Mandala Monday ~ Foraging

Mother’s day weekend brought my daughter and grandchildren over for a visit, and while they were here, my daughter and I did a bit of foraging together.  She has been taking a course in herbalism and creating some of her own natural remedies, and she wanted to go out and gather some dandelions and violets.  Of course, I was more than happy to do that with her.

She and I had a chance to do some bike riding together too, which I enjoyed very much – I’ve really missed going on bike rides with her since she moved away.  We decided to ride over to the field of dandelions that I wrote about in my Music Monday ~ Yellow post to look for some, but sadly, they were all gone!  Most of them, anyway.  I can’t imagine the city spraying weed killer all over that massive field, so I’m not sure what could have happened – dandelions are quite prolific, as everyone who wants a lush green lawn knows.  😉

We gathered what we could find and then continued on our bike ride.  We stopped at several other areas along the way wherever we found large quantities of dandelions or violets growing.  Gosh, I adore violets, such sweet, dainty, little purple pretties.

In the end, we didn’t come away with as many as my daughter would have liked, but it was enjoyable gathering what we did.  She also gathered some plantain and a few other useful things she saw.

As much as I would enjoy concocting some natural remedies of my own, my main goal for helping her gather dandelions and violets (other than just being in her company, of course) was to first play around with them creating mandalas.

I don’t like picking living things for no good reason, so it was a bit of a challenge finding other things to use in creating a mandala.  But then I found some yellow loosestrife popping up in places it shouldn’t be in my garden, so I had no qualms about picking those. And as I continued around my yard, I noticed that my rhododendron is most likely not going to bloom this year, which is so sad, because it’s usually a show stopper.  I found a few scraggly blossoms down around the bottom and decided to just pick them.

There must have been something in the weather patterns this year that affected things, because I’ve also noticed that my lilacs don’t have very many flower buds on them this year.  VERY sad about that.  😭

I had saved some pinecones and a few dried hydrangea blossoms from last year, so I used those, grabbed a rock for the center and this is how my mandala turned out…

I think this is the first one I’ve made that is in fives.  I usually create them in even numbers like 3 or 6, but I only had 5 rhododendrons.

I only started creating these nature mandalas last fall when I had all of the beautiful autumn colored leaves to play with (autumn always brings out my creative side) and I haven’t done much with flowers or any other elements of nature yet, so it’ll be interesting to see how this little activity/hobby/practice evolves (or not) with spring and summer.  It’s a busy time in the garden, so we’ll have to wait and see if nature mandalas are a part of it…

Speaking of the garden…

I’m heading out there now. It’s a GORGEOUS morning!  I think I’ll plant my peas and lettuce…

 

Wishing you joy and beauty as you forage through this new week!  Have a gorgeous day!

 

 

✿~Peace & Love~✿