberry, wild geranium, false salomonseal, nettle, blackberry, and red raspberry. Then we went on a hunt for these and other wild edibles (chives, mint, violets, and maple). We did avoid the nettles. Whew. It was a blast.






Then we headed indoors to color some wildflower coloring pages and then paint our own favorite wildflower.









The following day, my family headed to Wm O'Brien State Park to take in their wildflower walk. We felt pretty big for our britches as we have most of the flowers we saw in our yard!